 | | Washington Post Politics | |  | McCain Puts New Strategist Atop Campaign Facing growing dissatisfaction both inside and outside his campaign, Sen. John McCain ordered a shake-up of his team yesterday, reducing the role of campaign manager Rick Davis and vesting political adviser Steve Schmidt with "full operational control" of his bid for the presidency.

 Dan Balz and Michael D. Shear
| Obama Calls for National Service COLORADO SPRINGS, July 2 -- Continuing to press the themes of values, faith and patriotism, Sen. Barack Obama exhorted Americans on Wednesday "to step into the strong currents of history" and volunteer for service to their country, pledging to dramatically expand opportunities for those accepting...

 Jonathan Weisman
| Colombians Briefed McCain Before Rescue CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 2 -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spoke repeatedly Tuesday and early Wednesday about how he would work as president to free three American hostages held by leftist guerrillas in Colombia, but he declined to reveal one key fact: Colombian President Ãlvaro Uribe and his aides...

 Juliet Eilperin
| The Trail Barack Obama does not support a proposed California constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the state, he announced in a letter sent to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club of San Francisco this week. "I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California...

 Post
| Bush Makes Final Push for Global Climate Deal In his final months in office, President Bush is mounting a last-ditch effort to forge a new global deal to limit greenhouse-gas emissions but finds himself once again at odds with much of the rest of the world on how to address climate change.

 Michael Abramowitz and Blaine Harden
| Echoes of War It is, I suppose, the curse of the baby boomers: Every presidential campaign is ultimately about Vietnam.

 Howard Kurtz
| Bush Addresses Focus Of Final G8 Summit BUSH: Good morning. Next week I'm going to travel to Japan for the eighth and final G-8 summit of my presidency. In recent summits, G-8 countries have made pledges to help developing nations address challenges from health care to education to corruption. Now, we need to show the world that the G...

 washingtonpost.com
| A Backlog Of Cases Alleging Fraud More than 900 cases alleging that government contractors and drugmakers have defrauded taxpayers out of billions of dollars are languishing in a backlog that has built up over the past decade because the Justice Department cannot keep pace with the surge in charges brought by whistle-blowers,...

 Carrie Johnson
| Obama Got Discount on Home Loan Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois.

 Joe Stephens
| Obama Proposes Expanding Faith-Based Program ZANESVILLE, Ohio, July 1 -- Sen. Barack Obama, seeking to reach out to religious voters, proposed strengthening the White House program assisting faith-based social service organization Tuesday, while insisting that those groups not discriminate against aid recipients or aid workers.

 Jonathan Weisman
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