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HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's ruling party geared up on Thursday for a final battle to keep Robert Mugabe in power, declaring itself ready for a presidential election run-off as police arrested foreign journalists in Harare. With no official result yet declared five days after the poll, tensions were heightened further by news that a New York Times correspondent and a colleague were held after a raid on a guest house for reporting without accreditation. South African President Thabo Mbeki meanwhile urged all sides to accept the official results of the election as diplomatic efforts were stepped up. While the opposition...

Dermatologist Shelley Sekula Gibbs and former U.S. Senate staffer Pete Olson indicated on Wednesday they will campaign based on their contrasting service and backgrounds after emerging from a congressional contest whose 10 conservative candidates agreed on virtually every policy issue. The pair advanced to an April 8 runoff that will produce the Republican nominee to challenge Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, in the 22nd Congressional District.

(11/12) Three way runoff: Which one of the following candidates should pro-life conservatives rally behind to defeat the liberal abortionists Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton? (A) Duncan Hunter (B) Mitt Romney (C) Fred Thompson

ATLANTA (AP) - Republican Paul Broun emerged today as Jim Whitehead's likely runoff challenger in the Tenth congressional district. Democrat James Marlow, who trailed Broun by just 187 votes in the race for second place, issued a statement saying had congratulated the two Republicans. But Marlow, an Internet businessman from Lincolnton, stopped short of conceding. He said his campaign will watch the final returns come in. Military and overseas ballot must arrive by Friday to be counted in the race. The secretary of state must then certify the results within 14 days. If Marlow trails Broun by a margin of...

The race to replace the late U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood on Capitol Hill appears headed to a runoff. The early favorite, former state Sen. Jim Whitehead, a Republican, led the crowded field of 10 candidates in Tuesday's special election. But he was unable to crack the 50 percent mark needed to claim the seat. With 81 percent of precincts reporting, Whitehead had 39 percent of the vote. Jockeying to challenge him on July 17 are Democrat James Marlow, an Internet businessman from Lincolnton, and Republican Paul Broun, a doctor from Athens. With ballots still being counted, the race for second...

Tom Leppert claimed victory in the Dallas mayor runoff Saturday night as opponent Ed Oakley conceded shortly before 10 p.m. Mr. Leppert rocketed to a strong early lead, capturing about 58 percent of early voting ballots, according to unofficial Dallas County election results. In telling his supporters that the election was over, Mr. Oakley said he had spoken with Mr. Leppert and told him he ran a good race and would be a good leader. Describing his own campaign as being the "underdog," Mr. Oakley said, " I can't tell you what it has been like to win races in...

ANNAPOLIS -- From the soap used to wash dishes to the cars driven to work, Marylanders will feel large and small effects from the recent legislative session some have called the most environmental in years. Democrats this year celebrated their stronger grip on state government and their return to the governor's mansion with a spate of earth-friendly bills that became the dominant theme of the session. Lawmakers tightened emissions standards on new cars. They slashed the amount of water-polluting phosphorus allowed in dishwashing detergent. They ended the commercial harvest of diamondback terrapins and set new goals for solar energy. Oysters...

Former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez defeated seven-term Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla in a runoff today, adding another Democrat to Congress and deciding Texas' final congressional seat. With more than half the precincts reporting in the state's largest district, Rodriguez had 57 percent to Bonilla's 43 percent. The two were the top vote-getters in a special election held Nov. 7, but neither got 50 percent, prompting the runoff. Rodriguez's win gives Congress another Democrat after the party won control of Congress in the November elections. Texas added one Democrat already in the suburban Houston 22nd Congressional District once held by Republican...

ATLANTA -- Republican Chuck Eaton gave the Georgia GOP another victory Tuesday, defeating Democratic incumbent David Burgess in the only statewide runoff election to give his party all five seats on the Public Service Commission. In Camden County, Herb Rowland won the non-partisan runoff for the board of education district 4 over Mary Keating. Rowland received 620 votes, Keating got 336 votes. With 98 percent of the precincts statewide reporting, Eaton had 111,768 votes, or about 52 percent, compared with 101,256 for Burgess, the lone Democrat on the board. As the only statewide runoff election, it drew a light turnout....

Lydia Graves Chassaniol, a Winona restaurant owner, credited her varied professional experience and the hard work of volunteers for her victory over Hiram Eastland III, a Greenwood attorney, in Tuesday's runoff in Senate District 14. According to complete but unofficial totals, Chassaniol won by 5,154 to 3,766 votes, or 58 percent to 42 percent. She won five of the six counties in District 14 with only Tallahatchie County going to Eastland. "We've had a lot of good people, young people, working in the race," Chassaniol said. She said she visited civic groups throughout the district, explaining her positions on issues...

Oh, for crying out loud! Cynthia McKinney is at it again. Blaming everyone and everything for her ills other than herself. This time, she is on attack regarding her recent runoff loss to Hank Johnson. During a recent speech in front of the National Dialogue and Revival for Social Justice in the Black Church, she blamed her loss on the media, electronic voting machines, Republicans and Georgia's requirement that the winner of an election must receive at least 50 percent of the vote. Is that it, Cynthia? What about days with the letter "y" in them or months that have...

APN) ATLANTA -- US Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) is pursuing numerous legal avenues to challenge the so-called “results” of not only her recent Primary and Runoff Elections, but also the fundamental reality that the current E-voting system in Georgia does not provide us with “results” that are in any way meaningful. The Congresswoman and her attorneys and campaign are looking at ways in which they can either join or support Donzella James’s legal election contest filed last week, Donzella James, who is working closely with the Congresswoman, told Atlanta Progressive News. The US Department of Justice is already said to...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Sen. Joe Lieberman closed his anti-war opponent's double-digit lead yesterday to just six points as both candidates scrambled across the state ahead of today's Democratic primary. The latest polling results were a relief to the veteran Democrat, who has represented this state in the Senate for nearly two decades and who just six years ago was his party's vice presidential nominee. Mr. Lieberman predicted yesterday that the movement in polls showed momentum at his back and said he expects to win today. "I feel they were flirting with the other guy for a while, wanting to send...

Atlanta, GA (AHN) - New polls show incumbent Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney still trails rival, two-term DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson. An InsiderAdvantage survey shows Johnson leading the Congresswoman, 53 percent to 40. According to Atlanta television station, WXIA-TV, on Monday morning, both candidates squared off on the radio in attempt to reach more voters on the Frank and Wanda in the Morning Show on V-103. In the V-103 debate, McKinney charged that Johnson is the candidate backed by Republican voters and Republican money while Johnson pointed out that McKinney was not present for a recent House vote on a critical...

Republicans don’t have a dog in either fight, but two nationally significant races on Tuesday’s ballot will tell us a great deal about the mood of the country — and the future of two-party politics. The one, of course, is Georgia’s 4th Congressional District, where incumbent Rep. Cynthia McKinney is in the final stages of her political career. But for an out-of-district white guy who sapped 5,253 votes, most of which otherwise would have gone to challenger Hank Johnson, she would be walking around in stunned defeat now. Johnson may not beat her Tuesday, but the end is near. Her...

A new poll by Insider Advantage shows challenger Hank Johnson with a hefty lead over incumbent Cynthia McKinney in the Democratic run-off for the 4th District congressional race. The poll shows Johnson leading McKinney, 46 to 21 percent, with a third of voters undecided. The survey recorded the responses of 489 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 5 percent. Run-offs are notorious for low turnout, which often makes telephone surveys unreliable. Matt Towery, CEO of InsiderAdvantage, said he was unwilling to say that McKinney was headed for certain defeat. "But is she in deep, deep, deep,...

Jacob edges Cannon to force runoff Conventioneers pick Christensen to face Democrat Matheson with a finally 'united' GOP vote By Glen Warchol and Rebecca Walsh The Salt Lake Tribune SANDY - Illegal immigration was the core issue at the Utah Republican Convention on Saturday that hurled 10-year veteran Congressman Chris Cannon into a June primary election with political novice John Jacob. "Immigration is huge with the delegates," Jacob said after a runoff ballot gave him 52 percent of the vote to Cannon's 48 percent. "Chris Cannon tells them, 'I'm tough on illegal immigration - look at my record.' Well, his...

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have found evidence in eastern North America that the snow is melting and running off into rivers earlier than it did in the first half of the 20th century. According to a USGS study published in the most recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters, winter-spring flows in many rivers in the northern United States and Canada are occurring earlier by 5-10 days. "We studied rural, unregulated rivers with more than 50 years of USGS and Environment Canada river flow data," explained Glenn Hodgkins, lead author and hydrologist at the USGS Maine Water Science...

SANTIAGO (AFP) - Socialist Michelle Bachelet became Chile's first-ever female president after sweeping the national election with 53 percent of the vote, according to partial results.

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Illegal immigration emerged as a critical issue in the race to fill the nation's only vacant House seat, as an anti-immigration activist siphoned off enough votes from the GOP-backed favorite to force a runoff election. State Sen. John Campbell finished with 46 percent of the vote in Tuesday's special election in Southern California's heavily Republican Orange County, but failed to gain the majority needed to avoid a runoff. He will face the top vote-getters from four other parties in the Dec. 6 election. Second-place finisher Marilyn Brewer, a moderate Republican who drew 17 percent of the...