TAMPA, Florida (CNN) - Perhaps taking a cue from his former Republican rival Mike Huckabee - a re-born health nut who spent much of his presidential campaign promoting healthy lifestyles - John McCain on Monday emphasized the role personal responsibility will play in reforming America's health care system.
Before McCain's speech, a top policy adviser had said that a significant chunk of the presumptive Republican nominee's health care plan relied on encouraging people to make their own healthy choices, like maintaining a healthy diet and getting regular exercise.
"But many of us never quite get around to it, and the wake-up call doesn't come until the ambulance arrives or we're facing a tough diagnosis," said McCain at the University of South Florida's Moffitt Cancer Center Tuesday.
Watch Obama play basketball with some UNC players.
(CNN) - Barack Obama is known for his strong basketball skills, but the Illinois senator proved no match for the UNC Tar Heels Tuesday.
Obama practiced with the team for several minutes Tuesday morning, often struggling to keep pace with the Final Four-team and failing to sink a basket - at least when the cameras were turned on.
“These guys are a lot better than me,” Obama said as he was running down the full length of the court and trying to keep pace with the Division I players, including Tyler Hansbrough, the national player of the year.
At one point, Coach Roy Williams scolded his players for not guarding the presidential candidate.
“You guys are leaving the next president of the United States wide open,” Williams joked.
Obama took a couple of shots, but neither fell through. His campaign says he did make a three-pointer after reporters were escorted off the court.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Barack Obama will be endorsed by Kentucky Rep. Ben Chandler Tuesday, three weeks before voters from his state head to the polls in this marathon march to the Democratic presidential nomination, an aide to the Illinois senator tells CNN.
Chandler, whose district includes the city of Lexington – home of the University of Kentucky - and the state capital, Frankfort, was first elected in February 2004 in a special election to fill the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Ernie Fletcher. Fletcher had defeated Chandler in the gubernatorial race months earlier.
Chandler joins fellow Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth as the second Kentucky superdelegate to endorse Obama. Sen. Hillary Clinton has the backing of three other Kentucky superdelegates, leaving three - including sitting Gov. Steve Beshear - undeclared.
Earlier Tuesday, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley endorsed Clinton’s presidential bid. North Carolina voters head to the polls in one week.
UPDATE: Iowa Democrat Richard Machacek, a member of the Democratic National Committee and superdelegate, has also endorsed Barack Obama for president, an Obama aide confirmed to CNN.
Machacek’s support for Obama was first reported late Tuesday morning by The Des Moines Register.
(CNN) - On the day Democrats hold a crucial primary in North Carolina, John McCain will venture to the Tar Heel State to lay out his vision on what kind of judges he would appoint to the bench.
The McCain campaign tells CNN's Dana Bash the Arizona senator will deliver a speech next Tuesday at Wake Forrest University designed to help bolster his standing among conservatives with regard to the issue of judges.
Many conservatives took issue with McCain in 2005 for signing on to the so-called "gang of 14" in the Senate - a bipartisan group of senators who sought to find a compromise on some of President Bush's judicial nominees.
(CNN) - A tax credit to help individuals and families buy health insurance is at the heart of a health care proposal Sen. John McCain unveiled Tuesday.
The credits will spark greater competition among insurance providers and put "individuals and families back in charge" the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said during a speech in Tampa, Florida.
"Millions of Americans would be making their own health care choices again," McCain said. "Insurance companies could no longer take your business for granted, offering narrow plans with escalating costs."
(CNN)— Former president Jimmy Carter said again Monday night a peace agreement in Israel is unattainable without cooperation from Hamas.
“There’s no way to have a peace agreement in the Holy Land without Hamas being involved in the final agreement,” Carter told Larry King in a wide ranging interview. “I thought maybe I could convince [Hamas] to be more accommodating.”
Carter came under fire recently for his trip to the Middle East where he met with leaders of Hamas and some top leaders in Syria, but he insisted Monday that no one from the State Department or the White House discouraged him from making the trip.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Carter was free to speak to whomever he wanted. “I don’t think people are going to confuse the efforts of a private citizen with the very clear policies of the United States government," McCormack said last week.
On the domestic front, the former president said Monday both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should stay in the presidential race as long as they still have a chance to win.
(CNN) - The man widely credited for President Bush's two electoral victories just can't stop giving advice to this year's Democratic presidential candidates.
Former top Bush aide Karl Rove addresses Barack Obama directly in his latest Newsweek column, telling the Illinois senator that his once-strong candidacy has gotten weaker and that "you're making mistakes and making people worry."
Rove, who has previously used his column space in Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal to dole out advice to the candidates, specifically says the Illinois senator's reaction to the uproar over his former pastor's remarks and his comments about some small town Americans has "reinforced the growing sense you don't share Middle America's values. He also cites Obama's comments about flag pins and his relationship with 1960's radical Bill Ayers as evidence Obama is out of touch with ordinary Americans.
But the longtime Republican political strategist offers Obama six suggestions for how he can reignite his presidential campaign, starting with shaking up his stump speech, which he says sounds "old and out of touch."
Rove also suggests Obama sharpen his repudiation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial sermons, pledge to name specific Republicans to his administration, and spend more time back in the Senate to burnish his chops as legislator. Obama, Rove says, also needs to stop responding to Clinton's attacks and offer more concrete policy proposals.
"You have talent, intelligence and tapped into something powerful early in your campaign. But running for president is unlike anything you've ever done," Rove writes. "While you'll almost certainly win the nomination, Democrats are nervous about the fall. You've given them reasons to be.”
WASHINGTON (CNN) –- President Bush will hold a Rose Garden press conference Tuesday morning to discuss the nation’s current economic situation and address “Americans’ understandable anxiety about issues affecting their pocketbooks,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
“He will also call upon Congress to send him sensible and effective bills that will help Americans weather this difficult period and keep our country moving forward,” said Perino, adding that Bush will urge the House and Senate to approve legislation to help ease energy prices, and address the mortgage crisis, rising food prices and student loans.
The news conference is scheduled to take place at 10:31 a.m. ET.
Compiled by Jonathan Helman
CNN Washington Bureau
WSJ: Obama Heads for Superdelegate Edge
Despite his loss in Pennsylvania and other campaign bumps, Barack Obama is heavily favored to win what will be the final and decisive contest for the Democratic presidential nomination - the "invisible primary" for the convention votes of party leaders.
LA Times: Wright's Re-Emergence Does Obama No Favors
At a moment when Barack Obama is struggling to win over white voters worried about the economy, a series of public appearances by his former pastor is threatening to revive a tempest over race, patriotism and religion that the Democratic presidential front-runner hoped he had quashed.
USA Today: McCain Would 'Put Families In Charge' Of Health Care
John McCain spent much of last week emphasizing how he's a different kind of Republican. This week, he focuses on his plans for health care, which are more aligned with President Bush and other Republicans.
Indianapolis Star: Female Factor: White Women Could Be Swing Vote May 6
If Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wins Indiana's May 6 Democratic primary, the votes of white women may be a huge reason why.
Compiled by Jonathan Helman, CNN Washington Bureau
*Hillary Clinton holds an event in Raleigh, North Carolina before heading for Indiana. Once there she has events in Indianapolis and Hobart and a rally in Princeton.
*John McCain gives a speech at the Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida.
*Barack Obama holds town hall meetings in Salem and Hickory, North Carolina.
From CNN Politics
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