Carrots and Sticks: Obama's split media strategy
1:36
The same president who aggressively harnesses the power of the press to promote his agenda has taken to lacing his comments with criticisms of the media, with no bigger target than the gabby culture of cable television....
FBI, police rescue 52 kids in prostitution probes
11:49
FBI officials say they have rescued 52 children in a series of raids around the country aimed at under-age prostitution. Authorities say the youngest victim was just 10 years old. The bureau and local police officials...
AFL-CIO head flexible on taxing high-value plans
11:47
The head of the AFL-CIO says he's willing to consider a tax on high-value health insurance plans _ something labor has vehemently opposed _ if middle-class workers aren't hurt. The comments by AFL-CIO president Richard...
Correction: Obama-Presidential Unit Citation story
11:43
In an Oct. 20 story about President Barack Obama awarding an Army squadron the military's highest unit honor for its Vietnam War rescue of fellow soldiers, The Associated Press misidentified the unit. It was Troop A,...
Obama to address Marines, sailors on Monday
7:13
President Barack Obama meets Monday with his national security team to discuss Pakistan and the war in Afghanistan. The meeting in the White House Situation Room comes as Obama and NATO members consider whether to send...
Obama quotes about the news media
7:02
Quotes by President Barack Obama about the media: ___ "The media encourages some of the outliers in behavior because, let's face it, the easiest way to get on television right now is to be really rude." _ Sept. 18 ...
Obama quotes about the news media
4:15
Quotes by President Barack Obama about the media: ___ "The media encourages some of the outliers in behavior because, let's face it, the easiest way to get on television right now is to be really rude." _ Sept. 18 ...
Lawmakers split on timing of Afghan decision
11:22
Top lawmakers sparred Sunday over the timing of President Barack Obama's decision on how to move ahead in Afghanistan, with Republicans urging a quick move to boost troop levels and Democrats counseling patience. In...
Yes, she can: Obama's golfers a men's club no more
10:54
The White House scored a stroke for gender equality in sports on Sunday. President Barack Obama's chief domestic policy adviser, Melody Barnes, became the first woman to play in the president's golf foursome. She...
AP sources: Senate likely to cut employer mandate
4:39
Businesses would not be required to provide health insurance under legislation being readied for Senate debate, but large firms would owe significant penalties if any worker needed government subsidies to buy coverage...
Biden to discuss future of former GM plant in Del.
3:28
Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce Tuesday that a California luxury automaker will build plug-in hybrid electric vehicles at a former General Motors plant in Delaware. The White House said Sunday that...
Obama: Iraq attacks an attempt to derail progress
2:39
President Barack Obama said Sunday's "outrageous attacks" outside government offices in the Iraqi capital "reveal the hateful and destructive agenda of those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that they...
Lawmakers split on timing of Afghan decision
2:34
Top lawmakers sparred Sunday over the timing of President Barack Obama's decision on how to move ahead in Afghanistan, with Republicans urging a quick move to boost troop levels and Democrats counseling patience. In...
Nuclear energy becomes pivotal in climate debate
10:36
Nuclear energy, once vilified by environmentalists and facing a dim future, has become a pivotal bargaining chip as Senate Democrats hunt for Republican votes to pass climate legislation. The industry's long-standing...
Nelson open to trimmed-down public option approach
10:08
A key Democratic senator says he may be open to a government-run insurance program that allows states to participate only if they ask to participate. Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska says he is not ready to...
Schumer: Public option near votes needed to pass
9:50
A key Democratic senator says he believes Democrats are close to the 60 votes they need to advance a health care bill that includes a new program for government-backed health insurance. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York...
Senate GOP leader: More swine flu help if asked
9:21
The Senate's Republican leader is pledging to give the Obama administration any more help it may need to fight the swine flu outbreak. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says the administration has told Congress that...
Patients - and patience - in health care end game
1:21
In Congress these days, the health care debate is as much about patience as patients. In a closed-door meeting of feisty House Democrats this past week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., served notice that in these final...
Al-Qaida and the Taliban: Knowing your enemy
12:00
Senior al-Qaida leaders are forging deeper relationships with Pakistani militants and often operating from their camps inside the Pakistan border, fueling Obama administration arguments for a shift in the Afghan war...
Look at insurgent groups on Afghan-Pakistan border
12:00
A complex network of insurgents is battling U.S. forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The groups include: _Afghan Taliban: A hard-line Pakistani-sponsored movement that began forming during the 1970s as part...
Ensign resignation would set up Nevada scramble
11:53
Sen. John Ensign, dogged by ethics allegations and questions about an extramarital affair with a former aide, has vowed not to resign. But if Nevada's junior senator were to leave office, voluntarily or otherwise, the...
Republicans say Dems health care plans too costly
10:49
With landmark health care votes expected in the coming weeks, Republicans are warning voters that the Democratic plan to expand coverage to millions who lack it will increase costs for the average American. In the...
Obama: Time for big banks to help small businesses
10:46
Big banks that got big bailout bucks should return the favor by lending more to qualified small businesses, President Barack Obama says. In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said too many small...
White House situation room monitored wayward plane
9:32
There was concern at the White House about that wayward Northwest Airlines jet that flew past its scheduled destination in Minneapolis. White House spokesman Nick Shapiro told The Associated Press on Saturday that...
Report defends stimulus spending, questions linger
7:43
A watchdog's review of stimulus spending by the Department of Homeland Security doesn't resolve the controversy about how the Obama administration allocated the money for border projects. The inspector general's...
EPA: Climate bill could cost family $100 annually
7:30
A Senate plan to tackle global warming would add about $100 a year to the energy costs for a typical household, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. The analysis released late Friday by the...
White House opens Web site programming to public
3:37
A programming overhaul of the White House's Web site has set the tech world abuzz. For low-techies, it's a snooze _ you won't notice a thing. The online-savvy administration on Saturday switched to open-source code for...
Obama calls French, Russian presidents on Iran
3:33
President Barack Obama has called French President Nicolas Sarkozy (sar-koh-ZEE') and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (dih-MEE'-tree med-VYEH'-dyev) to reaffirm their commitment to a U.N.-backed plan that would ship...
White House: Syria should release detained lawyer
2:07
The White House says it's deeply concerned about the arrest of a 78-year-old human rights lawyer in Syria and wants an end to what it calls the Syrian government's "practice of arbitrary arrests." International rights...
Obama declares swine flu a national emergency
12:26
President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency and empowered his health secretary to suspend federal requirements and speed treatment for thousands of infected people. The declaration that...
Look at insurgent groups on Afghan-Pakistan border
11:09
A complex network of insurgents is battling U.S. forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The groups include: _Afghan Taliban: A hard-line Pakistani-sponsored movement that began forming during the 1970s as part...
EPA: Climate bill could add $100 year in costs
10:30
A Senate plan to tackle global warming would add about $100 a year to the energy costs for a typical household, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. The analysis released late Friday by the...
Questions on stimulus spending at border linger
9:54
A watchdog's review of stimulus spending by the Department of Homeland Security doesn't resolve the controversy about how the Obama administration allocated the money for border projects. The inspector general's...
Michelle Obama's gripe: President's tennis game
9:45
What's President Barack Obama's most annoying habit? Practicing his speeches for hours in front of the bathroom mirror? Talking too much foreign policy at the dinner table? No _ first lady Michelle Obama said Friday...
Obama: Time for big banks to help small businesses
9:04
Big banks that got big bailout bucks should return the favor by lending more to qualified small businesses, President Barack Obama says. In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said too many small...
Analysis: Obama's consumer agency no sure deal
4:22
Take a hard look now. A new agency that consumers were promised would make bankers, credit card companies and mortgage lenders treat them fairly will never look as strong again. Legislation to establish President...
NATO considers beefing up Afghan war support
1:52
Top NATO and United Nations officials signaled Friday they may request more international troops to join American forces in Afghanistan as the top U.S. defense official said President Barack Obama is still weeks away...
House health care bill exceeds $1 trillion
1:46
Health care legislation taking shape in the House carries a price tag of at least $1 trillion over a decade, significantly higher than the target President Barack Obama has set, congressional officials said Friday as...
EPA estimates Senate climate bill costs modest
11:54
An analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency says a proposed Senate bill to combat global warming would add around $100 a year to a typical household's energy costs. The analysis released late Friday by Sen....
Holbrooke foresees less fraud in Afghan runoff
11:52
The Obama administration's coordinator of policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan offered an upbeat outlook Friday for avoiding extensive cheating in the Nov. 7 Afghan presidential runoff election. In his remarks at the...
Cabinet members make many Nevada stops for Reid
9:23
The travel industry may be hurting in Las Vegas these days but not for lack of visits from members of President Barack Obama's Cabinet. Attorney General Eric Holder was the ninth Cabinet member to visit Nevada during...
Obama administration's foreign aid job left open
9:18
President Barack Obama faces increasing pressure to fill his administration's vacant top foreign assistance post, but there's no candidate in sight nine months into his term. The U.S. Agency for International...
Politics at play as Obama helps anemic Democrats
8:51
President Barack Obama lent his popularity and cash-raising abilities to embattled fellow Democrats on Friday, defending White House allies whose potential losses would deliver embarrassments to the president. Obama...
Michelle Obama highlights breast cancer awareness
8:42
Joni Lownsdale never thought her 2002 breast cancer diagnosis would land her in the middle of the Obama administration's fight with the health insurance industry. But that's where the Rockford, Ill., woman was Friday...
Obama: 'Cynical claims' attacking energy bill
8:38
President Barack Obama said Friday that opponents of his energy bill are disputing the evidence of global warming in a cynical ploy to undermine efforts to curb pollution and steer the nation to greener energy sources. ...
Ex-FBI director Freeh granted Italian citizenship
6:39
Louis Freeh, the former head of the FBI, is now an Italian citizen. Officials at the Italian Embassy in Washington say Freeh was made a citizen at a ceremony Friday. An announcement on the embassy's Web site says...
Abortion divides House Dems in health care debate
5:57
House Democrats are at an impasse over whether their remake of the nation's health care system would effectively allow federal funding of abortion. More than two dozen anti-abortion Democrats believe it would, and...
FIRST-PERSON: Kudos to the press pool
5:45
!P>ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--Whatever you may think about the mainstream media in general and the major television news outlets in particular, it is clear they are in solidarity when it comes to the First Amendment of the...
US displeased at delay in Iran response on uranium
4:07
The Obama administration expressed mild disappointment Friday that Iran withheld a decision on whether to accept a U.N.-coordinated plan that could ease fears about Iran's potential for making a nuclear weapon. The...
Palin backs 3rd-party candidate in NY House race
3:34
Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has endorsed a third-party candidate over the GOP-backed contender in New York's congressional special election, saying her own party has abandoned its core...