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John McCain's campaign said Thursday it is returning $50,000 in contributions solicited by a foreign citizen. The move follows the disclosure that the money was being raised by a Jordanian man who is a business partner of prominent Florida Republican Harry Sargeant III, who has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for McCain.
CAMPAIGN 2008
A Barack Obama ad ready to air at Florida gas stations that have pumps topped with TV screens was nixed at the last minute because the advertising company's chief said it reflected poorly on the oil industry, according to the presidential candidate's campaign.
Republican John McCain called Thursday for a federal investigation into plans by the DHL shipping company that could cost 10,000 jobs here, as he and his campaign manager took criticism for helping DHL complete a merger in 2003 that led to its current plans.
President Hugo Chavez is aiming to set up neighborhood-based militias, move toward a socialist economy in Venezuela and increase state control over agriculture under a package of laws enacted by presidential decree.
Three Miami-Dade officials called on local authorities to do more to help Haiti following a whirl-wind day trip to the Caribbean nation on Monday.
HAITI
Haitians pay dearly for political gridlock; The $74 million contract to pave the rutted highway in Haiti's Central Plateau region should have been signed last month. American investors should be pouring in after Congress gave the ailing textile industry a boost. And a third of the Haitian Senate should have been elected by now.
Sen. Arlen Specter said Wednesday he hopes to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a trip to Latin America in August.
DEMOCRATS
There is a fierce behind-the-scenes battle for influence over presumptive Democratic candidate Barack Obama's Hispanic and Latin American agenda, and some Democratic strategists say that its outcome could determine the result of the November elections.
CAMPAIGN 2008
While Barack Obama, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, appears to be the rage across the Caribbean, some analysts express concerns about how his policies would affect the region.
BROWARD SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Morality, mentorship and manners were on the minds of three of the six candidates for Broward sheriff at a forum Wednesday night at Fort Lauderdale First Baptist Church.
Pinecrest voters will elect the third mayor in the village's history in November, after Mayor Gary Matzner announced Wednesday he will not run for a second four-year term.
TALLAHASSEE
If it were up to the state's Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the state's top mortgage regulator would be out of a job. But she can't fire him, even though her office houses his department.
CAMPAIGN 2008 | SHERIFF
Scott Israel, the Democratic front-runner in the Broward sheriff's race, accepted $1,000 in campaign donations from a convicted felon and plans to return the money.
EDUCATION
A judge ruled Monday afternoon that voters statewide should have the chance to decide two constitutional amendments that could allow more public school money to be spent on private religious institutions.
THE EVERGLADES
Florida's congressional delegation prodded state officials Wednesday to divulge more details on the top-secret negotiations to buy out U.S. Sugar, saying they were left out of the loop.
Beth Reinhard is The Miami Herald's political columnist. Born and raised in S. Fla., she has been a reporter since 1991. She joined The Miami Herald in 1998.
After a racially charged Democratic primary campaign that turned particularly ugly in its final days, voters will decide Thursday between a Jewish incumbent congressman and a black opponent who ran a television ad juxtaposing photos of him and a hooded Ku Klux Klan member.
A man who authorities said was keeping weapons and military-style gear in his hotel room and car appeared in court Thursday on charges he threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
THE WASHINGTON POST
Attacks from John McCain's campaign have raised worries among Democratic strategists -- haunted by John F. Kerry's 2004 run and Al Gore's razor-thin loss in 2000 -- that Barack Obama has not responded in kind with a parallel assault on McCain's character. (May need to register)
CAMPAIGN 2008 | ADVERTISING
Pop culture sure moves quickly. Just last week, Paris Hilton was so 20 minutes ago. And John McCain was drawing snickers from pop culture aficionados for choosing her and another relative has-been, Britney Spears, in his attack ad against Barack Obama.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking a way for her delegates to be heard at the Democratic National Convention, telling supporters such a step will help unify a party that split between her and Sen. Barack Obama during their hard-fought nominating contest.
STATE PRIMARIES
The mother of Detroit's mayor narrowly survived a primary election that focused on her scandal-plagued son as much as her own six terms in Congress.
CAMPAIGN 2008
A Barack Obama ad ready to air at Florida gas stations that have pumps topped with TV screens was nixed at the last minute because the advertising company's chief said it reflected poorly on the oil industry, according to the presidential candidate's campaign.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Officially, Barack Obama will deliver an energy-policy speech Wednesday to citizens in Elkhart, Ind. But the focus of the political chattering class will be on the man sitting shotgun at the event: Evan Bayh, the Indiana senator thought to be on the likely Democratic presidential nominee's short list of vice-presidential candidates. (May need to register)
THE WASHINGTON POST
Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man. Sargeant has raised more than $100,000 for three presidential candidates from a collection of ordinary people, several of whom professed little interest in the outcome of the election. (May need to register)
To understand why Barack Obama and John McCain are emphasizing solutions to the country's energy woes and have scrambled to change their positions, look no further than the voters' distress over $4-a-gallon gasoline and its wide ripple effect.
Democrat Barack Obama's plan to bring the debate over gas prices straight to the pumps hit a roadblock Wednesday.
Republican candidate John McCain on Wednesday called on Congress to return from its summer recess to address immediately the U.S. energy crisis, though he missed numerous energy-related votes in the Senate last year.
THE RACE: The presidential race nationally
COLUMNIST
Andres Oppenheimer
Columnist Andres Oppenheimer, author of five best-sellers on Latin American affairs, comments on the latest events in Latin America and U.S.- Latin American affairs.