“HERE I am, signed, sealed, delivered.” That’s what the giddy crowds at Barack Obama’s campaign rallies hear when he walks off the stage — the booming sound of Stevie Wonder singing about the promise of a sure thing.

Ohio voters have started casting ballots in the state that may again determine the US presidency, as Barack Obama struggles to thwart a John McCain victory there four years after it tipped the election to George Bush.

Joe Biden is Obama’s strongest line of defence against McCain, writes Karen McCarthy in New York.

Democrats will gather in Colorado today to formally nominate Barack Obama as their candidate for US president.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain were preparing to reach out to conservative religious voters, a group that has largely supported the Republican Party but from whom Mr Obama hopes he can siphon some votes with firm talk of his Christian faith.

Senate candidate and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner is scheduled to deliver the Tuesday night keynote address at this year’s Democratic National Convention – the same role that launched Barack Obama to national prominence four years ago.

Barack Obama says the next vice president should be independent and willing to say when the president is wrong.

The Rev Jesse Jackson has apologised for “regretfully crude” comments he made about White House contender Barack Obama’s speeches in black churches during what he thought was a private conversation.

US PRESIDENTIAL contender Barack Obama needs Senator Hillary Clinton in some capacity, his former Irish-born foreign policy adviser said yesterday.

BRENDAN HOOD (Letters, January 14) would discourage US voters from supporting “the Clintons”.

The joint leaders of the North's power-sharing government will hold talks in Brussels today with senior European Union officials including commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Karen McCarthy reports from New Hampshire on the fallout from the presidential primary and the likely direction Republican and Democrat candidates will take as the race to the White House gathers pace

The Republican and Democratic US presidential candidates clashed on issues ranging from immigration to healthcare in back-to-back debates three days ahead of the first primary election in the White House race.

US President George Bush has pledged to help the North develop its economy and has shown a firm grasp of the issues facing it, the Reverend Ian Paisley claimed today.

A Los Angeles appeals court denied a bid to reinstate Senator Hillary Clinton as a defendant in a lawsuit that claims she, her husband, ex-US president Bill Clinton, and others induced a former supporter to finance a 2000 fund-raising gala.

WITH a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar under his belt, Al Gore’s fans are hoping he will take another shot at the presidency.

THE media took a novel approach to the latest Democratic presidential debate by hosting the event with the video-sharing website YouTube.

IRAQ dominated a debate of eight US Democratic presidential hopefuls in New Hampshire on Sunday as candidates were questioned about foreign policy, immigration reform, gays in the military, health care and the role of Bill Clinton in the next administration.

One of the 10 Republican US presidential hopefuls was criticised today after he suggested that US foreign policy invited the September 11 terror attacks.

A Dublin woman who believes her brother was killed by the IRA is fighting the General Election with the help of other victims of the terror group.

Black US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been given Secret Service protection amid fears for his safety, a senior law enforcement source said today.

The funeral of former President Boris Yeltsin – who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia toward pluralism and a market economy – will take place tomorrow.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is not interested in running for Vice-President in the US.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern will meet with UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and visit the Twin Towers memorial site with New York mayor Michael Bloomberg today.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will present the traditional bowl of shamrock to US president George Bush in the White House on Friday.

Senator Barack Obama announced his bid to be America’s first black president by urging an end to the Iraq war and portraying himself as a fresh face capable of leading a new generation.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is due to depart for his annual St Patrick's Day visit to the United States later today.

New Orleans’ controversial mayor has been forced to apologise after claiming Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for the war in Iraq and predicting the city would be “chocolate” again.

The family of murdered Belfast father of two Robert McCartney is to meet Tony Blair later today.

New York’s Republican Party leaders were meeting behind closed doors today to sort out who should run for governor and whether Jeanine Pirro should abandon her struggling campaign to challenge Senator Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton says he has a good candidate in mind for the 2008 United States presidential election: his wife.

Bill Clinton says he has a good candidate in mind for the 2008 United States presidential election: his wife.

NEW ORLEANS Mayor Ray Nagin announced yesterday that large parts of the city will reopen early next week, and the French Quarter the week after that. “The city of New Orleans will start to breathe again,” he said.

HE has been called an idiot, an incompetent and worse. The vilification of federal disaster chief Michael Brown, emerging as chief scapegoat for whatever went wrong in the US Government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, has ratcheted into the stratosphere.

A TOP-SELLING video game has been given an adult-only rating after explicit sex scenes were found hidden in it.

Katie Fry, Singapore

Mary Dundon, Political Reporter, Washington

Sinn Féin chief Martin McGuinness tonight urged IRA murder victim Robert McCartney’s sisters to stay out of party politics.

A second Sinn Féin election candidate was in the Belfast pub where IRA murder victim Robert McCartney was attacked, it emerged tonight.

Four suicide bombers blew themselves up in Iraq today, killing at least six people as Shiite Muslim worshippers around the country celebrated the holiest day of the year.

Senator Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, yesterday fainted during a speech after complaining of flu-like symptoms.

Senator Hillary Clinton collapsed before delivering a speech on social security in Buffalo, New York, a radio station reported today.

WELL, by now we’ve found out the self-styled eagle could squawk better than he could fly.

Senator Hillary Clinton said ”we feel blessed” former President Bill Clinton’s artery blockage was discovered in time for him to have successful heart bypass surgery.