Phillips & Mitchell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain in six of eight key battleground states one day before the U.S. election, including the big prizes of Florida and Ohio, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released on Monday. Obama holds a 7-point edge over McCain among likely U.S. voters in a separate Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby national tracking poll, up 1 percentage point from Sunday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

McCain and Obama hit key states in final 48 hours

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain raced through the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania on Sunday, with McCain struggling to overtake Obama’s lead in the final 48 hours of a grueling White House campaign. Obama warned supporters against overconfidence during rallies in Ohio, one of about a dozen crucial battleground states that will decide Tuesday’s election to succeed unpopular President George W. Bush.

Clues to election result could come early

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some of the earliest returns in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election could provide big clues about the outcome. Trends in the race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain could become clear soon after the first polls begin to close at 6 p.m. EST in Indiana.

Joe “O’Biden” plays up working-class, Catholic roots

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – Dashing across battleground states in the final race to the polls on Tuesday, Joe Biden never fails to bring up his working-class, Roman Catholic roots and the hard times his family faced. Biden, who grew up in a tough part of Scranton, Pennsylvania, is one of the Democratic ticket’s best hopes for reaching blue-collar workers in traditionally Republican areas where President George W. Bush clinched the last election.

Japan’s Obama town set to party for U.S. namesake

OBAMA, Japan (Reuters) – Dancing, singing and playing the guitar, residents in the sleepy Japanese fishing port of Obama are readying to party for Barack Obama before Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election. Around 50 men, women and children wearing “I Love Obama” T-shirts practiced hula dancing over the weekend for the Honolulu-born Democratic candidate, hoping he will win the vote and one day visit the town as U.S. President.

Election divides civil rights battle town

SELMA, Alabama (Reuters) – If Democratic candidate Barack Obama wins Tuesday’s presidential election, he will owe a debt to this Alabama town where one of the most significant confrontations of the civil rights era played out. Forty-three years ago, state troopers and local police wielding clubs and firing tear gas charged peaceful civil rights protesters marching across the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma and beat them senseless.

Schumer: 60 Senate seats possible but unlikely

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats will likely fall a bit short of winning a Senate majority large enough to hold off procedural challenges, a chief party strategist said on Sunday. But Democrats seem certain to pickup enough Senate seats to get “a lot done” and “help change the country” when the new Congress convenes in January, said Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, chairman of the Senate Democratic campaign committee.

Bush team rushes environment policy changes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As the U.S. presidential candidates sprint toward the finish line, the Bush administration is also sprinting to enact environmental policy changes before leaving power. Whether it’s getting wolves off the Endangered Species List, allowing power plants to operate near national parks, loosening regulations for factory farm waste or making it easier for mountaintop coal-mining operations, these proposed changes have found little favor with environmental groups.

Judge tells White House to release wiretapping docs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Bush administration must give to a federal court documents related to government wiretapping of domestic communications without a warrant after the September 11 attacks, according to a recent court order. U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy signed the order on Friday requiring the U.S. Justice Department to provide the court for private review certain documents that were sought in lawsuits filed by the civil liberties groups.

Palin falls prey to Canadian pranksters

TORONTO (Reuters) – U.S. vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin fell prey to a Canadian prankster on Saturday when he called her impersonating French President Nicolas Sarkozy and got her to accept an invitation to hunt baby seals. In an over-the-top French accent, a member of the Quebec comedy duo “The Masked Avengers,” famous for tricking celebrities and politicians including Sarkozy himself, asked if Palin would take him on a hunting trip by helicopter, and then in French said they could also go kill baby seals.

[Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/03/AR2008110300182_2.html]