A new government report predicts when each will go into the red, but the candidates appear reluctant to touch the subject matter.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pushed back hard yesterday against calls for her to withdraw from the presidential race, with aides saying she remains more determined than ever to remain in the contest until the end of the primary season.

Allies of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) have sought to increase pressure on Clinton (N.Y.) to drop out of the race in recent days, arguing that, because of his lead in pledged delegates, her only path to the Democratic nomination lies in a divisive campaign that drags to the party's convention Aug. 25-28 in Denver. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) yesterday offered what may have been the starkest challenge to Clinton from a prominent Obama supporter, saying in an interview with Vermont Public Radio that she should avert a potentially bloody and ultimately futile battle by stepping aside.

Last Tuesday, millions of viewers were riveted by the wrestling match in Ohio and gunfight in Texas between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, not to mention by the unlikely coronation of the conservative bugbear John McCain as the Republican nominee.

Among those watching? Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.

Instead of election coverage, NBC ran two hours of “The Biggest Loser” while CBS showed an episode of “Big Brother” and ABC did an hour of “Just for Laughs” along with some other can-miss TV.

It was an “Idol” night on Fox — at least people were voting — so you have to wonder why the other networks didn’t turn their news divisions loose on a huge primary night in the name of civic interest and perhaps a little brand building.

COLUMBUS, Miss. — At first, the suggestion was a quiet one, raised by their supporters. Soon, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, lent credence to the idea, telling voters in Mississippi and beyond that Senator Barack Obama would make a fine partner — most likely as No. 2 — on the Democratic ticket.

But when Mr. Obama arrived here Monday, he brusquely discounted the chatter. He suggested that the Clintons were being duplicitous in their offer, implying on one hand that he was not ready to be president, but that on the other, he could solve the party’s political impasse by joining together.

“I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place can offer the vice presidency to someone who’s in first place,” Mr. Obama told a town meeting at the Mississippi University for Women here, alluding to his lead in delegates. As the crowd cheered, he said: “If I’m not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president? Do you understand that?”

Mitt Romney has emerged from hibernation to do his first televised interview since he suspended his presidential campaign last month, saying he would be “honored” to serve as Senator John McCain’s vice-presidential nominee.

“I think any Republican leader in this country would be honored to be asked to serve as the vice-presidential nominee, myself included,” said Mr. Romney, who is scheduled to appear on Fox News Channel’s Hannity & Colmes tonight, according to advance excerpts. “Of course this is a nation which needs strong leadership. And if the nominee of our party asked you to serve with him, anybody would be honored to receive that call.”

The pair engaged in some of the most bitter feuding of the campaign cycle as they tangled in New Hampshire, Michigan, Florida and heading into the crush of states that voted on Feb. 5.

Some of Sen. John McCain's strongest supporters are spending much of their time raising money for their pal, giving speeches for him, even accompanying the candidate on the campaign trail.

After all, the volunteers — many of them McCain classmates from the U.S. Naval Academy — have plenty of time on their hands. Almost all of them have been retired for years. At an age when most Americans have taken up hobbies or mall walking, the 71-year-old presumptive GOP presidential nominee is hoping to become the nation's oldest newly elected president. If elected, McCain would be 76 at the end of his first term.

If there is any doubt that McCain's age is going to be an issue, just listen to the late night monologues. "John McCain seems reinvigorated. He has a new campaign slogan: 'He'll lead you into the 21st century.' I like it better than the old slogan, which was 'He'll lead you into assisted living,'" riffed David Letterman, who likes to refer to McCain as the candidate who looks like "the old guy at the barber shop," "a Wal-Mart greeter" or "the guy at the supermarket who is confused by the automatic doors."

In another twist to the bitter battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, a member of Sen. Hillary Clinton's finance committee, vented her frustration with Sen. Barack Obama's campaign success in racially charged remarks.

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," Ferraro told a local California newspaper last week.

"And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept," Ferraro said.

Sen. Barack Obama won the Mississippi Democratic presidential primary decisively last night, adding to his overall lead in delegates as he and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton plunged into a six-week battle ahead of a showdown in Pennsylvania.

While voters were casting ballots in Mississippi, the campaigns clashed over comments from Geraldine A. Ferraro, a Clinton supporter and the only woman to be a major party vice presidential nominee, who suggested that Obama has taken the lead in delegates only because he is black. Obama, she said, "would not be in this position" if he were white or a woman.

Obama called the statement "patently absurd," while Clinton dismissed it as "regrettable," saying she thoroughly disagrees with Ferraro's sentiment. Despite their comments, the controversy continued as Obama's advisers demanded a more dramatic renunciation and as Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams accused the Obama team of fanning the race issue.

NEW ORLEANS — Senator John McCain fielded a question at a public forum on Friday morning in Atlanta that he said he had never been asked before. Because Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, had approached him about being his running mate for the White House in 2004, would Mr. McCain now return the favor?

Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, who has long been distrusted by conservatives as a Democratic sympathizer, quickly said no he would not — and just as quickly said he had never considered sharing the ticket with Mr. Kerry, a friend.

“He is, as he describes himself, a liberal Democrat,” Mr. McCain said of Mr. Kerry, adding that he meant no offense by the term. “I am a conservative Republican. So when I was approached, when we had that conversation back in 2004, that’s why I never even considered such a thing.”

Along with his signature bright white hair, the most striking aspects of Senator John McCain’s physical appearance are his puffy left cheek and the scar that runs down the back of his neck.

Mr. McCain with his wife after having a melanoma removed from his nose in 2002. It was one of four he has had.
The marks are cosmetic reminders of the melanoma surgery he underwent in August 2000. Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, sometimes tells audiences that he has “more scars than Frankenstein.”

The operation was performed mainly to determine whether the melanoma, a potentially fatal form of skin cancer, had spread from his left temple to a key lymph node in his neck; a preliminary pathology test at the time showed that it had not.

Barack Obama won the Democratic caucuses today in Wyoming, a state the party's presidential candidates often overlook, but that in this nail-biter of a race saw heavy campaigning by both Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Obama came away with 61 percent of the vote to Clinton's 38 percent. Democrats in Wyoming get little respect. The sparsely populated red state is home to just 218,000 thousand voters, most of them Republicans, like Wyoming's own Dick Cheney.

But this year, Clinton and Obama eagerly glad-handed voters across the state because even Wyoming -- with its 12 delegates -- counts.

Samantha Power, a senior foreign policy adviser to Sen. Barack Obama, resigned Friday morning after calling Sen. Hillary Clinton a "monster" in an interview with a European newspaper.

Ex-Obama Aide Sorry for 'Monster' Remark"With deep regret, I am resigning from my role as an adviser the Obama campaign effective today," said Power in a statement issued by the Obama campaign. "Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor and purpose of the Obama campaign. And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months."

Power's statement came scarcely an hour after congressional supporters of Clinton demanded that Obama fire Power for the remarks.

Sen. John McCain, having survived the Republican primaries, now needs to bind a fractured Republican Party as he looks to the presidential election this fall.

But the manner of his victory — he clinched his party's nomination by outlasting flawed opponents rather than storming to victory over them — has left him with the tasks of repairing fissures among Republicans and overcoming the headwind of an unpopular president from his party.

And he will have to do that while facing the historic candidacy of either a woman or a black man as his Democratic opponent.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has conceded the Republican nomination to rival Senator John McCain, R-Ariz.

But there is no doubt the longshot-turned-contender left his mark on the GOP race.

Calling his White House bid the "journey of a lifetime", Huckabee spoke Tuesday night from Irving, TX commending McCain on an "honorable campaign" and emphasizing his commitment to the Republican party in the fight to the November election.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Senator Barack Obama in the Ohio and Texas primaries on Tuesday, ending a string of defeats and allowing her to soldier on in a Democratic presidential nomination race that now seems unlikely to end any time soon.

Mrs. Clinton also won Rhode Island, while Mr. Obama won in Vermont. But the results mean that Mrs. Clinton won the two states she most needed to keep her candidacy alive.

In an interview on CNN Wednesday morning, Mrs. Clinton said she was not deterred by Mr. Obama’s continued lead in elected delegate support, and argued that she would be the stronger candidate in a general election against the now-assured Republican candidate, Senator John McCain. “What’s important is that this campaign has turned a corner,” she said.