To cover the large field of candidates vying for the White House, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer assigned each reporter a candidate to track. The Reporters' Blog contains updates on the campaigns, including events, major speeches and online news.

Posted: July 2, 2008 3:40 PM
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This site featured NewsHour coverage of the presidential candidates through the end of the primary contests in early June. For the latest campaign news, updates and analysis, and for an updated RSS feed, please visit the Online NewsHour’s Vote 2008 general election site and update your bookmarks.

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Posted: July 1, 2008 3:51 PM
Reporter's Notebook: Gwen Ifill on How Campaigns Confront Rumors

In a conversation with the NewsHour’s Steve Goldbloom on Monday, Senior NewsHour Correspondent Gwen Ifill discussed how campaigns confront Internet rumors and whether patriotism is a legitimate campaign issue.

“Every candidate has to reintroduce themself at some point in the campaign, especially after the nomination has been clinched. But for Barack Obama it’s a bigger deal because people, it turns out, people not only don’t know that much about him but what they think they know is so often not true,” Ifill said.

MP3: Listen to the complete conversation (4:50)

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Posted: July 1, 2008 3:02 PM
In Appeal to Evangelicals, Obama Backs Expansion of Faith-based Programs

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama campaigns in the battleground state of Ohio Tuesday to announce plans to expand and overhaul President Bush’s faith-based programs as part of his bid to appeal to evangelical voters and build his community service platform.

Obama was unveiling his proposal to get religious charities more involved in anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks in Zanesville, Ohio’s Eastside Community Ministry, which provides food, clothes, youth ministry and other services, according to the Associated Press.

“The challenges we face today … are simply too big for government to solve alone,” Obama planned to say, according to prepared remarks obtained by the AP. “We need all hands on deck.”

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Posted: July 1, 2008 12:48 PM
McCain Takes Campaign to Mexico and Colombia

Sen. John McCain takes his campaign to Mexico and Colombia this week, where he’ll tackle two key issues on many voters’ minds: free trade and immigration. McCain was due to start the three-day trip Tuesday in Colombia.

McCain has been a strong supporter of free-trade agreements and NAFTA, and he knows they are a tough sell in the current economic environment. They will be especially tough to sell in swing states — Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan — that have been losing manufacturing jobs to cheaper labor across the borders.

“I have to convince them the consequences of protectionism and isolationism could be damaging to their future,” the McCain said Tuesday in Philadelphia, before departing for South America. “I understand it’s very tough. But for me to give up my advocacy of free trade would be a betrayal of trust. And the most precious commodity I have with the American people is that they trust me.”

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Posted: June 27, 2008 5:06 PM
For Clinton and Obama, the Word of the Day is Unity

It was day two of the Democratic Unity Tour, and Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama made their first public appearance together since Sen. Clinton dropped out of the presidential race earlier this month, leaving Sen. Obama as the party’s presumptive nominee.

The senators, rivals for more than a year in one of the closest nomination battles in history, shared a stage in the New Hampshire town serendipitously named Unity, a town which gave each of them 107 votes in the state’s primary back in January.

Sen. Clinton addressed the crowd first, with Sen. Obama sitting to her right.

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Posted: June 25, 2008 4:30 PM
Obama Calls on Donors to Help Reduce Clinton's Debt

Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday asked his top donors to help Sen. Hillary Clinton pay off more than $10 million in debt from her failed presidential bid.

Obama’s move to help his former rival comes during a week dedicated to a show of unity between to two Democratic senators. On Friday, the two are scheduled to campaign in New Hampshire together.

In a conference call with some of his top fundraisers, Obama asked that they begin to whittle away at Clinton’s debt, two Democrats familiar with the call
told the AP. A campaign spokesman confirmed to the AP that Obama had indeed asked for financial help for the New York senator.

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Posted: June 24, 2008 5:36 PM
Reporter's Notebook: Gwen Ifill on Campaign Financing and Top Voter Issues

In a conversation with the NewsHour’s Steve Goldbloom, Senior NewsHour Correspondent Gwen Ifill spoke about Sen. Barack Obama’s decision to opt out of public campaign financing, Sen. John McCain’s possible campaign strategies, and why voters are most concerned about the economy.

“I think it’s fair to say that in almost any election the economy will trump all. When you can go to the gas pump, when you can pay your mortgage or not pay your mortgage, when you can go to the doctor and see the cost of your prescription uncovered, I think that that always will resonate with people in very direct pocketbook ways, which nothing at a distance can,” Ifill said.

MP3: Listen to the complete conversation (5:58)

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