Barack Obama today chucked his usual stump speech, appealing to tens of thousands at the annual Labor Day parade and rally at Hart Plaza to join him in a "moment of silent prayer" for those in the way of Hurricane Gustav. "Today is not the day for political speeches," the Democrat said in a 10-minute speech. "I hope you will forgive me and I hope you don't mind." Obama bypassed the chance to rap Republican opponent John McCain, as he did in weekend campaign stops in Battle Creek, Ohio and Pennsylvania. He said he is sure McCain and President Bush share his concern for the people of coastal Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas.

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Sen. Barack Obama's Labor Day weekend message to Ohio was a welcome promise to spend billions of dollars to rebuild America's crumbling cities. Midway through a holiday campaign swing through Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan -- critical states in the November election -- Obama drew loud cheers Sunday afternoon when he said, "We need to allow communities like Toledo to get back on their feet." The Democratic presidential nominee appeared with his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden, at an invitation-only town meeting where Obama took about a half-dozen questions, all pertaining to the economy and education.

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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama touched on nearly all the key issues in the upcoming presidential election - the economy, energy, education, health care, national security and Iraq - during his stop in Eau Claire Sunday, but he focused most of his 30-minute speech on the troubles faced by the working class. Times are tough, he said, to about 300 people who were invited to the "BBQ with Barack Obama" at Eau Claire's Rod and Gun Park. "I don't need to tell you that, 'cause you're living it," the Illinois senator said, adding that the average family income has decreased $1,000 under President Bush and families have been pushed to their limits financially.

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Like a team of sprinters who will run a relay to Nov. 4, U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden announced their partnership to an adoring — but sweaty — crowd Saturday at the Old State Capitol. Half a day after news broke that Obama had chosen Biden of Delaware as his running mate, the two faced the nation for the first time as a pair in front of the Old State Capitol.“For months, I’ve searched for a leader to finish this journey alongside me and to join me in making Washington work for the American people,” Obama said.

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Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama opened up a campaign swing through Virginia today by visiting the state's most economially beleaguered city, Martinsville, to promote his economic agenda. "We've got to recognize we can't do things the way we've been doing them over the last eight years," Obama told a hand-picked crowd of 300 people at Patrick Henry Community College. Obama said the country needs to invest more money in roads, rail and broadband to help communities like Martinsville and surrounding Henry County. "We can't always stop companies from moving but we sure as heck don't have to give them incentives to move," he said. "We don't have to give them tax breaks to move."

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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said Monday he backs continued funding for the state's military and research installations, including White Sands Missile Range. Obama, in a phone interview with the Sun-News, also said he believes defense-related research facilities in New Mexico will play a role in the nation achieving energy independence by helping develop alternative energy technology. The Democratic candidate campaigned in Albuquerque on Monday, speaking to supporters at Rio Grande High School and to a group of about 50 women at a city library. Obama spoke to the Sun-News about his plan for immigration reform. That plan includes boosting border security, cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants, improving the immigration system and creating a legal pathway for undocumented immigrants already in the United States to gain citizenship.

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Under a scorching sun, hundreds of people lined up recently in a parking lot here to pick up free back-to-school supplies being distributed by a local radio station. Bobbing among the shade umbrellas were a handful of workers for Senator Barack Obama, carrying clipboards and voter registration forms. On Monday night, others fanned out at a movie screening for surfers in Wrightsville Beach. They descended on a street festival in Asheville. When oil companies posted record profits, Obama supporters showed up at gas stations here with registration forms. Despite the relentless heat, and midsummer lull, the Obama campaign is mobilizing in North Carolina. The state is one of half a dozen once-solid Republican bastions, including Georgia, Indiana and Virginia, where Democrats now sniff opportunity to expand the electoral map.

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Senate candidate and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner is scheduled to deliver the Tuesday night keynote address at this year's Democratic National Convention - the same role that launched Barack Obama to national prominence four years ago..."Mark Warner is not afraid to challenge the status quo to bring people together and get things moving," Plouffe's statement read. "It's that kind of spirit and innovation that resulted in his selection as keynote speaker on a night when the convention program will focus on renewing America's economy." The focus on Warner could help boost his prospects in Virginia, where he is trying to win an open Senate seat and Obama is also campaigning hard. Virginia went to George W. Bush in the last two elections, and the Obama campaign considers it one of its best opportunities to turn a red state blue.

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Democrats announced the nightly themes for their Denver convention today, stressing unity, security and change. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, co-chair of the convention, said the theme for the August 25th opening night will be "One Nation," with a speech by Michelle Obama...On August 27th, the theme is "Securing America's Future" with an acceptance speech by Obama's still-unannounced vice presidential candidate. Party officials also said elected leaders, policy experts and convention speakers will respond to voter questions during an "America's Town Hall" segment on each of the convention's first three nights.

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Sen. Barack Obama outlined his energy and economic policy in response to an audience question about tough economic times in the Elkhart area. In the short-term, Obama said an additional round of economic stimulus checks are needed. He also said the government should invest in "fast-track" infrastructure, including roads, schools, sewer lines and bridges. "That would put people back to work right away," Obama said. "But it would also spur on economic activity for people who supply contractors. In the long-term, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said the country needs an entirely new economic engine. That includes investing in development of electric and hybrid cars, as well as wind turbines and solar panels.

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Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama Tuesday vowed to break America’s “addiction’’ to foreign oil over the next 10 years, but in the meantime he wants a $1,000-per-person tax rebate to help consumers feed their habit. As his Republican opponent, John McCain, toured the Fermi 2 plant near Monroe to call attention to his plan to construct as many as 45 new power plants by 2030, Mr. Obama used a pair of northeastern events to voice support for his tax credit and characterize the Arizona senator’s plan to increase offshore drilling as just an extension of President Bush’s policies. “His plan will not lower prices today,’’ Mr. Obama told a crowd of about 2,500 at Austintown Fitch High School. “You won’t see a drop of oil from John McCain’s plan for the next seven years. Increased domestic oil production certainly has its place as we make our economy more fuel efficient.

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Sen. Barack Obama continued presenting his proposal for the nation's energy crisis this morning at the Austintown Fitch High School gymnasium. A day after unveiling his ''New Energy for America'' plan in Lansing, Mich., the Democratic presidential hopeful told an Ohio crowd of more than 2,500 that the United States got to the point of $4-a-gallon gasoline because of our dependence on foreign oil. He said we need to increase fuel efficiency and increase renewable sources.Obama spent the first half of his hourlong campaign stop speaking about his energy plan before shifting to a town-hall format in which he took questions about education, the war in Iraq, treatment of veterans and infrastructure for interstate, high-speed, lightweight rail travel.

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The crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as he stepped to the Lansing Center stage for a campaign event. The Illinois senator was in Michigan on Monday to talk about energy and the economy, two issues he knows are resonating nationally and in this critical industrial swing state. After he was serenaded, Obama said, "There is no place I would rather be on my birthday than Lansing, Michigan." Obama turned 47 on Monday. He then began telling the audience the details of his plan to deal with high energy prices. Obama wants to tax the windfall profits of oil companies and use some of that money to help motorists pay the rising price of gas, help develop more fuel-efficient cars, among other solutions.

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Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama touted his energy policies here today, arguing that drilling offshore won’t produce any oil for at least 10 years. He also accused rival John McCain of doing the bidding of oil companies that are making record profits. Obama held a town hall meeting here and also visited victims of the June flooding as he set about refocusing his campaign on domestic issues in the wake of a much-publicized tour of Europe. Before a packed gymnasium on the Coe College campus here, Obama called for greater fuel-efficiency standards for cars, pushed a rebate to help consumers deal with high gas prices and said oil companies ought to drill on land they’ve already leased.

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Barack Obama laid out his opposition to opening up American land and waterways to more drilling for oil at a rally in Springfield on Wednesday. The presumed Democratic nominee said authorizing oil companies to drill for more domestic oil and gas in Alaska and off coastal shores will not solve the country's energy crisis. "The oil companies right now have 68 million acres of leases that they are not using," Obama told an energized crowd of 1,550 packed into the Glendale High School gymnasium. "They are holding land that they're not drilling and now they want to get some more (land). And we've got no guarantee they're going to use it." "There's no law that says the oil is only to be used by Americans," Obama added. Instead, Obama says the country needs a national energy independence initiative similar to the 1940s Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb and the 1960s Apollo mission to get a man on the moon.

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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is set to meet with the chairman of the Federal Reserve as part of a day of private talks devoted to the troubled economy. Obama was to meet with Fed chief Ben Bernanke in Washington on Tuesday, according to the Obama campaign. Obama also planned to speak by phone to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

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Ahead of a week of campaign appearances focused on the economy, Sen. Barack Obama suggested Sunday that there is a domestic economic benefit to improved U.S. relations with the rest of the world."When you think about the big problems we face here at home, they're connected to the problems we face abroad," Obama said before an audience of several hundred here at the quadrennial "Unity: Journalists of Color" conference. A broader international effort in Afghanistan and a drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, he added, have the potential to "free up money to keep folks in their homes" and provide funds for other domestic concerns.

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Democrat Barack Obama said Friday that Iran should promptly accept an international call to freeze its uranium enrichment program, which some nations see as a potential step toward obtaining nuclear weapons. The presidential candidate met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, where they discussed Iran, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change and other issues. Speaking later at a news conference, Obama said Iran should accept the proposals made by Sarkozy and other Western leaders. He urged Iran's leaders not to wait for the next U.S. president to pressure them "because the pressure, I think, is only going to build." The United States and other Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and demand that it freeze its uranium enrichment program. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

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With a fanfare typically orchestrated for a visiting head of state, Senator Barack Obama dashed through a series of meetings with leaders on both sides of the Middle East conflict on Wednesday, pledging to protect Israel and prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Mr. Obama, who said he hoped his appearance here would open the door to a stronger bond with Jewish voters at home, pledged that if elected president he would not pressure Israel to accept concessions with Palestinians that would compromise security for Israelis. He also sought to allay concerns over his proposal to negotiate with Iran. “A nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation not just in the Middle East but around the world,” Mr. Obama told reporters here.

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Sen. Barack Obama stepped gingerly through the intractable politics of the Middle East on Wednesday, offering resolute support for Israel's security, warning that Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons would be a "game-changing" event for the world, and pledging to make peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians one of his highest priorities if he becomes president. By motorcade and helicopter, in private meetings and public appearances, the Democratic candidate moved from the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah to the southern Israeli town of Sderot just outside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

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Barack Obama arrived here Tuesday night emphasizing his solidarity with Israel and vowing as president to bring "sustained energy and focus" on ending the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict — the solution to which could hold the key to peace throughout the Middle East. Upon arrival on a late night flight from Jordan, the Democratic presidential candidate delivered a statement at the airport condemning an attack near the hotel where he was to stay. A Palestinian rammed a construction truck early Tuesday afternoon into three cars and a bus, injuring five people before an Israeli civilian shot and killed the attacker. Obama called the incident "a terrible tragedy" and "one more reminder of why we have to work diligently, urgently and in a unified way to defeat terrorism."

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Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama toured Israel's Holocaust memorial Wednesday, laying a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jews who died and saying, "Ultimately, this is a place of hope." Obama toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on a Jerusalem hillside as he moved through a busy day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Obama drew an unusually warm welcome from Israeli President Shimon Peres, who said his greatest wish is for a "great president of the United States. That is the greatest promise for us and the rest of the world."

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After Barack Obama met with Iraqi leaders here on Monday, the Iraqi government outlined a possible schedule for a U.S. troop withdrawal that is similar to the plan the Democratic presidential candidate has pledged to follow if he is elected. Its announcement bolstered Obama's credibility on a key foreign policy issue, early in a weeklong trip to the Middle East and Europe that was designed to reassure voters concerned he lacks the experience to be commander in chief. It also gave him a boost in his debate with Republican presidential candidate John McCain over how to end the war in Iraq. McCain has repeatedly insisted that setting a firm withdrawal date ignores conditions on the ground and could prevent the U.S. from winning the war.

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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama landed in Baghdad Monday morning, on a fact-finding mission to discuss Iraq strategy and U.S. troop levels here, an issue that has become a cornerstone of debate in the presidential campaign. Obama was scheduled to meet senior U.S. and Iraqi leaders here, including Gen. David H. Petraeus and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. A U.S. Embassy official provided few details of Obama's tour, citing security concerns.

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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai for almost two hours Sunday in a friendly discussion that addressed some of the troubled country's challenges but avoided confrontation over touchy issues such as civilian casualties, militants in Pakistan or Obama's recent criticism of Karzai. In the meeting, the president, top Afghan officials and the U.S. congressional delegation talked broadly about progress and problems in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led invasion forced out the Taliban in late 2001, said Humayun Hamidzada, the spokesman for Karzai. "The Afghan tradition is that you welcome your visitor and you focus on the positive," Hamidzada said.

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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai for almost two hours Sunday in a friendly discussion that addressed some of the troubled country's challenges but avoided confrontation over touchy issues such as civilian casualties, militants in Pakistan or Obama's recent criticism of Karzai. In the meeting, the president, top Afghan officials and the U.S. congressional delegation talked broadly about progress and problems in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led invasion forced out the Taliban in late 2001, said Humayun Hamidzada, the spokesman for Karzai. "The Afghan tradition is that you welcome your visitor and you focus on the positive," Hamidzada said.

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Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama shared Sunday breakfast with American troops in Kabul ahead of an expected meeting with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, a man Obama has criticized for not doing enough to rebuild his war-torn country. Obama and the other senators traveling with him met with soldiers and sailors from their respective constituencies, said Lt. Col. Dave Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman.

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What has long been missing from our national debate is an honest and serious discussion about the strategic consequences of our long-term presence in Iraq. This war prevents us from tackling nearly every serious threat we face, from a resurgent al-Qaeda in Afghanistan to a hostile Iranian regime intent on possessing nuclear weapons to the spread of extremist ideology around the world. Instead of being distracted from the most pressing threats that we face, I will harness all elements of American power to overcome them. My first order as Commander in Chief will be to end the war in Iraq and refocus our efforts on Afghanistan and our broader security interests. Let me be clear--my plan would not abandon Iraq. It is in our strategic interest to maintain a residual force that will go after al-Qaeda, train Iraqi security forces and protect U.S. interests.

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Barack Obama promoted his proposals to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to countries unfriendly to the United States and to address other security threats at a campaign event in this traditionally Republican state. The Democratic candidate is targeting GOP strongholds early in the general-election battle. Only a few days before a planned trip abroad to highlight his foreign policy credentials, Obama led a roundtable discussion that included Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and former Georgia senator Sam Nunn on the campus of Purdue University. Nunn has long worked on nonproliferation issues, and Bayh has served for years on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The senator from Illinois called for a renewed effort to secure nuclear weapons materials over the next four years from places such as the former Soviet Union. He also proposed convening a U.N. summit on the spread of nuclear terrorism and vowed to aim for a "nuclear-free world" by stopping the development of nuclear weapons.

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Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday at a town hall meeting in Fairfax County that if elected president, he would bolster the economy by helping working mothers. It was his second visit to the area since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee and occurred on a day when his likely Republican foe was also reaching out to Northern Virginia voters. In the packed gymnasium at Robinson Secondary School, Obama told more than 2,000 supporters that as president he would work to expand paid family and medical leave, child-care services and preschool programs. These initiatives could be paid for in large part by ending the Iraq war, he said. Obama also spoke briefly of the significance of his return to Virginia less than two months after he launched his general election campaign at a rally of 10,000 supporters at Nissan Pavilion in Prince William County.

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Desma Kelly has never volunteered to help out a candidate running for office. And she hadn’t intended to on Thursday. But after hearing Barack Obama speak at Robinson Secondary School, Kelly is going to pound the pavement for him. “I’m willing to work for his campaign,” she said. Obama’s stop in Northern Virginia was targeted toward women like Kelly. About 2,800 people filled the Fairfax school’s field house to hear the Democratic candidate speak about his plans for improving economic opportunities for women and balancing the demands of work and family.

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Barack Obama moved Tuesday to paint the 2008 presidential election in stark terms of rich vs. poor, and fat cats vs. struggling families. In a 15-minute speech before 2,700 screaming supporters at McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Obama unveiled a pair of new proposals aimed at easing bankruptcy laws for military families and for seniors. The Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting blasted his Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. John McCain, for putting the desires of banks and credit card companies ahead of the needs of working Americans.

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