Elections Directory USA

AFP - US President Barack Obama gets better marks for his wartime leadership than his stewardship of the sluggish economic recovery, a new opinion poll found Thursday.

Reuters - President Barack Obama said his hard-nosed chief of staff Rahm Emanuel would make a terrific mayor of Chicago but expects him to wait until after the November congressional elections to decide whether to run.

Reuters - President Barack Obama warned on Thursday that a Florida pastor's plan to burn copies of the Koran is being used as an al Qaeda recruitment tool and he urged the minister to reconsider the decision.

The Upshot - Welcome to "First Shots," a daily roundup of early-bird news and a preview of what's to come. • President Obama condemns the Florida church's planned Quran burning. (Reuters) • A federal appeals court ruled that former prisoners of the CIA cannot sue over claims of torture in overseas prisons because such proceedings would expose sensitive [...]

AP - President Barack Obama says his chief of staff would be a terrific Chicago mayor, but he expects Rahm Emanuel to hold off on deciding whether to enter the race until after the midterm elections.

AP - First came the outrage over plans for a mosque near ground zero. Now there's anger over a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran.

AP - President Barack Obama is exhorting a Florida minister to "listen to those better angels" and call off his plan to engage in a Quran-burning protest this weekend.

AP - President Barack Obama has a day of meetings on his schedule Thursday.

AP - The Tea Party Express is asking supporters to raise $250,000 for its preferred candidate in Delaware's contentious Senate primary.

AP - It sounds like a political grudge match for the ages: Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, battered by ethics charges and stripped of his chairmanship of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, defending his seat against Adam Clayton Powell IV, son of the legendary Harlem lawmaker Rangel ousted 40 years ago.

AP - Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday it would be a mistake for voters to give in to "anger, apathy and amnesia" and deprive Arkansas of the Senate Agriculture chairmanship by defeating Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

AFP - The United States should scale back troops and goals in Afghanistan as its military campaign has backfired and boosted the Taliban, according to a study billed as a Plan B for President Barack Obama.

AP - Republican Senate candidate John Boozman has removed the University of Arkansas logo and football stadium from his latest campaign ad after the school asked him to pull the original spot.

AP - Democrat Jack Conway reported more than $300,000 in contributions Wednesday from his first Web-based fundraiser and Republican Rand Paul sought more cash as the rivals for the U.S. Senate readied fall TV ad blitzes.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, fighting to keep Democrats in charge of Congress, said on Wednesday the United States could not afford to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the rich and accused Republicans of being fiscally irresponsible.

AP - The nation's self-professed toughest sheriff says Nevada voters should fire Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

AP - Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is shrugging off the suggestion that a national GOP group won't help finance his campaign anymore and said Wednesday he will continue to fight for votes.

AFP - President Barack Obama admitted Wednesday if US voters in the upcoming midterm elections make their choices based on their opinion of the economy, his Democratic Party could be in big trouble.

The Christian Science Monitor - President Obama on Wednesday took the election-year battle over the economy and made it personal.

Reuters - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that Democrats risked punishment in November's congressional elections if they allow the vote to be just about the U.S. economy, rather than the two parties' policies.