US presidential hopeful Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail today after a brief break to switch his focus to the expected presidential contest against Republican John McCain.

Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton’s pollster and senior strategist has left her campaign after it was disclosed he met representatives of the Colombian government to help promote a free trade agreement his boss opposes.

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is “the largest grass-roots army in recent political history”, his campaign manager said today.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign said she “misspoke” last week when saying she had landed under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia as first lady in March 1996 - the candidate herself described the episode as a “misstatement” and a “minor blip”.

Barack Obama’s campaign apologised to Hillary Clinton today after one of his key foreign policy aides branded the former first lady a desperate “monster”.

DEMOCRATS in Wisconsin and Hawaii headed to the polls yesterday in a presidential campaign that has grown increasingly negative with charges of broken promises, plagiarism and petty partisanship.

HILLARY CLINTON’S campaign, lagging far behind Barack Obama’s fundraising this year, expects to be outspent byMr Obama in upcoming Democratic nominating contests just as it was in Super Tuesday states, her strategists said last night.

A Republican candidate hoping to challenge Senator Hillary Clinton this autumn is running a television advertisement that links her to al-Qaida terror boss Osama bin Laden.