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AP Political NewsBrief at 8:47 p.m. EDT(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Palin meets her first world leaders in New YorkNEW YORK (AP) _ Sarah Palin met her first world leaders Tuesday. It was a tightly controlled crash course on foreign policy for the Republican vice presidential candidate, the mayor-turned-governor who has been outside North America just once. Palin sat down with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The conversations were private, the pictures public, meant to build her resume for voters concerned about her lack of experience in world affairs. Obama, McCain, cautiously watch financial debateWASHINGTON (AP) _ Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain warily addressed the nation's financial crisis and a proposed $700 billion response Tuesday, demanding changes in the Bush administration's plan without specifying exactly what would trigger their outright opposition. The financial meltdown is bedeviling both candidates, who know the Nov. 4 election could turn on voters' sense of who can best keep the country from a deep recession. They have acted cautiously so far, avoiding the intense debate in Congress and offering similar calls for greater oversight and taxpayer protections, which rank among the less controversial criticisms of the plan. McCain offers requirements for bailout supportFREELAND, Mich. (AP) _ Republican John McCain said Tuesday that legislation is needed to bail out financial companies, but hinted he might vote against the Bush administration's $700 billion proposal unless it includes five measures he said would make it more palatable for taxpayers. "Further inaction is simply not an option," McCain said in brief remarks to reporters, his first news conference in more than a month. "We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees." Obama says Wall St bailout must protect Main StCLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) _ Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday any plan to rescue Wall Street from its financial woes must ensure that taxpayers are reimbursed and corporate executives are not further enriched for mismanagement. The Democratic presidential candidate challenged President Bush to cooperate on a rescue plan embodying those principles and drop what Obama characterized as Bush's "my way or the highway" attitude toward the proposed $700 billion bailout. "The president's stubborn inflexibility is both unacceptable and disturbingly familiar," he said. Obama begins three days of debate preparationsWASHINGTON (AP) _ Democrat Barack Obama studied and practiced privately with aides in a Florida hotel Tuesday in the first of three days of intense preparations for his upcoming foreign policy debate with GOP rival John McCain. Debates are one of the few times when presidential campaigns loudly tout the skills of their opponent over their own candidate's abilities, and both campaigns were playing that age-old game of downplaying the expectations about their man ahead of Friday's event. Democrats sue over how Gregoire's opponent is ID'dOLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) _ Washington state Democrats sued a state official Tuesday to get a Republican listed on the ballot, arguing a candidate is obscuring his party identity by ballot language that says he "prefers GOP party." The candidate, Dino Rossi, is facing a rematch this November with Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, who beat him by 133 votes four years ago after three counts and a court challenge. Newcomer's appointments shadow those of Bush envoyNEW YORK (AP) _ One is the nation's top diplomat with a doctorate in Russian studies who has visited more than 50 foreign countries this year alone. The other is the first-term governor of Alaska who may have seen Russia on a clear day and got her first passport just last year. Yet this week in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sarah Palin have become unlikely foreign policy rivals as the Republican vice presidential nominee embarks on a crash course to acquire international credentials. Falwell college wants students to vote locallyROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ The chancellor of Liberty University has an ambitious plan to get the 10,500 students at the evangelical Christian college registered to vote in Virginia, a swing state that could be crucial to victory in the presidential election. The key, according to Jerry Falwell Jr., is to register Liberty students in Lynchburg, home to the conservative college his late father founded in 1971. McCain again opposes big payouts for executivesMIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) _ Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Tuesday renewed his insistence that the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout plan for U.S. financial markets ensure that "taxpayers' dollars don't line the pockets of executives." The Arizona senator made his comments as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Chairman Chris Cox testified before the Senate Banking Committee on the need to pass quickly the massive plan to buy up bad mortgage loans from financial firms around the country. Bernanke warned skeptical senators that the economy would plunge into recession without quick action. Biden: McCain shielded offshore tax loopholesWOODBRIDGE, Va. (AP) _ Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Republican John McCain protected offshore tax shelters worth billions of dollars to U.S. insurance giants. In his second trip in four days to this battleground state Tuesday, Biden said McCain promised to oppose any efforts to close a "Bermuda loophole" where American companies shielded $4 billion to $7 billion from U.S. taxes. Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |