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Valentine’s Day greeting from the RNC.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Female political reporters and producers who may be without a Valentine this year are in luck - at least if they’re on the Republican National Committee press list.

Alex Conant, the committee’s press secretary for at least another month, sent electronic Valentine’s notes to all the ladies on his contact list. The pink and red e-card contained a smiling image of President Barack Obama with the inscription “This card hasn’t been fully vetted” - an obvious political nudge to the recent tax problems encountered by some of the president’s cabinet nominees.

When asked why he decided to grace selected inboxes with such a heartfelt sentiment, Conant responded the effort was “part of my ongoing campaign to prove that Republicans have hearts too.”

Obama took a two-day swing through the critical battleground state of Florida.

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) – Barack Obama told a Miami rally John McCain is “running out of time” and as a result has taken to “making stuff up” on Obama’s record and tax cut plan.

“He’s decided to make up, just fabricate this notion that I’ve been attacking Joe the plumber. Now, let me tell you something even just yesterday, Joe the plumber himself said that wasn’t true. I’ve got nothing but love for Joe the plumber. That’s why I want to give him a tax cut,” Obama said.

“Apparently Senator McCain’s decided that if he can’t beat our ideas, then he’s just going to make up some ideas and run against those. What we need now is not straw men we don’t need misleading charges. What we need is honest leadership.”

On Tuesday, Obama wrapped up a two-day Florida swing designed to pump up supporters and get them to vote early.

“We can take nothing for granted. My view is that Barack Obama is the underdog and will continue to be the underdog until he's sitting in the Oval Office,” said Michelle Obama, who joined her husband in Miami after campaigning in the northern part of the state. “We need you to vote early and then after you vote early to spend Election Day getting five, six, seven, ten other people to the polls.”

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Pies are non-partisan.

CHICAGO (CNN) - Fitness devotee Barack Obama has developed an obsession with of all things, pie.

The candidate known for his discriminate eating habits and daily workouts mentioned a recent pie stop at a southern Ohio restaurant during all four of his Saturday Philadelphia events.

"I was in Ohio, in a small town called Georgetown, we were on a bus tour, a bus tour for jobs in Ohio. And I was with the governor there, Governor Strickland. And we decided to stop at a diner because I was hungry and I decided I wanted some pie," Obama said in West Philly of his afternoon trip to Fireside Restaurant last Thursday. "I had coconut cream pie. The governor of Ohio, he had lemon meringue pie."

Obama started weaving the lengthy pie anecdote into his stump speech Thursday night in Ohio, telling audiences that the owner of Fireside, who served Obama and Strickland their pie slices, is a Republican disenchanted with the direction of the country.

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Obama and his camp aimed tough talk at McCain Saturday.

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) – In a shift from the apolitical tone the presidential candidates took during Hurricane Gustav, Barack Obama did not temper his rhetoric Saturday, as his spokesman accused John McCain of “cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history.”

“John McCain wants to have a debate about national security let’s have that debate. I warned that going into Iraq would distract us from Afghanistan. John McCain cheer-leaded for it. John McCain was wrong and I was right,” Obama told a screaming New Hampshire crowd.

“The McCain-Palin ticket, they don’t want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on issues because they are running on eight more years of what we’ve just seen. And they know it,” Obama said. “As a consequence what they’re going to spend the next seven, eight weeks doing is trying to distract you.

“They’re going to talk about pigs and they’re going to talk about lipstick, they’re going to talk about Paris Hilton, they’re going to talk about Britney Spears. They will try to distort my record and they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats intend to do.”

Watch Obama on Hurricane Ike

Asked why the campaign responded differently than it did around hurricane Gustav, Obama Senior Strategist David Axelrod said,“We have enormous concern for people down there … that’s why we canceled “Saturday Night Live” … but these people also came out because they’re really concerned about the future of the country and he [Obama]wanted to talk about those issues.”

Listen: Obama camp conference call Saturday slams McCain

The McCain campaign criticized Obama for showing “zero restraint” given the storm and said “today’s attacks mark a new low from Barack Obama.”

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Obama is sharpening attacks against McCain and the GOP.

DOVER, New Hampshire (CNN) – On the first day of what his campaign called the “final stretch,” Barack Obama hammered at John McCain, and repeatedly linked him to President Bush’s policies.

“We can’t afford four more years of what George Bush and John McCain consider progress,” he said at a town hall not far from Portsmouth. “We can’t afford another President who is so out of touch that they think the economy is strong right now and promises to the exact same thing we’ve been doing for the last eight years.”

The Obama campaign seized on a comment from Thursday night’s forum in New York where McCain said it was “easy” for him to become “somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have” while in Washington.

“Maybe from where he and George Bush sit, maybe things do look fundamentally sound,” Obama said after repeating McCain’s quote and eliciting some groans from the audience. “Maybe they don’t see what’s taking place. Maybe they’re that out of touch. But I do see what’s going on and so do you.”

Even as Obama goes on the offensive against McCain in these final weeks, he has spent time defending his own campaign, reassuring voters that the recent “lipstick” story, spike in enthusiasm for the GOP ticket, and serious up-tick in negative ads does not mean his presidential effort is off-message or floundering.

At a New Hampshire town hall Friday, a man stood and asked Obama, “when and how” was he “going to start fighting back against attack ads and smear campaigns.”

“I know there are a lot of Democrats, and some Independents and some Republicans who really want change who start getting nervous because they’ve seen this movie before every four years. Right? You have ads that are being just fabricated, they’re just made up. And lies – that’s the word I was looking for,” said Obama.

“Here’s what I can guarantee you: that we are going to be hitting back hard – we have been hitting back hard but …I’m not going to start making up lies about John McCain … we’re going to make sure that anything that is out there that we are immediately responding to. But this election is too important, it’s too serious to be playing silly games.”

The Democratic nominee also pledged that families making less than $250,000 a year would not see any type of tax increase should he become president.

Obama hit the GOP over last week’s community organizer cracks.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Barack Obama criticized his Republican presidential opponent, Senator John McCain, for not standing firm in his support for immigration reform in the face of opposition from his own party.

“I know Senator McCain used to buck his party by fighting for comprehensive reform – and I admired him for it. But when he was running for his party’s nomination, he abandoned his stance, and said he wouldn’t even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote,” Obama told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gathered in Washington.

“When it came time to write his party’s platform, comprehensive reform never made it in. So you’ve got to ask yourself: if Senator McCain won’t stand up to opponents of reform at his own convention, how can you trust him to stand up for change in Washington?”

McCain’s support for comprehensive immigration reform nearly killed his candidacy in 2007 and he later came out in favor of greater emphasis on securing the nation’s borders in any future legislation. Now, however, he references his fight for reform as a mark of his maverick credentials.

Obama also defended his role as a community organizer, something that was mocked by several speakers at the Republican Party convention, including vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

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'Thank You W' buttons were seen on delegates from Texas.

ST. PAUL, Minesota (CNN) – Some delegates In the Texas section of the Republican National Convention are sporting "Thank You W" buttons with pictures of President Bush's two Supreme Court nominees — Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito.

Spotted elsewhere on the floor: "Drill here – Drill now – Pay less" stickers.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.

DENVER (CNN) – Joe Biden and family arrived mid-way through Warner's keynote address - just in time to see "McCain more of THE SAME" signs being passed out on the floor.

Obama and Sarkozy held a press conference Friday.

PARIS, France (CNN) – Sen. Barack Obama said his multi-nation tour did not change his mind on issue of Iraq and added that it has “deepened” his “set of concerns” especially when it came to Afghanistan and Iran.

“Going to Afghanistan confirmed for me that situation is worsening there,” Obama said at a news conference Friday at the Elysee Palace with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. “There was no leader I spoke with that was not concerned about the prospect of Iran getting a nuclear weapon.”

In a press conference that ranged from the serious to borderline love fest, Obama and Sarkozy each said they enjoyed the opportunity to meet and discuss their mutual concern on issues such as global warming and the situation in Darfur.

The French president U.S. senator emerged from behind closed doors to a crush of media crammed into what one French journalist described as the more “casual” area where the French president meets the press. “The French love the Americans,” Sarkozy said, which drew laughter from the crowd and Obama.

Obama returned the favor. “No one better captures the enthusiasm and energy of France than your president,” he said.

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Onlookers gather for Obama's Thursday speech in Berlin, Germany.

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) – Crowds have grown and thinned throughout the day outside of the swank Adlon Hotel where Barack Obama and his entourage are preparing for the Democratic presidential candidate’s visit here.

Police have closed off part of the street in front of the hotel which sits in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate as throngs lean on metal barriers, cameras in hand, hoping to get a glimpse of the man himself.

Watch: Crowds wait for Obama to speak in Berlin

Just a short walk up the road is the Victory Column where Obama will deliver his remarks, a speech he says will be a “substantive articulation of the relationship” he would like to see between the United States and Europe.

Although Obama and his aides have strongly denied politics plays a role in today’s event, a leisurely stroll towards the event site left a different impression.

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Nader’s campaign is taking aim at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a new fundraising pitch.

(CNN) – A presidential rival is fundraising off of Barack Obama’s decision to reject public financing for the general election, using the move to fuel allegations the presumptive Democratic nominee is a policy-shifting flip-flopper.

But it isn’t John McCain.

Ralph Nader’s campaign sent an e-mail to supporters Friday that paints Obama as too close to big business and special interests. “Ralph Nader stands for shifting the power from the big corporations back to the people. Period. Full stop. End of story,” writes the Nader campaign. “Contrast that with Senator Obama.”

The message highlights what it says are changes in the Illinois senator’s positions on public spending limits, NAFTA and economic populism, and says that Obama has surrounded himself with “veterans of the military industrial complex status quo.” It does not mention his Republican counterpart, John McCain.

“We're at six percent nationwide in the most recent CNN poll. We're going to be on ten state ballots by the end of June. And we're shooting for 40 by the end of the summer,” writes the Nader campaign. “Together, we are moving forward. And together, we will make a difference in November.”

Barack Obama’s lead over John McCain increased by one point in the most recent CNN national poll when Nader, a perennial presidential contender, was included as one of the options.

Clinton campaigned in South Dakota Thursday.

WATERTOWN, South Dakota (CNN) – Long bus rides along rolling fields, small town stops, intimate crowds and diner pie typically symbolize the run up to the Iowa caucuses and the start of the presidential nominating season. But Hillary Clinton's two-day swing through South Dakota, a state that ends the primary process Tuesday, had all those trappings and neither the candidate nor her supporters were acting as though this race was nearing an end.

"A lot of people didn't want this campaign to keep going. They've been trying to tell me to stop running since January - and every time they say it, people rebuke it and keep voting for me. That's what I hope will happen here in South Dakota," she told a cheering crowd of several hundred in Huron.

As she stood in front of an enormous American flag, Clinton wound through her stump speech promising fiscal responsibility, universal health care, better and more jobs, ending the war in Iraq - all the issues candidates touch as they claw for every vote. She promised that between now and Tuesday there would not be a day without a Clinton in some corner of this state. As voters left they were given small Xeroxed fliers advertising a Bill Clinton event Friday in Mitchell.

Earlier Thursday die-hard Clinton supporters and some undecided Democrats waited patiently inside the smallish Second Street Diner in Madison hoping for a glimpse of and a picture with the presidential candidate. Upon arrival Clinton gripped and grinned with the all white, mostly middle-aged female crowd stopping at each booth and table to chat about issues or her Wednesday trip to Mt. Rushmore – "it's an honor, Madame President!" one woman shrieked as Clinton bounced through the door.

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The primaries may be over, but there are signs the Clinton campaign may keep going.

(CNN) - Democrats, reporters and rival Barack Obama’s campaign have all been scrutinizing Hillary Clinton for signs she may continue her presidential run after the last primary takes place June 3. On Thursday, they got an answer: definitely maybe.

The press corps traveling with the New York senator received an afternoon e-mail asking them whether they wanted to stay on the road with the campaign next week – most of which falls after Tuesday’s votes in Montana and South Dakota, the final contests of the primary season.

Reporters were offered the option of traveling with the campaign on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, June 4-6.

But the Clinton campaign – which regularly informs journalists of travel plans just hours beforehand – is offering no other details, including possible destinations.

Said Clinton spokesman Jay Carson. "There are a lot of places for us to go between June 4 and November."

Clinton is stepping up her argument to superdelegates. (AP Photo)

EN ROUTE TO KYLE, South Dakota (CNN) - In a letter sent to superdelegates Wednesday, Hillary Clinton contends neither she nor Senator Barack Obama will have the required number of delegates to clinch the nomination after Montana and South Dakota vote next Tuesday, leaving it up to party insiders to put one of them over the top.

“When the primaries are finished, I expect to lead in the popular vote and in delegates earned through primaries … I hope you will consider not just the strength of the coalition backing me, but also that more people will have cast their votes for me,” she wrote, as she continued to press her case that the race was far from over.

Read Clinton's letter and memo to the undecided superdelegates [PDFs]

Clinton, who has not fared well in most caucus votes this year, has dismissed results from those states for much of the campaign, saying the method disenfranchises too many voters.

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Four-year-old Cassandra Savukinas attends a campaign event in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) – Camp Clinton, buoyed by its Pennsylvania victory, plans to take what worked here and take it on to Indiana and North Carolina.

Spokesman Mo Elleithee held a gaggle with reporters a short time ago. He said that said heading into the May 6 contests, the campaign would continue to push the themes that Hillary Clinton is the most equipped to be commander-in-chief and to lead the economy into recovery. He said the campaign would continue to raise questions about Sen. Barack Obama’s ability to beat Sen. John McCain in the fall.

Elleithee said Obama has built-in advantages in both North Carolina and Indiana, which he dubbed a “battleground.” Indiana’s proximity to Illinois makes him a known entity in much of that state and North Carolina boasts a large African-American population.

“There’s still a long way to go until a nominee is decided,” Elleithee said, noting the campaign feels very good about the upcoming contests in West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) - Just a little nugget from Clinton headquarters in Philadelphia: The Uniformed Division of the Secret Service is confiscating all food and drink as members of the media file in to cover Hillary Clinton's election night party. Journalists unwilling to part with their liquid are standing next to the magnetometers drinking their coffee, water or soda. A young woman in a tank top and flip-flops was forced to part with a granola bar she was saving for dinner. Clinton’s staff made valiant efforts to try and help reporters out, but to no avail.

Hillary Clinton sends a warning to Iran Tuesday.

(CNN) – Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that her comments that the United States could “totally obliterate” Iran if it made a nuclear attack on Israel had been an attempt to return the United States to Cold War style deterrence.

Responding to accusations from Barack Obama's campaign that she was engaging in the sort of hypothetical thinking she had criticized him for, Clinton said the situations were not equivalent, since the threat from Iran was all too real. “I think in this particular instance of Iran it's a question not of what might be on or off the table concerning a tactical or strategic decision but an effort on my part to get back to what worked during the Cold War which was deterrence,” she told reporters in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

“…Iran is feeling quite powerful. They have been empowered by the actions of the last seven years and they must know there are lines that the world will not let them cross.”

Earlier Tuesday, Clinton told ABC’s Good Morning America that "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran [if it attacked Israel].”"

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CONSHOHOCKEN, Pennsylvania (CNN) – Sen. Hillary Clinton said again that questions should be raised about Barack Obama’s candidacy if he is unable to pull off a win here, given the amount of time and money his campaign invested in the Keystone State.

“I think the question maybe ought to be why can't he close the deal,” Clinton told reporters outside of a polling place after greeting supporters. “With his extraordinary financial advantage why can't he win a state like this one if that's the way it turns out. ... The road to the White House for a Democrat leads right through Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Clinton said if she is victorious, “a win is a win” regardless of the margin. A close race, however, would limit her delegate pick-up and make it more challenging to catch Obama in the pledged delegate race.

“My opponent has outspent me probably three to one maybe four to one, an enormous effort on his part on TV, in radio, on the phones, in every way that is imaginable to try to win Pennsylvania. So I think a win under these circumstances is a tremendous accomplishment,” she said.

On a campaign conference call Monday, Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson made similar comments, pointing to Obama's cash advantage and telling reporters that winning Pennsylvania was a crucial test for any Democrat.

"The goal tomorrow is to come out of Pennsylvania with a 'W' and whether it's one vote or a hundred votes or a thousand votes or a hundred thousand votes, it does not matter," said Wolfson.

Clinton will spend the day conducting radio and satellite television interviews across the state. She is scheduled to travel to Indiana on Wednesday. The state holds its primary in two weeks, on May 6.

Coaldale Mayor Claire Remington and her husband, Otis, talk politics in their kitchen.

CNN Senior Producer Sasha Johnson traveled to Coaldale, Pennsylvania, to talk to voters, including some members of her extended family, about how a typical small town like Coaldale might vote in 2008 and what issues are on their minds.

COALDALE, Pennsylvania (CNN) - Coaldale is a borough of 2,200, nestled in the anthracite-rich mountains in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania.

It's exactly the type of place Sen. Barack Obama referenced last week when he said some Pennsylvanians were "bitter" over their poor economic situation.

Obama said he regretted the word choice but continued to argue that some voters feel desperate.

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Clinton last appeared on Stewart's show in 2003.

(CNN) – Sen. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear on Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ on Monday, March 3, according to a press release by the cable outlet.

Clinton has previously appeared on the political talk show but her upcoming appearance will be the first since announcing her run for the White House in 2007.

The scheduled appearance comes a day before crucial primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont where some pundits believe Clinton must do well in order to keep herself in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, the two other leading contenders for the White House, have both appeared on the popular show since the presidential campaign started in early 2007.

–CNN’s Sasha Johnson and Martina Stewart