Obama details V-P priorities, but no names

“Here’s what I won’t do,” the Illinois senator told a raucous crowd of 2,600 people at a rally on Tuesday, launching an outspoken attack on President George W Bush and his secretive and enormously influential deputy, Cheney.

“I won’t hand over my energy policy to my vice-president. I won’t have my Vice-President engineering my foreign policy for me. The buck will stop with me, because I’ll be the President,” Obama said.

Obama stayed clear of dropping the names of any potential candidates for his V-P nominee. The New York Times reported on Monday that Obama had narrowed down his search to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and Delaware Senator Joseph Biden.

McCain, Obama to pull critical ads on 9/11

BARACK Obama and John McCain plan to pull ads on September 11 that criticise each other, a respite from the political fray to honour the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The campaigns made their decision known on the same day that a group backing community service on that day called on the candidates to refrain from partisan campaigning. The group, MyGoodDeed.org, wants September 11 to become a national day of voluntary service and asked Obama and McCain to perform acts of community service instead.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said McCain did not plan to advertise at all on the anniversary. “9/11 is not a day for politics,” Rogers said. The Obama campaign said it plans to stop airing anti-McCain commercials on September 11. “We hope September 11 is a day when Americans come together and reaffirm our resolve to address the common challenges we face together,” Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said. Both campaigns have been running ads against each other, with negative commercials outnumbering their positive spots.