WASHINGTON (AP) - Making up for lost time, Barack Obama is dashing full-tilt into the general-election fight against Republican John McCain without waiting for the Democratic marathon to end.
He's running down McCain more often than the woman he's nominally still fighting for his own party's nomination. And he's running after white working-class voters, independents, Hispanics, Catholics and Jews — voting blocs that will be important in the November election and with whom he's had mixed successes.
nd not be prepared," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. Offering a campaign line Obama is already using, he said, "By November, every voter will know that McCain is offering a third Bush term."

By Andrea Damewood ROSEBURG - Visiting a traditional Republican stronghold, Democratic front-runner Barack Obama leveled harsh criticism at President Bush and took aim at likely GOP opponent John McCain, saying a vote for the candidate would be asking for four more years of Bush’s policies.
Standing before a crowd of about 1,500 that packed the Roseburg High School cafeteria, Obama focused on health care before fielding questions from the audience.
weekendlong stump through the state — he also garnered applause from the mostly working-class crowd about creating jobs through manufacturing eco-friendly products, including biodiesel from wood chips.

Jeff Chiu, AP A Minnesota poll shows that Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., trails either Democrat in head-to-head matchups in the state.

By FRANK RICH THE biggest gift President Bush has given his party this year was to keep his daughter’s wedding nearly as private as Connie Corleone’s.

Forget all the talk about white (trouble attracting certain white votes). Forget about black (winning overwhelmingly among blacks). Think green. The Obama campaign is one mean, green, cash-collecting machine.
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of "nuance" seeps into the language of a change agent.

By Tim Gaynor PHOENIX (Reuters) - Arturo Leyva has voted Democratic in the past, like many U.S. Hispanics. This year, the candidate catching his eye happens to be a Republican: John McCain.
"He has a lot to offer Hispanics, and I think I may vote for him," Leyva, 45, said at his cellular phone store in central Phoenix.
ng to the most recent survey. Continued...

By Jim Clark Washoe County GOP Chair Heidi Smith was the guest of Incline Village/Crystal Bay Republicans earlier this week at their monthly luncheon at The

Sen. John McCain speaks Thursday at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.AP
May 18, 2008 6:00 AM
precludes him from engaging in the tactics we usually expect from Republican contenders.

Florida Republican leaders say they are confident voters will embrace the GOP-led Legislature's decision to push budget cuts over tax hikes this spring.
But Democratic contenders looking to unseat those who made that decision are already on the attack.
Deslatte John Kennedy and Aaron Deslatte E-mail | Recent columns

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger created shock and awe in the Republican Party when he warned years ago that the GOP was in danger of "dying at the box office" by failing to make the sale to a wide swath of voters.
And with the presidential election looming, the Republican governor of the nation's most populous state - a decidedly blue state - has now found a chorus of agreement. The Republican "brand" - thanks to an unpopular president, a war, gas prices, foreclosures and deficit - has become such damaged goods that GOP Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia groused last week that "if we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf."
ig tent we've talked about.

The party agrees it must change or face catastrophe in November. But that's about all members can agree on.
By Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
r to the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee, John McCain, was on hand along with the Republican Party's national chairman to make the case for McCain's brand of Republicanism.

By Maureen Groppe / Star Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON - Indiana Democrats running for Congress could find themselves doing better in the fall elections than they normally would.
House Republicans already have lost three consecutive special elections in reliably GOP districts in other states this spring.
d to benefit, having raised more than $300,000 each to challenge Reps. Steve Buyer, R-Monticello, and Mark Souder, R-Fort Wayne.

1. Police, firefighter unions: Agreed, 69-29, to debate a bill (HR - granting limited union rights to police, firefighters, corrections officers and other public-safety personnel in all states. The bill, which remained in debate, empowers state and local first responders to bargain over wages, benefits and working conditions but prohibits strikes by unions and lockouts by employers. At least 20 states now deny collective-bargaining rights to public employees. Among presidential candidates, Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., voted yes, and John McCain, R-Ariz., did not vote. A yes vote was to advance the bill.
2. Five-year farm bill: Approved, 81-15,

Republican Greg Davis - lost to Travis Childers in Mississippi's special runoff election last week, despite a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney on the eve of the vote. The campaign featured negative ads about Barack Obama, who endorsed Childers. Republican Greg Davis (left) lost to Travis Childers in Mississippi's special runoff election last week, despite a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney on the eve of the vote. The campaign featured negative ads about Barack Obama, who endorsed Childers. (Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press)
age, raised $108 million more than the Democratic National Committee in the four previous election cycles, is unlikely to achieve that dominance

By GREG J. BOROWSKI Stevens Point - Amid an unpopular war, a struggling economy and sky-rocketing gasoline prices, state Republicans see a two-word antidote for any election woes come November: John McCain.
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ser prominence, given her lagging status: Hillary Clinton.

The burning question is who close-to-presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama will pick as his running mate. The question is better asked of his GOP foe John McCain. His vice presidential pick is far more crucial than who Obama picks. Obama is pretty much a solo act on the campaign circuit. He's firmed up his rock solid core of black voters, students, and college educated businesspersons and professionals, with his rock star allure, fresh face, soaring rhetoric, inspiring and catchy message of hope and change.
If he can convince a reasonable number of blue collar white Democrats that are racially doubtful about him that he can do more to soothe their economic

(CBS) Political Players is a weekly conversation with the leaders, consultants, and activists who shape American politics. This week, as the Democratic

CHICAGO (AP) - Perhaps no one took greater comfort in the Republican Party's third straight loss of a long-held House seat this week than Barack Obama, who says the results point to clear limits in the effectiveness of attack ads he expects this fall.
The Democratic presidential candidate played a prominent role in all three special elections to fill vacant GOP seats, and he landed on the winning side each time.
d patriotism. He told reporters this week that he can overcome the falsehoods if he has enough time to campaign in battleground states and let voters get to know him better.

By KARL ROVE Republicans received a hard shot in Mississippi. Greg Davis (for whom I campaigned and who was a well-qualified candidate) narrowly lost a