With speculation over U.S. vice presidential picks at a boil, prediction markets on Wednesday judged Democrat Joseph Biden and Republicans Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty most likely to get the nod.

Traders on the Dublin-based Intrade market gave Biden, a U.S. senator and former presidential candidate from Delaware, a 38.5 percent chance of being named as Democratic candidate Barack Obama's running mate in the November 4 election...

Tomorrow night (Saturday), White House hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain
will be fielding questions from evangelical mega-church pastor Rick Warren in a
presidential forum at his California church.

The "Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion" will
feature each candidate talking with Pastor Warren separately for one hour.
Warren says he plans to pose questions on issues such as poverty, HIV/AIDS,
global warming, and human rights...

Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain target religious voters on Saturday when as guests of one of America's foremost evangelists they discuss faith in public life, AIDS, the environment and other issues...

An anti-communist activist is not surprised that the Communist Party USA has written a glowing editorial about Barack Obama. The editorial, titled "Eye on the Prize," was published in the group's official newspaper The People's Weekly World.

According to the editorial, "A broad multiclass, multiracial movement is converging around Obama's 'Hope, change and unity' campaign because they see in it the thrilling opportunity to end 30 years of ultra-right rule and move the nation forward with a progressive movement."...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday floated the prospect of picking a running mate who supports abortion rights and cited former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as someone worth considering.

“I think that the pro-life position is one of the important aspects or fundamentals of the Republican Party,” McCain said in an interview with The Weekly Standard...

An Alabama political scientist believes a surge in black voter registration in the state will not be enough to help Barack Obama pull off a "Bible Belt" victory in November.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll in Alabama shows John McCain leading Barack Obama 55-to-37 percent in the Yellowhammer State -- despite a substantial increase in black voter registration in Alabama because of Obama's White House bid. According to The Birmingham News, the number of black voters in the state is up by more than 14,000 since 2004, and is expected to climb higher by November...

House Republicans promised to be back on the floor of the U.S. House of
Representatives on Monday. They say they’ll continue the protest that began last
Friday when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent lawmakers home for the
rest of the summer without allowing a vote on energy legislation.

Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) were not ready to say whether the United States is winning the war in Iraq when asked by CNSNews.com on Friday, nor did they say whether the United States is losing the war. Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson (Ga.), however, said America is winning and meeting its goals.

Intensified attacks by Republican John McCain on the character of his Democratic
opponent have coincided with Barack Obama losing a 9 percentage point advantage
in a national poll, which showed the candidates running dead even over the
weekend.

McCain, who had vowed to avoid the kind of negative tactics that were used
against him in the 2000 Republican primary contest with George W. Bush, began
attacking Obama during the Illinois senator’s trip to Iraq and Afghanistan late
last month.

If Barack Obama is elected president, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will
support him in fulfilling his vow to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),
which currently protects states from having to recognize same-sex marriages
contracted in other states as they ordinarily would be required to do by the
Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution.

“Yes,” Pelosi said
Thursday at a press conference, when CNSNews.com asked if she would
support Obama’s policy.