Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is scheduled make his first two major campaign appearances in Arizona on Friday.

Are President Barack Obama and the Democrats political toast?

PHOENIX - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic nomination for president is boosting its presence in Arizona.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Barack Obama's newly minted running mate will join the Democratic hopeful onstage Saturday at a rally in this capital city where Obama launched his White House bid, a campaign official said.

WASHINGTON - When Bill and Hillary Clinton take the stage Sunday at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, it will be the launch of an active campaign for their former nemesis Barack Obama in the home stretch of the 2008 presidential race.

NEW YORK - Barack Obama revealed Wednesday that former President Clinton, once the presidential nominee's nemesis, will campaign for him during the weeks leading up to Election Day.

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Ron Paul presented their respective Arizona campaign teams Friday, underscoring that the state will be in play during the 2008 election.

DAVIE, Fla. - Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Florida Democratic primary Tuesday night, an event that drew no campaigning by any of her presidential rivals and awarded no delegates to the winner.

Whew! This primary election cycle is really amazing. I hope you’re watching carefully.

The 2008 presidential race has at last reached its apex — it’s all downhill from here, folks. Pseudo-talk show pundit Stephen Colbert, of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” on Tuesday threw his hat into both rings — he’s running as a Republican and as a Democrat.

WASHINGTON - The long, drawn-out Democratic presidential primary season finally draws to a close next Tuesday. Hillary Clinton takes her campaign today to one of the last two states voting, South Dakota. Rival Barack Obama is taking a breather back home in Chicago. And Republican John McCain will be talking to voters in Wisconsin.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A top Barack Obama adviser urged Democrats to unite behind the Illinois senator for the fall campaign and bring the marathon contest for the presidential nomination to a close, but some Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters weren't buying that as Oregon and Kentucky held primaries Tuesday.

Sen. John McCain won a hard-fought South Carolina primary Saturday night, avenging a bitter personal defeat in a bastion of conservatism and gaining ground in an unpredictable race for the Republican presidential nomination.

While voters have until Nov. 6 to decide who they’ll support for president and other high-profile elections, many of the East Valley’s biggest races will be settled in a little over a week.

Richard Nixon had “My fellow Americans.” George W. Bush has “Folks.” Increasingly, Barack Obama is revealing the latest linguistic fingerprint of leadership: “Look.”

Arizona’s presidential preference election on Feb. 5 will feature at least 37 candidates, more than half of whom appear to be political jokers intent on juking state election rules simply to get their names on the official ballot.

MIAMI - Sen. John McCain won a breakthrough triumph in the Florida primary Tuesday night, seizing the upper hand in the Republican presidential race ahead of next week's coast-to-coast contests and lining up a quick endorsement from soon-to-be dropout Rudy Giuliani.

NEW YORK - Being black doesn't necessarily mean White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama has a lock on black voters. In wooing a faithful Democratic constituency, Obama faces two-term New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the party front-runner who enjoys strong support in the black community.

With a blast at what he called John McCain's liberal leanings, former Congressman J.D. Hayworth launched his bid to oust the four-term incumbent senator in the Republican primary.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is planning make a stop in the Phoenix area on Wednesday in preparation for the Feb. 5 presidential preference election, his campaign has confirmed.

Sen. Barack Obama came to the Valley Monday to stump for fellow Democrats seeking to represent Arizona in Congress. But uppermost in the minds of many who came to hear him was his hinting on national television the previous day about a possible 2008 campaign for president.

DETROIT - Al Gore made his debut in the 2008 presidential campaign Monday night, encouraging voters to back Barack Obama because "take it from me, elections matter."

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Sen. Barack Obama says he may have to overcome questions about his inexperience, stereotypes about his race and even a middle name that reminds Americans of Iraq's former dictator.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday downplayed the weighty endorsements won by her chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying a candidate’s supporters don’t define the contest.