Clinton launches effort to rally support for Obama

Senator Hillary Clinton today will launch a new grass-roots effort to get her supporters to fall in behind onetime rival Barack Obama.

"Today I am asking all of you to hit the phones, hit the road, and spread the word that we must elect Barack Obama president and we must send a filibuster-proof majority to Congress," Clinton, who attended a private event yesterday in Boston, said in a statement. "We all have a role. And there is not a moment to lose."

The effort is being organized by Clinton's political action committee, in conjunction with Obama's campaign and other Democratic campaigns, and will launch this morning at her PAC's website, where there will be information on canvassing, phone banking, blogging, and other activities.

Each weekend, the effort will focus on a different battleground state, starting Sept. 27-28 in New Hampshire. Pennsylvania is scheduled for Oct. 12-13. She won both states during the primaries.

FOON RHEE

Alaska lawmaker says Palin inquiry to end soon
ANCHORAGE - The Alaska lawmaker directing an abuse-of-power investigation of Governor Sarah Palin promised yesterday the probe will be finished before the November election, despite refusals by key witnesses to testify, including the Republican vice presidential nominee's husband.

After waiting 35 minutes for Todd Palin and two state administrative employees to appear under subpoena before the state Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Hollis French condemned their refusal to testify and the attorney general's broken promise that seven other witnesses who were not subpoenaed would testify.

French said the retired prosecutor hired by the Alaska Legislature to investigate Palin will conclude his investigation by Oct. 10. Still, that report will not include testimony from the Republican vice presidential nominee, her husband, or most of the top aides the investigator had hoped to interview.

Palin spokesman Bill McAllister declined to comment yesterday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Americans were tuned to conventions, report asserts
The huge reach and record audiences for this year's political conventions was put into sharper relief yesterday with a new report from Nielsen Media Research.

Its report found that nearly two thirds of all US households (73.2 million homes, or about 120 million people) tuned into at least one of the political conventions. Viewership levels for the two conventions were essentially tied, with about 15 percent of all households tuning into just the Republican National Convention, 16 percent to just the Democratic National Convention, and another 34 percent of all households watching both.

Among other findings, homes that watched both conventions were more likely to be headed by someone 65 years or older and more educated. Homes that tuned into only the GOP gathering were more likely to have higher incomes, larger households, and to be older, while those that only watched the Democrats were more likely to have a lower income, smaller household, and to be young. More than 70 percent of African-American homes tuned to at least one of the conventions, including 36 percent that tuned into both, a higher rate than any other ethnic group.

FOON RHEE

McCain carrying dog tags of another US soldier killed
John McCain, who still wears a bracelet honoring a New Hampshire soldier killed in Iraq, is now carrying the dog tags of a soldier killed in Afghanistan.

He told supporters in Blaine, Minn., yesterday that when his plane landed in Wisconsin on Thursday, Cheryl Lee Patrick, of Ladysmith, Wis., handed him an envelope.

"Please support our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq," it said on the outside. Inside were the ID tags of her son, Army Staff Sergeant Patrick Lee Lybert, 28, killed in Afghanistan in June 2006.

"I was deeply moved," McCain said. "It puts everything in perspective."

In his stump speeches, McCain often mentions Lynn Savage, of Wolfeboro, N.H., who gave him a bracelet bearing the name of her son, Matthew Stanley, who was killed by a roadside bomb in December 2006.

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Palin and McCain? It's the other way around, mate
WASHINGTON - The What and What administration?

Sarah Palin flipped the Republican presidential ticket around this week when she spoke about things the "Palin and McCain administration" would do in office.

The vice presidential candidate is the top draw at joint rallies with her boss, presidential nominee John McCain.

Palin made the comment at a rally Thursday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when she said she and McCain want to cut taxes for small business: "That's exactly what we're gonna do in a Palin and McCain administration." Later in her speech, she reverted to the normal order in speaking about the "McCain-Palin administration."

Palin also referred to McCain as "my running mate" yesterday in Green Bay, Wis., as she did twice in Iowa the day before. Vice presidential candidates are usually referred to as the running mates, no matter which one is speaking.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In a run for schoolteacher, game buddy, Obama wins it
WASHINGTON - If this election were about which candidate people wanted as their child's schoolteacher, Barack Obama would be moving to the head of the class. They'd also rather watch a football game with him, but only by inches.

People picked the Democrat over Republican John McCain to catch a game with by 50 percent to 47 percent, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released yesterday. Asked which they'd choose to be their child's teacher, Obama was the choice by a more decisive 55 percent to 44 percent, including a markedly stronger performance by the Illinois senator among whites.

ASSOCIATED PRESS