CNN Poll: McCain and Obama locked in a dead heat  —  (Above: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama talk backstage at AIPAC in Washington Wednesday.  Photo credit: Callie Shell/Aurora for TIME)  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - The general election season opens with a neck-and-neck race between Barack …

Clinton Bloc Becomes the Prize for Election Day  —  Now that a would-be first female president is ending her quest for the White House, the race is more about women than ever before.  —  With Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's ending her campaign for the Democratic nomination …

Clinton to Publicly Withdraw, Support Obama  —  After a tumultuous 17-month journey, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) will formally withdraw as a presidential candidate today, publicly declaring her support for Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) for the first time since he secured the Democratic nomination.

Voting for Commander in Chief  —  There can only be one.  —  It would be hard to design a better test for the job of commander in chief than the real-life test senators John McCain and Barack Obama have undergone in the last two years.  As the situation in Iraq deteriorated during 2006 …

The Sleazy GOP Attack Machine Kicks Into High Gear: Welcome to “F**K Whitey” and “RadicalVille”  —  It's only been three days since Sen. Barack Obama historically won the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.  But the Republican venom against the candidate and his wife Michelle is starting to spew.

Biggest jobless jump since '86 _ Wall Street sinks  —  WASHINGTON — Pink slips piled up and jobs disappeared into thin air in May as the nation's unemployment rate zoomed to 5.5 percent in the biggest one-month jump in decades.  Wall Street swooned, and the White House said President Bush …

Conventions Rake In Soft Money That Candidates Forgo  —  One of Senator Barack Obama's first acts after claiming the Democratic nomination was declaring he would not take special-interest money for his presidential bid, even going so far as to bar lobbyists from donating to the Democratic National Committee.

City's Top Crane Inspector Is Arrested  —  The city's chief crane inspector was arrested on Friday and charged with taking bribes to approve cranes under his review and for taking money from crane operators who sought to ensure that they would pass the required licensing exam, an official involved in the case said.

Black Group Offended by Delivery of T-Shirt  —  The president of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is disturbed by an offensive t-shirt the group received in the mail Wednesday, the day after Barack Obama claimed his party's presidential nomination.  The shirt has a cartoon image …

Oil Prices Take a Nerve-Rattling Jump Past $138  —  The rise in oil prices turned into a stampede on Friday with futures jumping a staggering $11 a barrel to set a record above $138 a barrel.  The unprecedented surge came as the dollar fell sharply against the euro and a senior Israeli …