News Roundup:
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 10:25 AM PDT
Obama ahead or tied in 8 key states
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama, gunning for a national landslide, now leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is essentially tied with John McCain in two other Republican red states, according to new AP-GfK battleground polling.
The results help explain why the Democrat is pressing his money and manpower advantages in a slew of traditionally GOP states, hoping not just for a win but a transcendent victory that remakes the nation’s political map. McCain is scrambling to defend states where he wouldn’t even be campaigning if the race were closer.
Less than a week before Election Day, the AP-GfK polls show Obama winning among early voters, favored on almost every issue, benefiting from the country’s sour mood and widely viewed as the winning candidate by voters in eight crucial states — Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Risch says ulcer barred him from Vietnam
MERIDIAN (AP) — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Risch, the target of growing pressure late in the campaign to explain publicly his lack of a military record, says his enlistment plans were derailed by ongoing troubles with an ulcer.
During Tuesday’s final debate of the campaign, Risch said that in 1968 he initiated the process to enlist with the U.S. Army with the intention of joining the fight in Vietnam. His comments came after Independent candidate Rex Rammell said Risch ‘‘ducked going to war,’’ according to The Spokesman-Review.
States, schools will have to improve dropout rates
WASHINGTON (AP) — High schools are coming under pressure from the federal government to improve the nation’s dismal dropout rate — one in four students.
Schools and states now must track and lift the graduation rates for all students, including minorities and students with disabilities, under rules issued Tuesday by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.
A school might have a high graduation rate but still have a low rate for black or Hispanic students or for kids with disabilities. Making schools responsible for progress in every group of students puts pressure on schools to improve. The new rules are an attempt to extend the No Child Left Behind education law.
