POLITICS-US: Super Tuesday Leaves Bruising Battles Ahead

On a night when storms dotted with tornadoes wrought massive damage, injury and even death in the middle of the United States, storms of a different kind were sweeping the political landscape. And though the tornadoes eventually passed - giving way to damage assessments and rescue workers - the electoral turmoil shows no sign of letting up any time soon.

POLITICS-US: Pushing Buttons and Raising Millions

Over the past couple of years, a number of right wing groups have been contending for the unofficial designation of the conservative version of MoveOn.org, the liberal grassroots lobbying organisation. These days, Freedom's Watch appears to have a leg up on them all.

POLITICS-US: Democrats Cagey on Immigration Reforms

As voters in 24 U.S. states go to the polls for the "Super Tuesday" caucuses and primaries that will help determine the formal presidential nominations for each party, Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been actively courting support from Latino voters across the country.

POLITICS-US: One More Year of the Same

With just less than one year left in his presidency, George W. Bush remains as focused as ever on the Middle East and Iraq and appears reluctant to take on any major new foreign policy challenges in the time that he remains in power.

Q&A: "There Is Such a Thing as Technology Overkill"

Millions of votes will be counted by computers this U.S. election season, and it seems that the chasm between security gurus who argue that the existing systems are fatally flawed and the manufacturers who claim that e-voting is both efficient and airtight has never been wider.

POLITICS-US: Obama Anointed by Kennedy Dynasty

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike," said John F. Kennedy on the day of his presidential inauguration in January 1961, "that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans..."

U.S./IRAQ: Critics Fear Pact Will Tie Next President’s Hands

As President George W. Bush seeks to deeply entrench U.S. military forces in Iraq, the Congress and foreign policy pundits are looking beyond his term and debating the future of U.S. foreign policy there.

HEALTH-US: Abortion Rights Groups Say Legal Fights Loom

The 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade - the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave women the right to abortion - is being observed this week amid concerns over threats to erode or eliminate a woman's reproductive rights.

POLITICS-US: Dems Spar Over Ailing Economy

With financial markets crumbling around the world and some 3.5 million U.S. homeowners facing the prospect of defaulting on their mortgages over the next three years, how to stave off a major recession is taking centre-stage for voters and politicians of all stripes.

POLITICS-US: Muslim American Voters Left Out in the Cold

In an electoral campaign system tactically dominated by "niche politics", major candidates for their party's presidential nominations are running as fast as they can from one potentially influential constituency.

POLITICS-US: Democratic Race Sheds Issues for Identities

"These are race-based questions the two of you are asking," shouted a member of the audience to moderators of the Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada Tuesday night, who had spent the first 20 minutes of the affair asking about the racial controversy that has erupted over the last week on the campaign trail.

POLITICS: Is There a Gender-Specific Leadership Style?

Is there a female way to lead? Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has raised that possibility in saying that she tries to lead through consensus, not by imposition.

POLITICS-US: First Presidential Primary Leaves an Open Race

Defying the predictions of political pundits, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton captured the early primary state of New Hampshire on Tuesday, dispelling the notion of a "coronation" for Sen. Barack Obama and sparking what now promises to be an exciting battle for the presidential nomination in 2008.

POLITICS: Mum, Can a Man Be President?

"Do you think a man could ever be president?" the little boy in Ireland asks his mother. All his life he has only seen women presidents, currently Mary McAleese.

POLITICS: For Women, Leaning Doesn&#39t Make For Leading

"A woman who enters politics changes; a thousand women who enter politics change politics," Chilean President Michelle Bachelet told the Spanish television channel TVE in a recent interview.

POLITICS-US: Obama, Huckabee Shake Up Race in First Vote

While political pros are still poring over the results, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and former Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee have clearly emerged from Thursday's Iowa caucuses as the big winners in the 2008 race for the White House.

POLITICS-US: Religious Right Bringing In &#39More Money Than Ever&#39

In 1897, the great American author and humorist Mark Twain, responding to stories that had him lying at death’s door declared, "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." One hundred ten years later, Twain’s rejoinder could be applied to mainstream media reports about the demise of the Christian Right in the United States.

POLITICS-US: Will Catholics Lean Right or Left in 08?

Over the past two decades, Catholic voters in the United States - once consistent supporters of the Democratic Party - have been heavily courted by the Republicans.

POLITICS-US: More Hegemony, Less Imperialism, Urges Clinton

In her most comprehensive - if characteristically cautious - foreign policy pronouncement to date, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton stressed a clear preference for diplomacy and "soft power" in pursuing U.S. interests abroad, but added she would not hesitate to use military force unilaterally if she deemed it necessary.

POLITICS-US: "Candidate Gore" a Long Shot, Despite Nobel

It was only two days ago that a group called www.draftgore.com took out a very expensive full-page ad in the New York Times in a direct appeal to former Vice President Al Gore to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in the 2008 election.

POLITICS-US: Christian Right Slams Republicans Over Abortion

Despite its oft-written obituary, the Christian right wing in the United States is alive and functioning.