John Mccain

Outside her Bel-Air home, Nancy Reagan stood arm in arm with John McCain and offered a significant -- but less than exuberant -- endorsement. "Ronnie and I always waited until everything was decided, and then we endorsed," the Republican matriarch said in March. "Well, obviously this is the nominee of the party." They were the only words she would speak during the five-minute photo op. In a written statement, she described McCain as "a good friend for over 30 years."

If John McCain becomes president, Americans would be steered toward buying individual health insurance policies, and job-related coverage eventually could decline. If Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton wins, more people would get their insurance from the government -- with many workers offered the equivalent of Medicare and employers facing new coverage mandates. In the past, voters sometimes have complained that there was little difference between Republicans and Democrats.

Daniel Congiolosi is sure it won't be long before energy is so expensive he won't be able to pay the bills. When that happens, he will be ready. This spring, he tripled the size of his garden. He's rushing to install a hand pump on the well, build a concrete-lined root cellar and get an ice house ready before next summer. Thanks to soaring oil prices, he'll be able to pay for it all. Americans have been hit hard by months of $120- and $130-a-barrel oil, but in Alaska, they've hit the jackpot.

John McCain's senior advisor, Charlie Black, is in trouble. Not because he's a former lobbyist whose professional history undermines the reformist credentials of his candidate. And not because he said something untrue in earshot of a reporter. His mistake was much larger: He accidentally said something true. Speaking to Fortune magazine, Black was asked about the potential effect of a terrorist attack on McCain's White House chances. "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him," Black said.

One of the great frustrations of the libertarian-minded right is how Republicans got stuck being "the party of big business." The quotation marks around the term are at least somewhat necessary because, in many respects, it's not true. The notion that big business is "right wing" has always been more sloppy agitprop than serious analysis. It's true that historically, big business is against socialism and communism -- and understandably so. Socialism and communism were once close to synonymous with expropriation of wealth and the nationalization of industry.

Previously unseen footage emerged Thursday showing Republican presidential candidate John McCain as a prisoner of war in Hanoi on the day his Vietnamese captors released him to the U.S. military. Erik Eriksson, a former reporter from Swedish broadcaster SVT, told the Associated Press he found the video in the network's archives while conducting research for a book about his experiences as a Vietnam War correspondent. A North Vietnamese photographer, working under contract with Eriksson, filmed the release.

Courting the increasingly influential Latino vote, the rival presidential candidates each pledged Saturday to make overhauling the nation's immigration policies a top priority. In separate appearances before the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain looked for every possible way to connect with their audience and emphasize distinctions between themselves. Before the candidates spoke, Adolfo Carrion Jr.

The rich may be different for John McCain and Barack Obama. On almost every issue, the two presidential candidates have staked out opposing positions. Their contrasting views on wealth surfaced during their back-to-back appearances in Southern California on Saturday night when each was asked to define "rich." Obama didn't hesitate. "I would argue that if you are making more than $250,000, then you are in the top 3, 4 percent of this country," he said. "You are doing well." McCain took a far more discursive approach to answering the question but ultimately settled on a dramatically higher figure: "I think if you're just talking about income, how about $5 million?"

The votes are in, and it's bad news for John McCain. Barack Obama has a big lead in the sale of campaign buttons and other election paraphernalia, outselling McCain 3 to 1 on one memorabilia website. An Obama victory could make some of those pieces more valuable, experts say, given the historic nature of his candidacy. A button from the launch of Obama's presidential campaign sold for $150 in August at the American Political Items Collectors National Convention.

David Foster Wallace, the novelist, essayist and humorist best known for his 1996 novel "Infinite Jest," was found dead Friday night at his home in Claremont, according to the Claremont Police Department. He was 46. Jackie Morales, a records clerk at the department, said Wallace's wife called police at 9:30 p.m. Friday saying she had returned home to find that her husband had hanged himself. Wallace, who had taught creative writing at Pomona College since 2002, was on leave this semester.

What has happened to John McCain? This month, the Arizona Republican reacted angrily when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff came out for scrapping the military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on homosexuals -- even though McCain earlier said he'd follow the commanders' advice on the issue. Before that, McCain voted against a bipartisan proposal for a deficit reduction commission, even though he initially was one of the measure's co-sponsors. The vote was a jab at President Obama, who had endorsed the idea to show that he was serious about reducing the deficit.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't the only Hollywood celebrity shaping legislation in the state Capitol this past year. Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rodriguez and Sean Penn were among the A-listers who took on starring roles in crafting or promoting new laws. When state lawmakers enacted a measure cracking down on the paparazzi, Aniston played a key part in shaping the legislation. Landmark legislation to improve the state's water supply was pushed through under pressure from a group of Latino farmers led by actor and comedian Rodriguez.

Just when Barack Obama thought his toughest decisions were behind him -- his Afghanistan strategy, tackling unemployment, what to say to Tiger Woods if he calls -- now he has to draw up a Christmas gift list. What will the current "decider" decide to give this holiday season . . . to both the naughty and the nice? THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY: The new healthcare bill (the gift that keeps on giving). BIG PHARMA: Same as above, with unlimited refills. SENATE REPUBLICANS: Membership in the Whine-of-the-Month Club.

It's an axiom in U.S. politics that the party in power in the White House loses seats in off-year elections. So every Democrat is girding for the fight in 2010. But Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters last week that Democrats have a plan: Remind voters of George W. Bush. "The Republican Party in Washington today is no different than the Republican Party that ran the Congress before," he said. Republicans in New York's 23rd Congressional District race, he said, proved themselves "ideologues" when they dumped a moderate candidate for tea-party favorite Doug Hoffman.

Still not sold on McCain Re "McCain comes back, swinging," Dec. 7 John McCain opposes President Obama's plan to set withdrawal deadlines in Afghanistan. He supported former President George W. Bush's open-ended military engagement for the last eight years, and what has it gotten us? It's time to stop turning our watches back with the honorable old war horse and try something new. His way hasn't worked. Marc Gerber Encino McCain's parting line on the Senate floor last Friday -- "It's been fun" -- is chilling.

One of the great frustrations of the libertarian-minded right is how Republicans got stuck being "the party of big business." The quotation marks around the term are at least somewhat necessary because, in many respects, it's not true. The notion that big business is "right wing" has always been more sloppy agitprop than serious analysis. It's true that historically, big business is against socialism and communism -- and understandably so. Socialism and communism were once close to synonymous with expropriation of wealth and the nationalization of industry.

Soon after the Senate opened its long-awaited debate on healthcare legislation last week, John McCain strode into the chamber to spearhead his party's opposition to the massive bill. He offered Republicans' first amendment and leveled the party's most politically stinging charge -- that cuts in Medicare spending would hurt the elderly. A day later, McCain took the lead in grilling President Obama's team on its newly minted plan for the Afghanistan war. Why, McCain pressed, had the president set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops?

The temperature was close to zero Monday as I left the house to buy Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life." The book was almost impossible to find in Anchorage before its official release Tuesday. The salesman who finally sold me one asked me to promise I wouldn't reveal his identity if he sold me a pre-publication copy. I made the pledge and put down my money. I've written about Palin since she ran for governor in 2006, interviewed her, moderated campaign debates in which she participated.

On the same day that Sarah Palin's memoir is due to be released Nov. 17, another book about the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate is scheduled to hit bookstores: a collection that looks to be critical of the high-profile Republican, subtitled, as it is, "Sarah Palin: An American Nightmare." The book covers are strikingly similar. So, too, the titles: Palin's book is "Going Rogue," a phrase taken from her deviation from John McCain's views during the 2008 campaign.

To Trisha Bowler of Diamond Bar, a proud member of a Republican women's group, Meg Whitman's failure to vote for most of her adult life rules her out as a choice in the 2010 race for governor. "That's a big one with me," said Bowler, decked out Sunday in bejeweled, red-white-and-blue GOP regalia at the party's weekend convention in Indian Wells. The same is true of Whitman's recent turn to the Republican Party, which she joined two years ago. "I'm not thrilled with someone who just became a Republican in 2007; that doesn't sit well with me," Bowler said.