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WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Senator Barack Obama, a rising political star who generates extensive media coverage, is reportedly leaving the door open to a 2008 presidential run. The Democratic lawmaker appears on Time magazine's cover, coinciding with the release of his latest book, "The Audacity of Hope," which sets out his political views. Asked if he will enter the race for the White House once November's midterm legislative elections are out of the way, Obama, 45, avoids offering a definitive answer, but appears to be more seriously weighing the idea. "When the election is over and my book tour is...

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In his second memoir in 11 years, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Sen. Barack Obama paints a picture of America as it is and as he believes it should be. Obama, 45, tackles faith, politics, values, race, opportunity and the United States' place in the global village in the 288-page tome from Crown Publishing Group scheduled to hit bookstore shelves Tuesday. The title of Obama's new book comes from the keynote address he delivered at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004, in which he said the "audacity of hope" is "God's greatest gift to...

Sen. Barack Obama has the charisma and ambition to run for president, but is he ready to answer the tough questions? Foremost among them is whether he will run in 2008, and he's not denying it. But the mania surrounding the Illinois Democrat's book tour is reminiscent of the Colin Powell mania in 1995, when the general leveraged speculation of a presidential run into huge book sales. And that's not all they have in common.

Endorsing Farrakhan's Man? By Joel Mowbray FrontPageMagazine.com | October 2, 2006 Heading into November, Democrats potentially have a story that ought to be both feel-good and helpful in appealing to a small, but growing constituency. The Democratic Congressional candidate for Minnesota’s very blue Fifth District is on the verge of becoming the first-ever Muslim elected to Congress. But embracing the candidate poses enormous risks. Keith Ellison has a disturbing history with the Nation of Islam and has received financial and other help from a self-identified supporter of Hamas. Over the next two months, the Democrats will need to embrace or...

Who is he and what killed him? Those are the questions authorities are trying to answer in connection with the death of a man clad in black leather, found with a neck collar hooked on a wrought iron fence in Greenwich Village. Thursday, the city's medical examiner's office said an autopsy failed to determine how the man died. The body was discovered at 6:40 a.m. Wednesday by a woman walking her dog on Hudson Street, police said. He was dressed in black leather, including a mask, and his face was pressed against the fence, police said. A spiked dog collar...

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama joined Maryland's top Democrats yesterday to rally for Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin's run for the U.S. Senate in a display of party unity that also highlighted the state party's lack of black candidates for statewide office. The most prominent black Democrats among more than 50 elected officials on the outdoor stage at the University of Maryland College Park were Mr. Obama of Illinois and Kweisi Mfume, the former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People president, who lost Maryland's Democratic primary for the Senate to Mr. Cardin. Mr. Obama, the country's only black senator, dismissed...

Mayor Daley is not reserving a seat on the Barack Obama bandwagon alongside television talk show diva Oprah Winfrey and actress Halle Berry. But if the freshman senator with the rock star appeal wants to run for president in 2008, Chicago's most powerful Democrat sees no problem with it. "Everybody wants him. If he wants to run, he should run. I mean, why not?" Daley said Wednesday. Pressed on whether Obama was seasoned enough to make the race, the mayor said, "Well, you know, if people want to run, they're going to run. I mean, you're not going to stop...

Oprah Winfrey says she is not urging Barack Obama to run for president, but wishes he would and pledged to "do everything in my power to campaign for him" if he did. "I'm reading his book right now called The Audacity of Hope, and I think his sense of hope and optimism for this country and what is possible for the United States is the kind of thing that I would like to get behind," Winfrey said. "It's the kind of the thing that if I were ever gonna run myself, he says all the things that I would want...

The President signed S.2590 into law this morning. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act mandates the Office of Management and Budget to create an online, searchable database of all government contracts, grants, and awards greater than $25,000. The full text of the bill can be found here Here is a transcript from the signing ceremony: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9:47 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Please be seated -- except for you all. (Laughter.) Welcome. Every April, Americans sit down and fill out their tax returns, and they find out how much of their hard-earned money is coming here to Washington. Once the...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A man wanted since 2001 for sex offenses in Iowa was arrested in Utah after a suspicious landlord doubted his Social Security number and called the FBI, authorities said Wednesday. Kirk Swearingen, 45, likely won't be returning to the Midwest. He was indicted on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography after agents examined compact discs in his computer case. "He's here now, and we have federal charges. We would certainly like to keep him," said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City. The mandatory minimum sentence for receiving...

WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday called the view that President Bush has been perfect in fighting terrorism an illusion and urged Democrats to challenge the Bush administration's policies. "On the terrorism front, I'm happy to have that debate," the first-term Illinois senator said following a speech on energy at Georgetown University. "The notion that the president has led a flawless policy on terrorism is an illusion." Obama, mentioned as a possible 2008 presidential candidate, said the nation is involved in "a war in Iraq that has vastly expanded the number of terrorist recruits, a deteriorating situation in...

The Barack Obama for president bandwagon has hit Illinois, but voters are split on when the freshman U.S. senator should get in the driver's seat. A quarter of voters want the South Side Democrat to seek the White House in 2008, and another 38 percent think he should wait until a later presidential year, according to a Chicago Sun-Times/NBC5 Poll. That means a combined three out of five voters see him as presidential timber.

INDIANOLA, Iowa - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., warned Democratic activists Sunday that the party must take a tougher stance on national security if it wants to succeed in the November elections. "What Democrats have to do is to close the deal," said Obama, the keynote speaker at Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (news, bio, voting record)'s 29th annual steak fry. "We have got to show we have a serious agenda for change." Obama's appearance in Iowa, where precinct caucuses launch the presidential season, has raised a number of eyebrows about his intentions for a presidential run in 2008. Though only a...

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - The music industry scored some brownie points with rising star, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, when it handed him its ultimate award on Wednesday, a Grammy that he won earlier this year for best spoken word album. The Illinois Democrat, honored for his 2005 recording of "Dreams From My Father," wasn't able to attend the awards ceremony in Los Angeles last February as his day job got in the way, so the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences came to him. The presentation was made as part of the academy's annual Grammys on the Hill Day,...

NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenya stepped up criticism of US Senator Barack Obama, accusing him of insulting the Kenyan people and trivializing their achievements during a visit to his father's homeland. Two days after abruptly changing its tone on Obama, who had been welcomed as a returning hero but incurred official wrath with blistering criticism of corruption and ethnic divisions, Nairobi launched a new attack on the lawmaker. Less than 24 hours after the rising US political star left Kenya to continue an African tour, government spokesman Alfred Mutua blasted Obama for choosing "to dwell on non-issues" in a nationally televised...

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Police in New Smyrna Beach are searching for a burglar in the buff. A naked man is once again breaking into homes and tickling women's feet. It has happened several times in the last five years. The latest incident was Saturday morning in New Smyrna Beach. The victim told deputies she had fallen asleep at her home, on Katy Drive. When she woke up, the naked man was crouched behind the couch, tickling her foot. The police report said when she screamed, the man dashed across the room with his hands over his private area,...

NAIROBI, Kenya - During a visit to his father's homeland, Sen. Barack Obama electrified the thousands of Kenyans who thronged every stop of his tour. Some hoped for promises of largesse, others to bask in the glory of a successful African-American politician, but all wanted to see the man they consider a local kid made good. "Simply by coming here, he was making a very important statement. He was telling all Kenyans, and especially our youth, that the sky is really the limit," columnist Dominic Odipo wrote in Kenya's oldest newspaper, The Standard. This despite the fact that Obama never...

Captured Documents Reveal Hizbullah´s Fundraising Network 15:24 Aug 28, '06 / 4 Elul 5766by IsraelNN Staff Documents captured during the Lebanon war reveal how Hizbullah raises funds. Through a non-profit association, the terror group collects donations from Lebanese in Lebanon, the U.S. and elsewhere. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Tel Aviv's Center for Special Studies translated and analyzed leaflets and other documents related to Hizbullah's fund-raising efforts that were captured from Hizbullah terrorists in the villages of Aita al-Sha'ab and Aita'run earlier in August. The leaflets and other documents captured were issued by a Hizbullah institution called...