Jim Kuhnhenn

LOS ANGELES -- President Barack Obama wasted little time casting his historic embrace of same-sex marriage as a political wedge issue Thursday, telling a Hollywood fundraising crowd that it shows how his vision of the country differs from Republicans.

PEORIA, Ill. -- As they await an Illinois primary vote whose outcome is hardly assured, Mitt Romney is betting his message of economic proficiency will resonate with Republican voters more than Rick Santorum's sharply honed conservatism.

TILTON, N.H. -- It's an opening salvo of the presidential campaign, minus actual presidential candidates.

Vice President Joe Biden unleashed a biting critique of Mitt Romney's policies Friday and the Republican came swiftly back at him -- a full-contact preview of what the general election might look like should Romney win the GOP nomination to challenge President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is pressing for passage of his full $447 billion jobs package in the face of certain congressional defeat while embracing more modest administrative remedies to the nation’s sluggish economy and unwaveringly high unemployment.

WASHINGTON — The dramatic advance of Libyan rebels over the forces of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi offers vindication, at least for now, for President Barack Obama's decision to refrain from using U.S. troops on Libyan soil and to let NATO take the lead in degrading Gadhafi's military power. But there are still hazards for the White House.

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- More than half the nation disapproves of President Barack Obama's policies to reduce stubbornly high unemployment, a new Associated Press-GfK poll said Friday as Obama refocused his job-creation efforts on a business-friendly vision emphasizing innovation and exports to other countries.

Marking the halfway point in his four-year term, the president used a visit to Schenectady, birthplace of the General Electric Co., to declare that his job is "putting our economy into overdrive" and to announce a restructured presidential advisory board stressing increased employment and greater business opportunities abroad.

"America's home to inventors and dreamers and builders and creators," Obama told workers at G.E.'s 23-acre turbine and generator plant. "You guys are a model of what's possible."

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama declared victory Friday after congressional negotiators reached a dawn agreement on a sweeping overhaul of rules overseeing Wall Street.