Presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke at the "Victory Column" in Berlin's Tiergarten park in front of thousands of Germans and tourists in his only formal address during his week-long foreign tour. He called on Europe to stand by the United States in bringing stability to Afghanistan and confronting other threats from climate change to nuclear proliferation.

Relations between the United States and Germany reached a post-war low under former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He said Germany would "not click its heels" and follow President Bush into war -- a position that tapped into wells of German pacifism but infuriated Bush. But Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up behind the Wall in the communist East, has worked hard to repair ties with the U.S. and has emerged as one of Bush's closest allies in Europe.

Obama and Merkel met for the first time on Thursday and touched on Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Middle East peace, climate change and the global economy during their talk.

A Pew Research Center poll showed Germans favor Obama over John McCain by a 49 point margin. But some German officials have said Obama risks disappointing Europeans because their expectations are so high.

Can a new president repair relations with Europe?

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(Pictured above: A man holds a banner reading 'Obama For Chancellor' before a speech of Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama during his visit in Berlin July 24, 2008. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz)

(Pictured right: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama poses with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin, in front of Reichstag building, July 24, 2008. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke)

BERLIN - White House hopeful Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin urging Europeans to do more to help confront global security threats included some echoes of another Obama speech: the one he gave on June 3 when he clinched the Democratic nomination.

Addressing more than 200,000 people in Berlin’s Tiergarten Park, Obama pressed Europe to stand with the United States in helping to stabilize Afghanistan and send a “direct” message to Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.

“This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets,” Obama said.  “This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East.”

Celebrating his victory in the hard-fought battle for the Democratic nomination, Obama used the “this is the moment” line as he talked of moving past the policies of President George W. Bush and tackling issues such as ending the Iraq war and tackling global climate change.

“America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past,” Obama told 17,000 cheering supporters in a St. Paul hockey arena.
The echoes of the victory speech underscored the importance Obama placed on his Berlin remarks delivered during his weeklong tour of the Middle East and Europe on a trip meant to bolster his standing on foreign policy issues.Obama’s Republican rival in the November election, John McCain, contends the Illinois senator is too inexperienced to lead on foreign policy.McCain and other Republicans have criticized Obama’s decision give a large outdoor speech in Germany, saying it had the aura of a campaign rally.

But Obama’s aides believe the speech — and its somewhat tough message of urging Europe to shoulder more responsibility — will convey an impression of foreign policy heft.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke (Obama speaks before the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park in Berlin)

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - And the speculation continues. 
 
Republican John McCain praised two potential vice presidential picks on Wednesday but gave no clues about who he would add to his ticket or when he would decide.
 
The Arizona senator’s campaign has not quashed speculation this week that a choice was imminent, but McCain said in a television interview that he has yet to decide who would be his number two.
 
Earlier at a stop at a grocery store, where the presumptive Republican presidential nominee got a look at the high price of milk and other staples, he spoke highly of two people said to be on his short list: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
 
“We can’t mention any names, we have the process going on,” McCain started by saying.

Can’t you say anything positive about Pawlenty, a reporter prodded.
 
“Oh, Tim … He’s a great, fine person,” McCain said.
“I think he is, he, Bobby Jindal and a number of governors, I think are the future of the Republican Party.”

But Jindal told Fox News on Wednesday he wasn’t interested in being vice president.

“Let me be clear: I have said in every private and public conversation, I’ve got the job that I want,” Jindal told Fox News. “And I’ll say again on air: I’m not going to be the vice presidential nominee.”

However, Fox cited Jindal insiders as saying that the governor would take the job if asked. 
 
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are also said to be on McCain’s list.
 
Bets anyone?

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Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder. McCain smiles as he is introduced at a campaign picnic outside the Maine Military Museum in South Portland, Maine, July 21, 2008. 

SDEROT, Israel - Barack Obama pledged his support for Israel Wednesday while standing in front of a pile of rocket and mortar casings in a town repeatedly attacked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
 
“I am here to say as an American and as a friend of Israel that we stand with the people of Sderot and all of the people of Israel,” the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate told reporters at the town’s police station.
 
Sderot has been a popular stop on the U.S. campaign trail this year. Republican presidential contender John McCain visited the town in March — but with a smaller press contingent — and also spoke to reporters in front of the piles of rockets.
 
“If people were rocketing my state, I think that the citizens from my state would advocate a very vigorous response,” McCain said at the time.

Obama had a similar view. “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that,” he said. “And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.”

Since McCain’s visit, rocket fire on Sderot has largely stopped due to a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Obama’s visit is aimed at allaying wariness among some Jewish voters in the United States who are concerned about his support for Israel and his policies for the Middle East.
 
Obama, a Christian, has had difficulty dispelling rumors suggesting he is a Muslim and that his advisers have a pro-Arab bent. The New Yorker magazine lampooned the image with a cover cartoon portraying Obama in traditional Muslim garb and his wife sporting an AK-47 — a picture that sparked outrage in many circles.
 
Obama was ridiculed and criticized in April when a top Hamas adviser told a radio interviewer that the Palestinian militant group — considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government — liked Obama and hoped he would win the U.S. presidential election.
 
The remarks were labeled a Hamas endorsement and McCain used them as part of a fundraising appeal to supporters.
 
Hamas changed its mind about Obama last month after he declared strong support for Israel in an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The group said the two U.S. candidates had the same policy on the Mideast and so it had no preference.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama walks by shelves of rocket casings in Sderot on Wednesday); Reuters/POOL New (McCain stands in front of rocket casings in Sderot March 19)

WASHINGTON - Democrats seem well positioned to increase their control of the U.S. Congress and win the White House in the November elections. But with such success will come pressure.  

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York says his victorious party would have to quickly resolve concerns of the American people — ranging from bringing down record gas prices and expanding health care to resolving the housing crisis and withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

“If we get in 2009 and we don’t solve people’s problems, they will kick us out as quickly as they put us in,” Schumer, head of the Senate Democratic campaign committee, told reporters on Wednesday.

“So the big challenge, bigger than the election, is actually getting things done,” Schumer said.

Schumer quickly added, however, with Barack Obama in the White House and “an increase in Democratic seats in the House and Senate, I’m optimistic we can do it.”

“People are demanding change, and I think you will see one of the most productive sessions (of Congress ever) if we pick up a good number of seats in the House and Senate,” Schumer said.

When Democrats won control of the White House in 1992, they already had control of the House of Representatives and Senate but soon lost both chambers in the 1994 mid-term election.

Schumer and Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who heads the House Democratic campaign committee, cited public opinion polls and advantages in fundraising in predicting Democrats would increase their majorities in the House and Senate.

They declined to predict by how much, however. Democrats, who won control of Congress from Republicans in the 2006 elections, now hold the House, 236-199, and the Senate, 51-49. 

Republicans have 23 seats in the Senate to defend versus 12 for Democrats. In the House, more than two dozen Republicans have decided to retire or seek other office and Democrats have already picked up three seats in special elections this year in Republican districts.

“We expect to pickup a significant number of seats,” said Schumer. Van Hollen added, “Things are very positive.”

Both said they expect Obama, who polls show with a slight lead over White House rival Republican John McCain, to help congressional Democrats on Election Day.  

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

- Photo credit: Larry Downing (Schumer grabs a break to exercise)

WASHINGTON - With Democrat Barack Obama trying to look presidential abroad and soon to face friendly crowds in the German capital, the Republican National Committee has decided to strike back by appealing to Berliners closer to home.
 
The party will air radio advertisements Thursday in Berlin, Pa., Berlin, Wis., and Berlin, N.H., bashing Obama’s voting record on defense issues, accusing him of choosing “Washington politics over the needs of our military.”
 
“Obama said that nobody wanted to play chicken with our troops on the ground,” an announcer intones. “But when it came time to act, he voted against critical resources: no to individual body armor, no to helicopters, no to ammunition, no to aircraft.”

The ad is a rehash of claims made in a television spot being aired by Obama’s rival Republican presidential candidate John McCain. FactCheck.org, in reviewing those claims, said the statements “are literally true but paint an incomplete picture.”
 
It is true Obama voted against a war-funding bill last year after President George W. Bush initially vetoed a version that contained a date for withdrawal from Iraq, the independent monitoring group said. Before that, Obama had cast at least 10 votes for war-funding bills, it said.

Obama’s campaign dismissed the ad as “distasteful and misleading.”
 
The RNC attacks are unlikely to dampen enthusiasm for Obama when he arrives Thursday in Berlin, Germany. A recent poll by the Bild newspaper found 72 percent of Germans would vote for Obama over McCain if they had a vote in U.S. elections.
 
Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a Bush friend who expressed displeasure over electioneering ahead of Obama’s visit, professed herself an admirer, telling reporters she thought the Democratic presidential candidate was “well-equipped — physically, mentally and politically.” 

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Photo credit: Reuters/Johannes Eisele (Obama campaign balloon flies in front of Victory Column (Siegessaeule) in Berlin, where he will speak on Thursday)

WASHINGTON - In case you were wondering how the Obama family keeps an orderly home while juggling jobs, presidential campaign, school, gymnastics, soccer, piano, dance, drama and tennis, People magazine has delved into the matter and found an answer: house rules. 
 
The magazine this week said it interviewed Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama and his family in their Chicago home earlier this summer and came away with seven rules that keep the family organized and happy.
 
They are:
 
1 - “No whining, arguing or annoying teasing,” says wife Michelle Obama.
 
2 - Make the bed. “Doesn’t have to look good-just throw the sheet over it,” she says.
 
3 - Set your own alarm clock. “They get themselves up, get their own clothes,” says Sasha and Malia’s grandmother Marian Robinson. “They’re very easy to take care of; there’s not much left for me to do!”
 
4 - Keep playroom toy closet clean.
 
5 - Allowance from dad for doing chores: $1 per week.
 
6 - No birthday or Christmas presents from mom and dad, who spend “hundreds” on birthday slumber parties and, as Barack puts it, “want to teach some limits.” Says Michelle: “Malia says, ‘I know there is a Santa because there’s no way you’d buy me all that stuff.’”
 
7 - Lights out at 8:30. “They got an extra half hour when they were ready to read on their own,” says Michelle.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Obama with wife Michelle, elder daughter Malia and younger daughter Sasha at an election rally May 20)

EPPING, New Hampshire - Though his rival may be on another continent at the moment, John McCain isn’t holding back from taking shots against Barack Obama. 

 The Republican presidential candidate came out on Tuesday with one of his sharpest attacks yet on Obama’s policies regarding the Iraq war, shortly after the Illinois senator wrapped up a visit to Baghdad. 

McCain pounded the Democratic presidential hopeful for opposing an increase in U.S. troop levels in Iraq — known as the “surge” — which has been credited with helping stabilize the country. 

 ”When we adopted the surge, we were losing the war in Iraq, and I stood up and said I would rather lose a campaign than lose a war,” McCain told reporters. 

 ”Apparently Sen. Obama, who does not understand what’s happening in Iraq or fails to acknowledge the success in Iraq, would rather lose a war than lose a campaign.” 

Fighting words — and ones he apparently intends to keep using. The Arizona senator debuted the same line at a town-hall meeting earlier in the day, repeated it at a brief news conference, and said it again during a network television interview.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain and former President George Bush speak to reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine July 21, 2008)

When Republican presidential contender John McCain delivered a speech in front of a green backdrop in June, comedian Stephen Colbert decided the Arizona senator’s campaign could use a bit more excitement.

Colbert, of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” issued the “Green Screen Challenge” to his viewers, urging them to take stock footage of McCain’s speech and turn  it into something more exciting.

Since then videos portraying McCain have been piling up on the YouTube and ColbertNation Web sites. He’s seen as a pelvis-twisting Elvis, a character in Star Trek and a model in a Madonna video, among other things. He even appears as Colbert himself.

Here are a several, in case you missed them.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain apparently feels just a little jilted by the media lately given all the attention being paid to the trip by Democratic White House rival Barack Obama to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe.

All three broadcast networks sent their anchors overseas to interview Obama during his travels. McCain has been maintaining his domestic campaign schedule, raising money and attending rallies in Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
 
McCain this week also tussled with the New York Times over an opinion piece he penned to respond to an op-ed Obama wrote about the Iraq war that ran in the newspaper. The Times sought revisions to his proposed piece, a request that McCain’s campaign rejected.

“The media is in love with Barack Obama,” the McCain campaign said in an e-mail to his supporters. “If it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny.”
 
To generate a little of his own buzz, the Arizona senator’s campaign pieced together clips of television news talking heads (lots of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews) professing how enamored they were of Obama and discussing the media’s purported love affair with the Democratic candidate.
 
They put the video to the music of two different love songs — Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “My Eyes Adored You.” They asked supporters to vote for their favorite, and the campaign said the winning one would be aired.
 
Is the media infatuated with Obama or covering a legitimate news story?

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

Photo credit: Top: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain in Maine July 21); Bottom: Reuters/Ali Jarekji (Obama in Amman, Jordan, July 22)