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Barack Obama, flush with cash and ramping up his advertising in the final weeks before the November 4 election, is making U.S. political history by placing the first presidential campaign ads in online video games.

The Democratic Illinois senator is using the Internet ads, featured in 18 games through Microsoft Corp’s Xbox Live service, to promote his online voter registration and early balloting drive in 10 battleground states, a campaign spokesman said on Wednesday.

Unprecedented in U.S. presidential politics, the video game buy is targeted mainly at young adult males who are difficult to reach through more traditional campaign advertising.

“The 18-to-34-year-old male is the mainstream demographic for the hard-core video gamer,” said Van Baker, an analyst for Gartner Inc., a technology market research firm in San Jose, California. “They’re hard to get to because they don’t watch much TV and they don’t read a lot, so it’s a good venue to get that segment.”

The ads appear in games as banners or billboards with an image of Obama, the slogan “Early voting has begun,” and a reference to his VoteForChange.com Web site. The site allows users to register online to vote, obtain absentee voter information and find a polling location.

Polls consistently have given Obama, 47, an edge over Republican rival John McCain, 72, among younger voters.

Far from turning his back on more conventional media, however, Obama’s campaign last week said he planned to make a prime-time pitch to voters October 29 in a 30-minute ad slated to run on two broadcast networks, CBS and NBC.

A throwback to a campaign ad strategy fairly common in the 1950s and ’60s, Obama’s long-form ad will mark the first such paid political national telecast since Ross Perot ran a series of them during his independent bid for president in 1992.

Perot’s ads drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

TARGETED AUDIENCE

Obama’s video game ads are targeted at a more finely targeted group of potential voters.

The in-game ads are delivered to players through 18 games, ranging from “Guitar Hero 3” and “The Incredible Hulk” to sports titles like “NASCAR 09,” “NBA Live 08” and “NFL Tour.”

Such ads can be directed to particular geographical areas through the Internet Protocol addresses registered with Internet service providers when players’ Xbox 360 consoles go online, Baker said.

Obama’s campaign said the game ads are targeted at 10 key states where early voting is available and relatively simple — Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and Colorado.

“These ads will help us expand the reach of VoteForChange.com, so that more people can use this easy tool to find their early vote location and make sure their voice is heard,” campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Nearly 5 million people have visited the VoteForChange.com site since its launch August 25, and more than 774,000 have downloaded a voter registration form using the site to date, his campaign said.

Earlier this month, the Obama campaign placed nationwide VoteForChange ads on users’ home pages of the social networking site Facebook.com.

The novel use of interactive media by Obama is further evidence of his substantial funding advantage over McCain, whose own campaign is limited to the $84 million in public money he agreed to accept.

Obama raised a record $67 million in August and is expected to perhaps approach $100 million for September, according to the Washington Post, which reported that Obama has been running seven or eight times as many commercials as McCain in some states.

His 30-minute ads on CBS and NBC are believed to have cost his campaign roughly $1 million each.

Congress has passed legislation that will require the government to keep closer tabs on who has access to the Internet and who does not.

Supporters hope the Broadband Data Improvement Act will help policymakers better identify areas of the country that are falling behind when it comes to high-speed Internet access.

The bill passed both houses of Congress, with the Senate approving a final version Tuesday on a voice vote.

Senate sponsor Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said the federal government has a responsibility to make sure Americans have access to the Internet, but “we cannot manage what we do not measure.”

The Federal Communications Commission collects data on broadband use, but its methods have been criticized as outdated. The commission voted in March to greatly improve its data collection. Broadband providers will be required to provide subscription numbers by Census tract, speed and type of technology.

The legislation passed by Congress goes further. It requires the FCC to conduct consumer surveys of broadband use in urban, suburban and rural areas, as well as large and small business markets. Survey questions will include the cost of access and data transmission speeds.

The legislation requires the agency to compile a list of locales that lack broadband service and determine population and income levels in those areas.

The bill also requires the Census Bureau to add questions about Internet use on its survey. Residents will be asked whether they have a computer, whether they have Internet access and, if so, whether they have a dial-up or broadband connection.

It also orders the Government Accountability Office to study broadband speeds and costs and to compare the “availability and quality of broadband offerings” in the U.S. to other industrialized nations.

Such an analysis might provide some insight as to why the U.S. — the birthplace of the Internet — lags behind other developed countries in broadband usage. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranks the U.S. 15th for broadband penetration.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who sponsored a similar bill that passed the House earlier this year, supported the legislation.

“This initiative will help us ascertain whether the nation is achieving its broadband policy goals because, unfortunately, our current knowledge on the state of broadband deployment, speed and affordability in the U.S. is grossly and inexcusably lacking,” Markey said.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and newly minted running mate Joseph Biden made their debut on Saturday, with Biden declaring “it’s our time” and quickly going on the attack against Republican John McCain.

Outside the Old State Capitol in Illinois where Obama launched his historic bid for the White House in February 2007, Obama said Biden “won’t just make a good vice president, he will make a great vice president.”

“He is that rare mix — for decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn’t changed him. He’s an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class,” Obama said.

Obama tapped the Delaware senator, a leading voice on international affairs, as his vice presidential running mate earlier on Saturday.

Biden, 65, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is one of the most knowledgeable Democrats on foreign policy — an area where Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, has been criticized as inexperienced.

“This man is a clear-eyed pragmatist who will get the job done,” Biden said of Obama.

He repeatedly linked McCain to President George W. Bush and said the Arizona senator would be more of the same in the White House. “The times require more than a good soldier, they require a wise leader,” Biden said.

Obama ended days of speculation about his No. 2 with a middle-of-the-night announcement on his Web site, featuring a photo of the two, and his campaign sent a text message and e-mail to supporters.

Biden, a Roman Catholic originally from the battleground state of Pennsylvania, will bring not only foreign policy expertise to the ticket but strong working-class roots.

That could help Obama connect with the blue-collar voters he has failed to attract in the run-up to the November 4 election against McCain. Obama and McCain are neck and neck in opinion polls.

Biden’s 2008 presidential bid fell flat but he was a forceful and aggressive debater, firing off some of the toughest criticisms of Bush.

The choice of Biden, who was first elected to the Senate in 1972, indicates Obama was more interested in filling gaps in his foreign policy experience than in finding someone who could reinforce his message of bringing change to Washington.

Biden’s record includes outspoken opposition to U.S. government support for South Africa’s apartheid system in the 1980’s, agitation from the Senate for stronger U.S. intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s and close involvement with U.S. policy on Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.

Biden voted in 2002 for a resolution that authorized the invasion of Iraq after failing to secure support for another resolution to that would have allowed military action only after diplomatic efforts had been exhausted. Obama was not in the Senate then, but spoke out against the invasion.

Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, beaten by Obama in a bitter struggle for the Democratic nomination, welcomed the selection of Biden, who she described as “an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant.”

“Senator Biden will be a purposeful and dynamic vice president who will help Senator Obama both win the presidency and govern this great country,” she said.

HEADING FOR DENVER

The choice of a running mate can reflect on a candidate’s judgment and offer hints of the qualities valued in a crucial adviser, although history has shown it is unlikely to have a major impact on the election between Obama and McCain.

McCain, 71, a Vietnam War veteran and long-time senator from Arizona, has yet to name a running mate.

The McCain campaigned quickly launched a television ad using a clip from a Democratic presidential candidates‘ debate earlier this year in which Biden said he did not believe Obama was ready to be president and praised McCain.

The Springfield rally is the only joint appearance for the two before they head to the Democratic Party convention that opens on Monday in Denver. Obama plans a tour of battleground states including Iowa and Montana before reaching Colorado.

On Thursday, Obama will formally accept his party’s nomination as its presidential candidate, making history as the first black to do so.

While Republicans have tried to depict Obama as a celebrity, Biden has a more down-to-earth image. He repeatedly reminded the Illinois crowd of his humble roots in Pennsylvania.

The son of a car salesman, he is less wealthy than some of his Senate colleagues and commutes daily to Washington by train from his home 80 miles away in Delaware.

A month after his election to the Senate in 1972, Biden’s wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. He also suffered a brain aneurysm in 1988 but recovered fully.

Biden’s son Beau, a captain in the Army National Guard, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in October.

An anti-President Bush museum rolled into his adopted hometown but found few willing to enter the biodiesel bus devoted to casting his legacy as a failure.

Only about two dozen people walked on the bus Wednesday and looked at critical exhibits on the Iraq war, economy, environment, health care, education and Hurricane Katrina.

Julie Blust, spokeswoman for Americans United for Change, the group that created the exhibits for the bus, said Crawford — the 700-resident, one-stoplight town near Bush’s ranch where most folks support the man they consider their neighbor — was more of a symbolic stop among the 150 cities in the nationwide tour that started in June. In other cities, the bus has attracted dozens to hundreds of people, she said.

“We wanted to show the Bush legacy while he’s still in office and look at his many disasters over the last several years,” Blust said. “We thought, `What are his library and museum going to look like, and how can we counter that?’ This is a type of museum on wheels so more people can see it.”

Bush, who usually spends part of August at his ranch, was in Thailand on Wednesday en route to the Olympics in China.

Several tourists who strolled through Crawford on Wednesday said they had no interest in seeing the bus because they were there to buy souvenirs and think Bush has done a good job as president. They also said they were surprised to see any Bush protest just months before he leaves office.

Jamie Burgess, manager of The Red Bull gift shop, said she was not surprised by the low turnout for the “Bush Legacy Tour” and said she hoped protests would dwindle as Bush’s term comes to an end.

“We’re used to it, but we are tired of it,” said Burgess, a Bush supporter whose store carries coffee mugs, Christmas ornaments and just about anything else carrying the president’s name or picture.

Jim Harris, a retired postal worker from nearby Bellmead, said he went to see the bus because he opposes Bush. He lingered at the war and Katrina exhibits, which featured detailed timelines and video clips.

“I’m a Vietnam vet, and the Iraq war is a repeat for me,” Harris said. “And seeing Katrina in New Orleans is still incredible to me.”

Bush’s presidential library, museum and public policy institute will be at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, about 120 miles north of Crawford.

A small jet flying from New Jersey to Minnesota crashed in poor weather Thursday, killing seven business travelers.

FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the plane went down at or near a regional airport about 60 miles south of the Twin Cities. A line of storm thunderstorms was moving across southern Minnesota at the time.

Cory said authorities believe the aircraft took off from Atlantic City, N.J., but cautioned that the information was preliminary.

The flight-tracking Web site FlightAware.com showed a Raytheon Hawker 800 business jet was due to arrive in Owatonna from Atlantic City at 9:42 a.m. Thursday. The plane was scheduled to leave an hour later for Crossville, Tenn.

The plane was operated by a charter firm called East Coast Jets Inc. A person who answered the phone at the company declined to comment.

The Owatonna People’s Press reported the plane was carrying customers to Viracon Inc., an Owatonna-based glass company that earlier this year was awarded a contract to supply glass to the World Trade Center site.

Viracon President Don Pyatt told the newspaper that the customers were from a couple of companies coming to the plant to discuss a project in Las Vegas.

He did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

Mary Ann Jackson, a spokeswoman for Viracon’s parent company, Apogee Enterprises Inc., confirmed to The Associated Press that the passengers were Viracon customers but declined to elaborate.

Degner Regional Airport’s Web site describes it as “ideal for all classes of corporate aircraft” with an all-weather instrument landing system. “Maintaining access to Owatonna’s business community in all weather conditions is a priority,” the site says.

The thunderstorms brought winds up to 80 mph that knocked out power lines, snapped trees and damaged some buildings.

1. Absolutely!!

2. No. The President needs to be intelligent and powerful enough not to be a puppet.

3. Nope.

4. Oh my god no. She is the freakiest person I ever heard of. She makes absolutely no sense when she talks. She speaks in that government speak and does not make any sense. Have I mentioned she makes no sense?

5. Possibly, a black woman being president would be GREAT, but I don’t think there’s a chance she would ever run. She does seem to agree with EVERYTHING Bush does, other than that I think she could handle the job.

6. From what I have seen of her, I would seriously consider her as a viable candidate.

7. I would sooner vote for Condie than for Hillary

8. Helllllllllllllllllllllll Nooooooooooooooooooo!

9. It depends on who she ran against but she is definitely very highly regarded by me.

10. nope…no way …not a frig’n shot, she’s as bad as bush and darth cheney

11. Possibly, yes. IMHO, she’s the most qualified woman in America. However, she has never held an elected position in government. I say that she’d be a good VP running mate for the republican party … that would get Hillary’s and the democrat party’s panties in a bunch!

12. I would vote for her before I would Hillary Clinton. And with the way she handling foreign relations and the mid-eastern peace talks I think she would make a good president.

13. Maybe, depend on the other choice

14. She was so weak as the national security adviser and the Secretary of state that Donald Rumsfeld and the defense department bullied their way in to dictating what state department policy should be.

She would be a weak president.

15. depends on her stances and ideals, but i wouldn’t out right rule it out.

16. You bet. It’s nice to have a leader with class. And she’s tough and is a good speaker.

Joey, what a great idea!

17. No, since I never voted for her in anything in the first place. I want to know who the People get to nominate? All we get is a premade selection of choices that I would never make in the first place.

Counteract Violence with Knowledge…educated yourself about the situation at hand and seek out peaceful, collaborative and empowering alternatives. Violence spawns from an attempt to recover what one believes was pilfered. Whether this was money, land, dignity, etc—violence is only a temporary fix to secure these lost assets and rational, intelligent avenues to make the self whole yield the most sustainable results.

Counteract Anger with Understanding…pause, listen and truly hear the angry voice. Anger is frustration and becomes louder because no one will listen. Often anger can be diffused significantly when given a passive audience. You do not have to agree with the position to support the human behind it.

Counteract Hate with Love…hate is toxic. And perhaps my answer is cliché, but in my personal experience…it is the only way. Every individual is human (with good parts and not so good parts) applying this ideology inhibits the reciprocation of this hate. Hating the hate gives it an excuse to hate more, but by loving the hate…the diseased cycle is starved

Attorneys choose jurors by using a system known as voir dire. This is where each side of a case has the opportunity to ask questions of the jurors to determine who would not be suited to serve on this case due to underlying biases. This is where the differences between federal and state court arise. In federal court, the judge is the one who generally conducts voir dire. the attorneys submit questions to the judge who will ask the questions to the jurors. In state court, generally each attorney is permitted to ask questions to the jurors in an alloted time period. At the end of voir dire, the attorneys are permitted to use for cause challenges to get rid of the jurors from the jury pool who would be tainted from delivering a verdict. This means for example if it is a murder case, juror fourteen’s sister was murdered. This juror would be struck for cause because it would be hard for this juror to think about this murder case differently than they would think about their own sister’s murder case. Then each side has an opportunity to exercise their preemptory challenges to get rid of a juror. This is where Batson challenges can arise. It is pretty complicated going into the ins and outs of jury selection but this is a bare bones summary.

 Perhaps the major issue here is defining public interest and the form that the presentation thereof takes. People’s opinions on what defines relevant news varies, and objective presentation, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Hyperbole is maligned by some, praised by others. It’s less a matter of what is objective than it is of who can determine what is objective.

Journalists have the duty to seek and present the truth, so inherently they must question authority, but their questioning must be based on contrary information, or to inquiry about verification. Challenging authority should never be about egos. Illegitimate questions come at the expense of integrity.

Attorneys choose jurors by using a system known as voir dire. This is where each side of a case has the opportunity to ask questions of the jurors to determine who would not be suited to serve on this case due to underlying biases. This is where the differences between federal and state court arise. In federal court, the judge is the one who generally conducts voir dire. the attorneys submit questions to the judge who will ask the questions to the jurors. In state court, generally each attorney is permitted to ask questions to the jurors in an alloted time period. At the end of voir dire, the attorneys are permitted to use for cause challenges to get rid of the jurors from the jury pool who would be tainted from delivering a verdict. This means for example if it is a murder case, juror fourteen’s sister was murdered. This juror would be struck for cause because it would be hard for this juror to think about this murder case differently than they would think about their own sister’s murder case. Then each side has an opportunity to exercise their preemptory challenges to get rid of a juror. This is where Batson challenges can arise. It is pretty complicated going into the ins and outs of jury selection but this is a bare bones summary.