AP - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens didn't report getting gifts of a $3,200 stained glass window and a $2,695 massage chair from his friends on Senate records, and described a $1,000 sled dog as a $250 gift, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain got a bounce in opinion polls from his convention and now runs even or slightly ahead of Democratic rival Barack Obama with eight weeks to go in the White House race.

AP - A one-time congressional aide who went on to work with jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff was arrested Monday and accused of conspiring to corrupt government officials including his former boss, current Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif.

AP - Senate Democrats promised a series of votes next week on offshore oil drilling as Republicans agreed Monday to let the Senate proceed on a defense bill that had been bottled up because of partisan disputes over the country's energy priorities.

AP - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Congress should view the next few months as a "time out" in the highly charged debate over what to do with mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

AP - The United States remains "dangerously vulnerable" to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks seven years after 9/11, a forthcoming independent study concludes. And a House Democrats' report says the Bush administration has missed one opportunity after another to improve the nation's security.

AFP - Barack Obama and John McCain feuded and laid claim to being the authentic candidate of change and reform on Sunday, as their White House showdown roared into a frenetic eight-week final stretch.