President Obama will return to New Jersey to campaign with Gov. Jon Corzine on the Sunday before the election there next month, according to Democratic sources.

Obama will make two stops in the state to rally support for Corzine.

The decision to send the president back to the Garden State underscores the increasing White House confidence that Corzine, who had trailed in every poll until earlier this month, will pull of a comeback victory.  Recent surveys show the race to be within the margin of error with a wild card third-party candidate whose vote share seems to be increasing.

Obama is effectively doubling down on Corzine, betting that return in the final hours of the race will motivate Democrats to turn out and put the deeply unpopular governor over the top.

If Corzine wins, Obama would get a share of credit and a handy way to deflect question should Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, who is trailing badly in the polls, lose.

But there is also risk in Obama's going back to New Jersey.   Should Corzine lose, questions would be raised about why the president chose to gamble on something less than a sure thing -- and why he was unable to rally voters in a heavily Democratic state.  After the election-eve events, Obama will have made three separate trips to stump for Corzine.

Obama is returning to appear with Deeds in the Tidewater region of Virginia next week, but White House officials suggest that is being done out of both party loyalty and to aid Gov. Tim Kaine, the outgoing Virginia governor, DNC chairman and president's close friend.

Posted by Jonathan Martin,  politico.com

Making Money in a Desperate Economy

The president of the United States of America, Barack Obama has come up with some very innovative and interesting ways to dig his country out of the economic hole it is in. However, many Americans are becoming quite impatient with his plans and fears about a prolonged recession are now beginning to take a toll on not only the psyche of the people, but also on their confidence in the president and his administration. The following article from bloomberg.com written by Matthew Benjamin and Alison Sider will give further insight:

July 17 (Bloomberg) -- The debate over whether the $787 billion stimulus package is sufficiently large or efficiently designed obscures a broader question, some economists say: Can any fiscal measure pull the economy out of the recession?

With credit still crimped and the outlook for consumer demand gloomy due to rising unemployment and increased personal saving, no amount of government intervention will be able to stanch the hemorrhaging of jobs and quickly ease the U.S. out of its deepest recession in a half-century, they said.

“Many households that want to borrow can’t, and many that can borrow won’t because they now must save for retirement the old-fashioned way,” said Richard Clarida, global strategic adviser at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s biggest bond-fund manager. “As a result, the multiplier from even a well-designed stimulus package is likely to be quite modest.”

The stimulus plan passed in February “is executing pretty much as expected,” yet it “won’t affect the economy’s primary problems, which are falling values of assets like homes and stocks,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, who was director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2003 to 2006 and is now president at DHE Consulting LLC in Washington. So far, about $60 billion in spending and $43 billion in tax relief has been dispensed, accounting for 13 percent of the plan’s total.

To read the article in its entirety follow this link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aV_ua6MsOc4M

Plot to assassinate Obama Disrupted

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama

and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday.

In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

The men also sought to go on a national killing spree, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.

"They said that would be their last, final act — that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."

To see the full article click here

NOT IMPORTANT - Seaga says Jamaica not high on Obama or McCain's agenda

From: The Jamaica Gleaner

Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

BARACK OBAMA or John McCain, who would be better for developing countries like Jamaica? Neither, says former prime minister Edward Seaga.

Obama, an African American, and McCain are both seeking to replace George W. Bush as president of the United States when America votes on November 4.

"I don't know that there is that much commitment to this region anymore from Washington by either party. The Cold War is over, so the political interest that was there has waned," Seaga tells The Sunday Gleaner.

The Cold War refers to the post-World War II period up to 1991, when the Berlin Wall fell. During that period, United States - a capitalist superpower - and communist Soviet Union maintained hostile relations as they competed for world supremacy.

Suffered in Cold War

Richard Crawford, lecturer of political science at the University of the West Indies, Mona, says Jamaica suffered during the Cold War for two reasons. The first was its relationship with communist Cuba, and second, support for the liberation of South Africa from white minority rule along racial lines.

"The United States was able to use Edward Seaga's government, which was ideologically opposed to the People's National Party policy of democratic socialism, as an organisation that opposed that policy," Crawford recounts.

He adds that the US had an interest in Jamaica not heading down the road of democratic socialism, and this was evident when President Ronald Reagan invited Seaga to the White House after the 1980 election to offer his congratulations.

No political interest

Now that the Cold War is over, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Seaga says the United States no longer has an active political interest in Jamaica.

"I don't see any other interest replacing that original strong political commitment. It seems to me that there will be a modicum of continuing assistance with the policy directives coming from Washington as to how they should assist, but I really don't see any sizeable increase in that interest from whoever wins," Seaga says.

To see the full article click here

Senator Barack Obama wins over Jamaica

From: The Jamaica Observer

We are not in the least surprised that Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic Party candidate, is the overwhelming choice of Jamaicans for United States president.

If there is any surprise in our online poll results published on the front page of today's edition, it is that Senator John McCain managed to pick up 5.7 per cent of Jamaicans who responded to the question "Who do most Jamaicans prefer to win the US presidential elections?"

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Jamaicans have always shown a preference for the Democratic Party, even when the former Edward Seaga administration enjoyed very close relations with the first Ronald Reagan Republican government.

But Jamaicans are not special in this regard. The way things are going, Mr Obama seems to be the candidate most Americans want in the White House after the November 4 presidential elections, if current poll results hold true.

Senator Obama is wildly popular and has been able to inspire people from across the globe who are rooting for him. The manner in which he has conducted his campaign, holding firm and steady to his good character and temperament, despite great provocation, has earned him supporters even from the Republican ranks in the US.
He has run a sensible campaign, largely bereft of the spite and malice that has characterised the McCain campaign, yet managing to outfox the Arizona senator on two counts.

First, Mr Obama opted against accepting state funds which would severely limit his spending, preferring to take his chance with donors. His confidence in the American people has paid off handsomely and he is now outspending Senator McCain four to one. Mr McCain, having accepted US$84 million in state funds, can spend no more up to November 4. As if to rub salt in the wound, Mr Obama raised a record-breaking US$150 million in September alone.

Second, when the bottom fell out of the American economy, Senator McCain opted for gimmickry, saying he was suspending his campaign to rush to Washington to help deal with the crisis.

In the process, he further isolated potential supporters in the state of Michigan where he was scheduled to go next.
For his part, Mr Obama got his economic advisers together and came up with a coherent plan to lead the country of the crisis, while continuing his campaign. Frightened Americans turned to the man they saw as a leader in their time of crisis.

Realising that Senator Obama had stolen a march on him, Senator McCain and the Republicans resorted to a blistering campaign to spread smear and fear, about Obama, the man, with dire consequences for their camp, and possibly for the country.

At the start of this week, the Barack Obama-Joe Biden ticket was maintaining its strong lead in the polls and importantly, the race for newspaper endorsements. As at Monday, the count was 115 newspapers to Mr Obama and 38 to Mr McCain. This brought the lead over the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket to 3-1 in both the number and 4-1 in circulation of the papers.

Jamaicans are, indeed, in excellent company.

World Citizens Prefer Obama to McCain by Nearly 4-to-1

From Gallup.com

Across 70 countries surveyed, views vary on whether the outcome matters

Gallup Polls conducted in 70 countries from May to September 2008 reveal widespread international support for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain in the U.S. presidential election. Among these nations, representing nearly half of the world's population, 30% of citizens say they would personally rather see Obama elected president of the United States, compared with just 8% who say the same about McCain. At the same time, 62% of world citizens surveyed did not have an opinion.

World citizens are more divided over whether the outcome of the U.S. election makes a difference to their country, with 31% saying it does and 21% saying it does not. Moreover, 49% of those surveyed did not have an opinion.

The following map displays the findings by country, and the analyses on the right side of this page examine findings by region and within selected individual nations.

Overall, citizens in Europe are the most likely to state a preference for the next president of the United States and to think the election makes a difference to their country. Citizens in Asia are the least likely to state a preference for the next president of the United States and to think the election makes a difference to their country. In individual countries, only Georgia and the Philippines prefer McCain to Obama.

To see the complete results click here

To learn more about the Gallup World Poll and to experience the WorldView, click here.

About Barack Obama

United States Senator for Illinois

Barack Obama has dedicated his life to public service as a community organizer, civil rights attorney, and leader in the Illinois state Senate. He continues his fight for working families in the United States Senate.

Sworn into office on January 4, 2005, Senator Obama has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st-century world with fresh thinking and judgment that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Richard Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. Understanding the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses, and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars. He has been a leading voice in championing ethics reform that would change the culture of corruption in Washington. Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, the needs of America’s veterans, or the challenges facing working Americans during hard economic times, Senator Obama continues to lead on the issues that will define America in the 21st century.

He serves as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Veterans Affairs Committee, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

During his eight years in the Illinois state Senate, Senator Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama enlisted the support of law enforcement officials to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

Senator Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983, and moved to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. In 1991, Senator Obama graduated from Harvard Law School where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

Senator Obama is especially proud of being a husband and father of two daughters, Malia and Sasha. He and his wife, Michelle, married in 1992 and live on Chicago’s South Side.