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UPI NewsTrack TopNews(UPI Top Stories Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Bush calls for Ohio voter probeWASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the status of 200,000 newly registered Ohio voters, the White House said. The request came amid challenges by Ohio Republicans to the validity of the registrations because names on voter registration forms do not match voters' names on other government databases. Republican officials contend the new voters must reconfirm their registration data before they can vote Nov. 4, The Washington Post reported Saturday. The U.S. Supreme Court last week dismissed a case brought by the Ohio Republican Party in the matter. Republicans insist the issue is one of fraudulent voter registration. Democrats accuse the GOP of using such legal maneuvers to suppress the vote by poor people and minorities. Bush Friday asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to review the matter, after House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, urged the president to seek a Justice Department probe. In a letter to Bush, Boehner said there is a significant risk if not a certainty, that unlawful votes will be cast and counted. Obama returns to the campaign trailAKRON, Ohio, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Barack Obama resumed his Democratic U.S. presidential campaign Saturday, pounding his Republican opponent, John McCain, as a clone of President George W. Bush. Obama, who took a couple of days off to be with his sick grandmother in Hawaii, reminded an audience of supporters in Reno, Nev., that McCain voted in support of Bush's policies 90 percent of the time over the past eight years. He mocked the Arizona senator for attacking Bush's economic policies. Well, let's be clear: John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy, Obama said. Fortunately, President Bush doesn't seem to be at all offended -- because yesterday, he cast his vote -- early -- for Senator McCain. And that's no surprise, because when it comes to the policies that matter for middle class families, there's not an inch of daylight between George Bush and John McCain. Obama went on to tie McCain to Bush on tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, privatization of Social Security, less regulation of business and taxing healthcare benefits. It's the same, failed, Wall Street first/Main Street last economic policy -- and we're going to change it, the Illinois senator said. Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, was busy on the stump for her husband Friday, The Washington Post reported. Races are lost on thousands of votes, and there are hundreds of thousands of people who are registered who will not vote, Obama said. Don't wait until Election Day when it's snowing ? Vote now. Report: GOP internal tension showingALBUQUERQUE, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Tension within the camp of Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain has reached the point that it is starting to show publicly, CNN reported Saturday. The network said friction between key McCain aides and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has been simmering for some time and several McCain advisers have suggested their frustration is growing over what one described as Palin going rogue, CNN reported. A source described as a Palin associate said the vice presidential nominee was trying to bust free of what Palin regards as a roll-out that was mismanaged and therefore damaging. McCain sources complain Palin has strayed from the campaign's message and said they aren't sure whether that was done deliberately. One McCain source told CNN Palin appeared to be looking out for her own interest over that of the campaign. She is a diva, the McCain adviser said. She takes no advice from anyone. She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. The source, who was not identified, said Palin was playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. The report comes with McCain trailing Democratic nominee Barack Obama by statistically significant margins in most national polls with 10 days left before the Nov. 4 election. Gallup: Obama 51, McCain 42PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Registered U.S. voters prefer Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain by 51 percent to 42 percent, a Gallup poll released Saturday indicated. The pollster said its Gallup Poll Daily tracking indicated Obama led McCain 51 percent to 44 percent using the traditional model for identifying likely voters, and by 51 percent to 43 percent using an expanded model for measuring likely voters that takes into account the possibility of greater turnout this year by people who are newly registered or infrequent voters. The poll, conducted Oct. 22-24, suggests Obama's margin over McCain reflects what Gallup called a fairly stable lead in the presidential race 10 days prior to Election Day. Gallup surveyed 2,793 registered voters by land line and cell phone. The maximum margin of sampling error is 2 percentage points. FBI joins search for Hudson's nephewCHICAGO, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- The FBI has joined the search for the nephew of Jennifer Hudson, one day after the actress-singer's mother and brother were slain, Chicago police say. The boy, identified as 7-year-old Julian King, has been missing since Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and her brother, Jason Hudson, were discovered shot to death Friday in the South Side Chicago home owned by Hudson's mother, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Officials say the boy is the son of Julia Hudson, Jennifer Hudson's sister. Police said the FBI was called in due to the possibility that the boy might have been taken across state lines, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday. An FBI spokesman said the bureau can investigate the disappearance of any missing child, regardless of whether a child has been taken across a state line. A suspect in the slayings, identified as William Balfour, has been taken into custody, the newspaper said. Balfour is identified as Julia Hudson's husband and stepfather to the missing boy. An alert issued Friday as police were searching for Balfour indicated Julian might be with him, but the boy was not found, sources said. Police were looking for a white sport utility vehicle they believe Balfour could have driven from the Hudson home, several sources told the Sun-Times. I'm not going to let them put my son down, Balfour's mother, Michele Davis Balfour, told reporters. My son had nothing to do with this ? and I'm very upset with the police because they are refusing to let me see my son. Copyright ? 2008 United Press International |