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Palin power helps McCain draw level in race for the White House

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The introduction of Sarah Palin as a running mate and a week of sustained attacks on Barack Obama from the Republican National Convention have helped John McCain draw level in the latest opinion polls.

Pit bull in lipstick: A heartbeat from the presidency?

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Imagine a freezing morning next February. The newly elected President, John McCain, at 72 the oldest man to enter the White House, has died suddenly, and his Vice-President, Sarah Palin, is about to be sworn in. Aged 44, she will be the first female president in American history, and the world's reigning superpower will be led by a "hockey mom" whose only experience of office, aside from two years as governor of Alaska, was as mayor of her home town.

Battleground USA: Where the presidency will be won and lost

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

This weekend, the race for presidency of the United States began in earnest. With the party conventions behind them, the two candidates – one a man who could become the oldest ever to enter the White House, the other who would be the first black president – have returned to the campaign trail with a vengeance. Barack Obama is visiting fairgrounds in Indiana; his Republican opponent, John McCain (plus running mate Sarah Palin), is in Colorado and New Mexico. Needless to say, the states are key ones.

US elections: All the Presidents' girls

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

What is it about the daughters of America's elected monarchs and monarchs-in-waiting, when they arrive in Washington DC? Go through the 16 men who have been either president or vice-president since 1961 – from the era of John F Kennedy to that of George W Bush – and their sons actually outnumber their daughters, by 27 to 26.

Obama: 'They talked about me but not about voters'

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Barack Obama entered the final stretch of the race for the White House by accusing John McCain of presiding over a convention in St Paul that repeatedly attacked him while offering nothing to address the economic vice that is tightening on most voters.

Palin: the real scandal

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Seen from the air, Sarah Palin's state is an environmental wonderland. From Anchorage to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, there is a vast landscape of snow-capped peaks, fjords, crystal glaciers, coastal lagoons, wide river deltas and tundra.

Buoyant Republicans ready for 60-day fight

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:36:21 GMT

After party conventions that produced thrills, spills and television ratings in America higher even than for the Olympics, the two runners for the White House, Barack Obama and John McCain, today set forth on the final sprint in a race that promises to make history however it turns out.

Now the battle begins

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:36:21 GMT

McCain: I'll fight for American values

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:46:30 GMT

John McCain urged Americans to fight for their country, to make history, and to rid Washington of its "constant partisan rancour" as he accepted the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

Cheers and jeers at Palin speech in Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse on Anchorage's 6th Avenue was heaving as Sarah Palin delivered her barnstorming speech to the Republican Convention thousands of miles away in St Paul, Minnesota. Grizzled boat operators rubbed shoulders with fishermen and big-game hunters in the rowdy bar as the Alaskan Governor's address beamed down to them from the bar's giant screens.

McCain uses patriotism in bid to steal the show

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

John McCain sought yesterday to take back the spotlight from his running mate, Sarah Palin, pledging in a lofty address to the National Republican Convention to bludgeon the status quo in Washington and follow long-held instincts to bridge party divisions as a president.

Palin takes swipe at Obama in big speech

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:54:33 GMT

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin portrayed herself as a "pit bull in lipstick" and lived up to her words as she savaged Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in the most important speech of her career.

Leonard Doyle: In Alaska, reputation of Palin is still whiter than white

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The skater moves swiftly across the ice, slamming the puck past the goalkeeper's face into the back of the net. Wasilla's hockey moms and dads erupt while players smash headlong into their opponents. Dog-sledding, moose hunting and snowmobiles, this is the town where the Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin grew up. Only politics can rival hockey here as the favourite contact sport, and as locals testify, she excels at both. The tactics she learnt at the same community ice rink have fuelled her meteoric rise to national prominence and the main stage at the Republican convention last night.

McCains show off adopted daughter Bridget

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:28:42 GMT

The unlikely family tableau at the Republican National Convention surely jolted millions of viewers at home: there was Cindy McCain, strings of pearls about her neck as usual, clasping hands with her adopted 17-year-old daughter Bridget. Mother and daughter were on the edge of crying.

McCain's his own man, says Bush

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:57:45 GMT

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is an "independent man who thinks for himself", President George Bush said today.

McCain denies hasty vetting of Palin as lawyers sent to Alaska

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:08:43 GMT

The John McCain camp confirmed yesterday they had sent a "jump team" of lawyers and media communications experts to Alaska to handle the burst of potentially damaging publicity surrounding vice presidential pick Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter, Bristol.

As concerns deepen, Republicans prepare to welcome Palin

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:08:43 GMT

Republican loyalists will rise to their feet as one tomorrow night at their convention in St Paul, Minnesota, to welcome Sarah Palin to their presidential ticket in a show of appreciation that will mask deepening concerns that her unorthodox family background is becoming a liability for the party.

Republicans to show united front as they welcome Palin

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:08:43 GMT

How late change of heart came back to haunt Republicans

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:41:29 GMT

When the Democrats were gathering in Denver to anoint Barack Obama and Joe Biden as their nominees last week, Sarah Palin was just one of many names on a long list of potential running mates for their Republican rival, John McCain, and seemingly a long way down that list.

How McCain panicked into dangerous Palin gamble

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:41:29 GMT

Evidence continued to mount today that John McCain, who will this week formally accept the presidential nomination for the Republican Party in St Paul, made a rushed decision to select Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, as his running mate and that normal vetting procedures were curtailed.

Storm clouds have a silver lining for McCain

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Republican party strategists were scrambling last night to make gold out of the mud left by Hurricane Gustav, recasting their curtailed convention in St Paul as a call to arms for Americans to open their hearts and wallets to victims of the storm, and painting Senator John McCain as a responsive and compassionate leader.

Patrick Cockburn: White House strategy is to help McCain win in November

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Political events in Iraq are seldom what they seem. The hand- over by the US military of control of Anbar province, once the heartland of the Sunni rebellion, to Iraqi forces is a case in point. The US will keep 25,000 American soldiers in Anbar, so the extent to which the Iraqi government will really take over is debatable. But the future of Anbar is a crucial pointer to the fate of Iraq. It is a vast area and one of the few parts of Iraq that is overwhelmingly Sunni.

Palin confirms daughter's pregnancy

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:52:42 GMT

The Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has announced that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

McCain shuts down Party convention

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

John McCain in effect froze the Republican Party convention in St Paul, Minnesota yesterday, telling Americans that it was time to forswear politics as usual as Hurricane Gustav bore down on the Gulf Coast.

My chat with the 'hockey mom' from small-town Alaska

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

A few things have come to pass for Sarah Palin since we shared a coffee at the high oak table in her kitchen. For one, she has had another child, making her a mother of five. Her long crusade against corruption in her state seems to have been validated with charges laid recently at senior Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Finally, there is the small affair of John McCain choosing her as his running mate.