LACONIA - Several "Campaign For Change" teams hit the streets in Laconia over the weekend canvassing virtually every neighborhood in the city to get a sense of voter preferences in the upcoming Presidential election and to identify Obama supporters and potential volunteers.

"Altogether we visited over 500 homes," reported Rep. Beth Arsenault (D-Laconia) who participated in the effort both Saturday and Sunday.  "I've been getting some great exercise!"

After a week of wet, soggy weather, the clear skies and bright sun over the weekend provided ideal conditions for canvassers - with one drawback.  "Over half the homes we targeted had no one at home," Arsenault reported.  "I think people were taking advantage of the nice weather to go to the lakes and the mountains and for families and friends to gather for picnics and barbecues."

Canvassers Jon Arsenault (left) and Mary Boudman (right) pose with Walter Poisson in front of his home in Laconia.  Poisson, a veteran, supports Sen. Barack Obama.

While canvassers expressed a measure of disappointment at finding some of their knocks on doors unanswered, overall they were heartened by the responses they received from voters.  "Almost everyone I spoke to said they were either supporting Obama or likely to vote for him," said Jon Arsenault, who with Mary Boudman was canvassing in Wards 2 and 5.  "A few people said they haven't made up their minds, but I only had one person say he was voting for McCain."     ….continue reading

LACONIA - First District Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter will be hosting a Town Hall Meeting at the Woodside Building at the Taylor Community on Union Avenue in Laconia beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 23.

"We're delighted to have Carol taking the time to meet and talk with local voters," said Rep. Judie Reever (D-Laconia) who has been assisting in organizing the event.  "She has done such a terrific job representing us in Washington since she was elected in 2006, and this is a great opportunity for people to get to know her better."

Shea-Porter has been a frequent visitor to the Lakes Region over the past few weeks as the area tries to recover from storm damage and she continues to advocate for more federal assistance.

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter

"Rep. Shea-Porter has been extraordinarily responsive to the needs of her constituents," said Ron Tunning, chair of the Laconia Democratic Party.  "Whether its fighting for jobs and strengthening the economy, pushing for new, clean sources of energy, making sure families receive home heating assistance, expanding health care coverage, or repairing storm damage, she's always looking out for New Hampshire's families."

New Hampshire gubernatorial candidates on government's role in citizens' lives:

"I am not convinced a state law will increase seat belt usage." - Democratic Gov. John Lynch.

"The government should require adults to wear seat belts." - Democrat Katy Forry.

"Personally, I believe you should wear a safety belt in a vehicle, however, I do not believe a law needs to be written to mandate it for adults." - Republican state Sen. Joe Kenney.     ….continue reading

By Beth Fouhy

RENO, Nev. - So much for hugging in church. A day after Barack Obama and John McCain exchanged an embrace during a faith forum at a California megachurch, Obama called the U.S. economy a disaster thanks to "John McCain's president, George W. Bush," and chided his Republican rival's campaign team for trying to make him look unpatriotic and weak.

At a town hall meeting with several hundred union members, Obama said he had had a great conversation with McCain at the forum at Saddleback Church sponsored by the popular evangelical pastor Rick Warren. The two candidates shook hands, briefly hugged and stood onstage with Warren, the first time they appeared together in public since the end of the primary season.

Obama addresses union crowd in Reno.

But Sunday, after praising the Arizona senator as a "genuine American patriot," the Democratic presidential hopeful got back to business -- methodically tearing into McCain's health care, tax and energy policies and criticizing his advisers.

"McCain says 'Here's my plan, I'm going to drill here, drill now which is something he only came up with two months ago when he started looking at polling," Obama said of McCain's energy policy.   ….continue reading

By Deborah Baker

ESPANOLA, N.M.--Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday urged her supporters to work as hard for the election of her former rival, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, as they had for her.

"We may have started out on two separate paths, but we are on one journey now," Clinton told about 800 people at a rally for Obama in heavily Hispanic northern New Mexico.

The event was the first time Clinton and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had appeared together in public since he endorsed Obama in March, angering some in the Clinton camp.

They embraced, and she called him "my longtime friend."

Sen. Clinton campaigned for Obama in N.M. on Sunday.

Richardson had scheduled two fundraising events, in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, after the rally to help Clinton with her campaign debt.

Richardson was energy secretary and United Nations ambassador in the administration of former President Bill Clinton. After he endorsed Obama, Clinton adviser James Carville likened the governor to Judas.   ….continue reading

By Jonathan Finer

GORI, Georgia -- Russia pledged Sunday to begin removing its troops from Georgia on Monday, but the streets of this occupied city reflected a broadening, not a waning, of Russia's military incursion.

President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to "begin the withdrawal of the military contingent" starting Monday. Russian leaders have made contradictory and at times clearly false statements about their troops' plans and positions ever since the Georgia operation began. On Saturday, a top Russian general told reporters that his country had no troops in Gori.   ….continue reading

By Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg

WASHINGTON -- One of the first images prime-time viewers will see of the Democratic National Convention next week is that of Michelle Obama, who will begin the four-day introduction of her husband, and her family, on her terms.

Like everything else at the orchestrated gala, that is by design.

Democrats face a number of imperatives at their convention, none trickier than making more voters comfortable with the prospect of putting a candidate with a most unusual background -- the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, who grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia -- and his family in the White House. No one, his advisers believe, makes the case better for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois than his wife, who will expand her profile by delivering one of the marquee speeches carried by television networks.

Through four nights there will be testimonials from family members like Mr. Obama's wife and sister who will tell his "very American story," in the words of one adviser, and from party luminaries like Senator Edward M. Kennedy (by videotape) and former President Bill Clinton (live) who will give Mr. Obama, the presumptive presidential nominee, the imprimatur of the party establishment.    ….continue reading

By Steve Kraske

These days, when people mention the slow erosion taking place in Colorado, they're probably not talking about the geology of the Rockies.

Try geopolitics.

Colorado, like several other states in the Mountain West, has morphed this election season from a reliably red state for Republican John McCain into one that holds solid prospects for going blue for Democrat Barack Obama.

The formula is familiar: A burgeoning Hispanic population (now 17.1 percent) combined with an energized base of college-age young people has led to a Democratic resurgence in the state and placed Colorado squarely on the presidential seesaw.

"I don't think we're going to have an election where we talk about Florida, Florida, Florida or Ohio, Ohio, Ohio," said Jennifer Duffy, a political analyst at The Cook Political Report. "We're talking about a handful of other states, too. You'll see some shifts in the map."    ….continue reading

By Katherine Q. Seelye

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Senator John McCain was not in a "cone of silence" on Saturday night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the Saddleback Church in California.    ….continue reading