John McCain

COLUMBUS - U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lance Armstrong have something in common despite their different professions and their 34 years apart: they're both cancer survivors.

McCain came to the Lance Armstrong Foundation's second annual LIVESTRONG cancer summit at Ohio State University, home to the renowned James Cancer Hospital to deliver a speech about how his health care plan would combat cancer and take questions from the audience about cancer.

McCain said his battle with melanoma skin cancer in 2000 helped him understand people's larger war against cancer - an effort he praised them for making.

PRESCOTT -- Wednesday night, residents of the 1st Congressional District gathered to hear Republican candidate Dr. Sandra Livingstone inside her campaign headquarters, which occupy the corner of an office building that overlooks Courthouse Square.

Livingstone, who is challenging Republican Party-backed Syndey Hay and other candidates in the primary, filed her candidacy just before the June 4 deadline, and flew under the radar until her Federal Election Commission report came out, showing she had near-parity with Hay in cash on hand. Her June fundraising came in at $4,725 - well behind Hay's quarterly take of about $95,000 - but she has put up $200,000 of her own money, meaning she is very much in the race from a money perspective.

Around 20 people, mainly senior citizens, showed up for the Livingstone town hall, where they heard her discuss Second Amendment rights, energy policy and her recommendations for bringing the nation's finances under control.

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Phoenix) received some welcome news Thursday in the form of a new Fox News poll that shows him trailing his Democratic rival, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) by one point. However, the day brought unwelcome coverage as well - both in the form of a New York Times article highlighting McCain's vulnerabilities in his home state, and a report that Obama raised more money in Arizona during June than did the state's senior senator.

Fox News released a poll showing the gap between Obama and McCain at one percentage point, with Obama leading 41-40. With independent candidates included, Obama's lead increases marginally, giving him the edge 40 to 37.

Thursday's Gallup daily presidential tracking poll also showed Obama with a slimmer-than-average lead, besting McCain 45 to 43. However, the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Obama leading the race 47 to 41.

Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford, of Louisville.: Politicker photo

Calling rising gas prices an "economic noose" around the American consumer's neck, Democratic Senate nominee Bruce Lunsford released his energy plan this afternoon at a Louisville press conference. The plan contains eight provisions and is a mixture of some new proposals and others the candidate has hit before on the campaign trail. Some of the points of the plan align with recent proposals by Congressional Democrats and some at odds with other high-profile members of his party.

With a eight policy points touted as a "plan for energy independence," Lunsford said he would approach energy needs with both "immediate" and "long-term" solutions.

His immediate solutions include releasing more oil from the strategic petroleum reserve - an emergency oil reserve maintained by the Department of Energy - and "fully" closing the so-called "Enron Loophole," a provision that allows for speculation on energy markets.

Lunsford said previous efforts to close this loophole lacked sufficient enforcement provisions.

One of Lunsford's other short-term solutions is his oft-referenced support of the gas tax holiday, a controversial policy that divided the Democratic presidential primary field and is supported by presumptive Republican presidential nominee and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

The environment is Republican Andy Harris' biggest hurdle on his path to Congress from the 1st District, though the issue has been largely absent from voters' minds in times of heightened focus on the economy and foreign affairs.

Yet this vulnerability made it all the more surprising when his campaign rejected the NIMBY argument and embraced the policy of off-shore drilling last month.

Now, a story is kicking around that GOP presidential candidate John McCain cancelled a photo-op on an oil rig not because of the stated reason of weather, but because of a spill.

If the story gets legs, it could rocket the issue in the 1st's shore-based economy.

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher defended U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) visit to Germany today while U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) visits Columbus today for a town hall meeting about cancer with Lance Armstrong this evening.

Fisher said Obama's emphasis on foreign policy is not entirely removed from America's domestic concerns.

“He is demonstrating, I believe, his leadership ability and capacity on a broad global scale, and this is the right time to be doing it," Fisher said. "I think it’s right to say that this is not an ‘either-or.' I think that the fact he is spending so much time abroad...should not be an indication to anyone that his first priority isn’t America’s domestic policy. But we know the domestic policy and foreign policy are intertwined more than ever before.”

Fisher said he expected Obama would visit Ohio more times than McCain by Election Day, calling the state the “epicenter” of the presidential campaign.

Fisher was asked whether Obama's answers to questions about the surge's success will hurt him among voters. Fisher stuck to the Obama campaign's message on Iraq: if it were up to Obama, the U.S. would have never invaded in the first place.

“The vast majority of Ohioans I have talked to believe our entry into the Iraq conflict was misguided from the very start,” Fisher said. “While I think it’s fair to say that we may parse words about where we are now in terms of the surge, I don’t think we should ever forget the fact that it has been Senator Obama from day one who’s been consistent in advocating that this was not the single most-effective way to combat al Qaeda and terrorism."

A new radio advertisement released by the Republican National Committee and approved by John McCain, attacks presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama for his recent visits to Berlin and Paris.

With U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) high-profile overseas trip set to stop in Berlin, the Republican National Committee is putting out its own message in Berlin.

But not the one in Germany where Obama is heading. Rather, an RNC advertisement is airing in American cities of the same name in three battleground states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

Titled "Obama Chooses Washington Over Our Military," the 60-second spot accuses Obama of voting against giving "critical resources" to troops.

"Obama chose Washington politics over the needs of our military," the ads say.

With Obama garnering the vast amount of media attention this week during his trip abroad, the campaign of U.S. Sen. Joihn McCain (R-Ariz.), as well as the national and state Republican parties, have grown increasingly frustrated in their efforts to put their candidate in the spotlight, sending continual e-mails to reporters trying to highlight perceived missteps by the presumptive Democratic nominee during his trip.

Next to Rush Limbaugh's broadcast, the least-likely place you may hear a radio ad supporting Barack Obama is on Christian radio - until now.

The Matthew 25 political action committee will begin airing radio ads on Christian stations in Ohio, which will feature the senator from Illinois speaking about his faith in Jesus Christ. It features Obama saying the following:

"I think we make a mistake when we fail to acknowledge the power of faith in people's lives.

Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts. You need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away because you're human and need an ally in this difficult journey."

I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world - as a source of hope."

The group is led by Mara Vanderslice, a veteran of Democratic religious outreach programs, including her position as faith outreach director for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, a member of Gov. Ted Strickland's (D-Lisbon) 2006 campaign and worked for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.).

A new Rasmussen poll has U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) beating U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by 6 percentage points, which is outside the poll's margin-of-error. The poll shows Obama gaining 47 percent of the vote and McCain with 41 percent.