Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama planned an economic town hall meeting at Cape Girardeau in southeast Missouri Tuesday, a visit viewed as an attempt to court swing state and working-class voters.

The Senate on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would give police officers, firefighters and other first responders the right to unionize but take away their ability to go on strike.

Democrats controlling Congress are leaving grim decisions on automatic tax increases to the next president and the newly elected Congress under a freshly negotiated House-Senate blueprint for the upcoming budget year.

John Hagee, an influential San Antonio televangelist who endorsed John McCain, is apologizing to Catholics for referring to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and calling it "the apostate church."

Sen. Barack Obama picked up the endorsement Tuesday of superdelegate Roy Romer, a former Colorado governor who later served as superintendent of Los Angeles public schools.

The Senate, in a direct challenge to President Bush, voted Tuesday to temporarily halt the shipment of thousands of barrels of oil a day into the government's emergency reserve.

Hillary Rodham Clinton had every reason to expect a big victory Tuesday in the West Virginia Democratic primary as her campaign tried to use the contest to raise doubts about front-runner Barack Obama's electability in the fall.

Should she lose or abandon her quest for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton will have to deal with her campaign's more than $20 million debt - a step that could test her relationship with Barack Obama and raise new issues in campaign finance law.

John McCain faced turbulence even before he flew up the Pacific coast from Oregon to Washington on Tuesday.

John McCain brings his Republican presidential campaign to Western Washington.