Vice President-elect Joe Biden said he received a promise from Obama before he accepted the offer to join the ticket.

(CNN) – Before he accepted Barack Obama's offer to join his presidential ticket, Joe Biden got a promise from Obama: that he would be there for "every critical decision," Biden said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Speaking to ABC's "This Week," Biden said he believes the vice president's role is to provide "the best, sagest, most accurate, most insightful advice and recommendations he or she can make to a president to help them make some of the very, very important decisions that have to be made."

When Obama talked to him about being his number two, "I said, 'I don't want to be picked unless you're picking me for my judgment. I don't want to be
the guy that goes out and has a specific assignment... I want a commitment from you that in every important decision you'll make, every critical decision,
economic and political, as well as foreign policy, I'll get to be in the room.'"

Biden said President-elect Obama has kept the promise, having Biden in the room for all of his decisions about who will fill key posts in the administration.

In what ABC billed as Biden's first interview as vice president-elect, Biden also discussed the role he played in helping Sen. Hillary Clinton decide to accept Obama's offer of serving as his secretary of state.

"She's one of my close friends. And when this came forward, I did talk to her. She sought me out. I sought her out as well, to assure her that this was real," he said, adding that "there was a lot swirling around" at the time.

Biden said he does not know whether he played a "key" role in helping Clinton make her decision. "It wasn't so much convincing, but I - they wanted
to know my perspective, and I gave my perspective."

Biden will have a specific assignment at first. On Sunday, Obama's transition team announced the new "White House Task Force on Working Families" – a major initiative targeted at "raising the living standards of middle-class, working families in America." Biden will chair the task force.

"It is a discreet job that's going to last only for a certain period of time," Biden said, vowing that the task force will "use as a yardstick of economic success of our administration: Is the middle class growing? Is the middle class getting better? Is the middle class no longer being left behind?
And we'll look at everything from college affordability to after-schoolprograms, the things that affect people's daily lives."

First Lady Laura Bush.

(CNN) - First lady Laura Bush said Sunday she plans to continue working to advance the position of women in Afghanistan after her husband's time in office ends in January.

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Mrs. Bush also offered her take on the recent U.S. election, her first impressions of President-elect Barack Obama and incoming first lady Michelle Obama, and what she'll miss most.

When President Bush spoke Tuesday at Fort Campbell, he said he will miss most "spending time with men and women who have volunteered to serve the United States of America."

That speech "made me weep," Laura Bush told NBC.

"I'll miss being with the military, too, and that's one of the things about Camp David that we liked so much, and that's going to church at Camp David with the people who are posted there... I'll miss a lot of things. I'll miss all the people that are around us all the time," she said. "From the ushers and the butlers who are there for every president and have been there four or five administrations, to our own staff, of course, that we love to laugh with and talk with and solve problems with. And so I'll miss the people the most."

She said she and her husband plan to spend their weeks in Dallas and weekends at their ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The first lady said she hopes to maintain her involvement with the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council, which works to improve life for women in Afghanistan. Established in 2002 by President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the organization has now moved from the U.S. State Department to
Georgetown University.

Also, President Bush "is going to build a freedom institute with his presidential library and museum at SMU (Southern Methodist University) in Dallas, and that'll be a really good vehicle, I think, for me to continue to work with, especially, women and children in Afghanistan," Mrs. Bush said.

When she welcomed Michelle Obama for a visit at the White House recently, Laura Bush said, "the main point I wanted to say to her is that this is - the White House is a home, and it can be a very happy home for her and for her children and her husband, and it certainly has been for us."

Mrs. Bush said she expects the media to "defer to all common sense" in terms of sparing the Obamas' children - Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 - the glare of the spotlight, as they largely did for her children. "I appreciate the way most of the press let Barbara and Jenna make all the mistakes of growing up out
of the limelight."

The first lady said she first met Barack and Michelle Obama at a gathering of freshmen senators. Asked Sunday whether she saw in them a prospective president and first lady, she responded, "Well, I don't know if I would say that, but I certainly saw somebody who was very ambitious and accomplished in both of them."

Asked about the election, she called it "a major, historical event for the United States. And I think that's very good."

Did Obama vote to raise taxes more than 90 times?

The statement:

"He said he won't raise taxes for most people, but he's voted 94 times in his short Senate career for tax increases and against tax cuts."
-Sen. John McCain, at a campaign stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Friday Sept. 19, 2008

Check out the facts after the jump!

The facts:
The effort to convince voters that Sen. Barack Obama would support higher taxes is a central part of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. McCain and the Republican National Committee have repeatedly cited 94 alleged votes by Obama to bolster their argument.

Factcheck.org, a non-partisan project of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, pieced through records to determine just what these 94 votes were. Key findings:

-23 were against proposed tax cuts
-7 were "for measures that would have lowered taxes for many, while raising them on a relative few, either corporations or affluent individuals"
-11 were to increase taxes on people making more than $1 million a year, to help fund programs such as Head Start, school nutrition, or veterans' health care
-53 were votes on budget resolutions or amendments that "could not have resulted by themselves in raising taxes," though many "were clear statements of approval for increased taxes"
- The total includes multiple votes on the same measures

Annenberg says a close look at the record reveals that Obama has "voted consistently to restore higher tax rates on upper-income taxpayers but not on middle- or low-income workers."

Verdict:
Misleading. McCain's summary ignores the fact that some of the votes were for measures to lower taxes for many Americans, while increasing them for a much smaller number of taxpayers. A nonpartisan examination also finds that the 94 total includes multiple votes on the same measures and budget votes that would not directly lead to higher taxes.

Obama said McCain would have put Social Security in the stock market.

The statement:
"If my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would have had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week...  Millions would've watched as the market tumbled and their nest egg disappeared before their eyes.  Millions of families would've been scrambling to figure out how to give their mothers and their fathers, their grandmothers and their grandfathers, the security retirement that every American deserves."
– Sen. Barack Obama, at a campaign stop Saturday, September 20, in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Check out the facts after the jump!

The facts:
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain disagree over how to handle Social Security, and ensure its viability in the future.  One major difference involves privatization.  McCain supports allowing people to take some money they contribute toward Social Security and put it into "personal savings accounts." Obama believes such a move endangers retirement benefits.

On his Web site, McCain says he "supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts - but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept."  The Web site does not specify how those accounts would operate.  But McCain supported President Bush's plan in 2005 to allow some workers to place a limited amount of their payroll taxes into private accounts, which would have been invested in stock or bond funds.

That proposal - which never came to a vote - limited participation to people born in 1950 or later.  None of today's recipients of Social Security retirement benefits is old enough to have participated.  So, under the specific plan that McCain weighed in on, it is wrong to say that "the millions of Floridians who rely on" those benefits would have them tied to the stock market.  Some younger people who chose to participate would have their future benefits affected.

It's also important to note that we can't know whether the private funds President Bush proposed may ultimately have benefited someone who chose to participate.  And even with a prolonged stock downturn, it is incorrect to say that these nest eggs would "disappear," since the plan McCain supported would only allow for a portion of someone's Social Security contributions to go into
a personal savings account.  And McCain himself describes the accounts he espouses as "supplementing" the current system - not replacing it.

With nearly 80 million Americans expected to become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits in the next two decades, the program presents a financial drain on a nation that is already trillions of dollars in debt.  It is a critical and controversial issue - and prime election fodder, particularly in swing states like Florida, in which votes among older citizens could make a huge difference.

Verdict: False. There is no basis for Obama to claim that "the millions" who rely on those benefits would be affected, or that anyone's nest egg would have "disappeared."  But McCain does support allowing some Social Security funds to enter the stock market in the future, while Obama does not.

Sen. Obama campaigned in Indiana Saturday.

(CNN) - Sen. Barack Obama - locked in a tight presidential race against Sen. John McCain, widely considered a war hero - said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he once considered joining the military himself.

Speaking to ABC's "This Week," Obama said, "You know, I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school. And I was growing up in Hawaii, and I have friends whose parents were in the military. There are a lot of Army, military bases there. And I actually always thought of the military as an enobling and, you know, honorable option.

"But keep in mind - I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."

On the stump, Obama has praised McCain for his service in the Vietnam war.

The two candidates' stark differences over the Iraq war mark one of the central issues of the campaign.

The McCain camp argues that McCain's experience has prepared him to serve as commander in chief and lead the United States through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, said in her speech at last week's Republican National Convention that while Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, "have been going on lately about how they're always, quote, 'fighting for you,' let us face the matter squarely: There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death."

In the "This Week" interview, Obama also expressed regret for how he handled a question about the Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency last month.

At the time he said answering a question about when a baby gets human rights is "above my pay grade."

Asked by ABC whether that answer was "too flip," Obama answered, "Probably, yes." He added that as a Christian, "I have a lot of humility about understanding" when the soul enters into the body. "And so, all I meant to communicate was that I don't presume to be able to answer these kinds of theological questions."

"What I do know is that abortion is a moral issue, that it's one that families struggle with all the time, and that in wrestling with those issues, I don't think that the government criminalizing the choices that families make is the best answer for reducing abortions."

On a lighter note, "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos jokingly asked Obama whether he'd ever be willing to take on Palin in a game of one-on-one.

Both were avid basketball players in their school days, with Obama earning the name "Barry O'Bomber," and Palin nicknamed "Sarah Barracuda."

"You know, I would play her a game of horse. She looks like she's got some game," he said, adding, "I know she's a sharpshooter... I probably wouldn't do target practice with her. I think she'd be a better shot than me.

But on the basketball court, I think I'd stand up pretty well."

He agreed with host Stephanopoulos' suggestion that the game "would break all Nielsen records."

Sen. McCain campaigned in New Mexico Saturday.

(CNN) - Promising a "very bipartisan approach" to how he'll run his administration, Sen. John McCain said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would appoint Democrats to his Cabinet.

Speaking to CBS' "Face the Nation," the Republican presidential nominee vowed that he won't just have a single token Democrat in his Cabinet.

"It's going to be the best people in America, the smartest people in America," McCain said. "So many of these problems we face - for example, energy independence - what's partisan about that?"

He said he'll also ask some members of his Cabinet "to work for a dollar a year. They've made enough money. But I'll also ask people who have struggled out there in the trenches to help people, to volunteer in their communities, who understand these problems at that level, which obviously is lost on a lot of - a lot - a big segment of Washington."

Full story

(CNN) – A roundup of comments on the Sunday political talk shows, compiled by the CNN Wire:

On Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden as VP:

"I don't think (Obama) is ready to be president. And when you're commander in chief, you shouldn't be having to select a mentor to help you with that role." –Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, considered a potential VP for McCain, on CNN's "Late Edition"

"It was an honor to be in that final two or three. You know, I don't think you'd be there unless they concluded you had a lot of positive things to offer and probably not too many negatives." -Sen. Evan Bayh, whom Obama considered for VP, on CNN

"It always seemed like kind of a longshot to me, but it was really, really nice to be mentioned." -Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, also considered for VP, on "Fox News Sunday"

"We didn't hire him for his stunning good looks. We hired him for his judgment to lead this country if something happens to Barack Obama, and the judgment and the advice that he'll give the next president of the United States." -Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs, on Fox

"It's really a process, for me, that was wonderful to be part of, because I really came away thinking, once again, that there are so many great people in public service." -Caroline Kennedy, co-chair of Obama's VP search committee, on NBC's "Meet the Press"

"John McCain is going to pick somebody next week, and the odds are that either that person will have said things about John McCain." -Obama campaign adviser Anita Dunn, on CNN

On Obama not choosing Clinton

"Senator Obama has made a choice more out of weakness than strength... The strong choice would have been Hillary Clinton. The obvious choice would have been Hillary Clinton. She had 50 percent of the Democratic vote... You almost have to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid her as the vice presidential pick of the party." -Former Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, on ABC's "This Week"

"The first person that he sat down and talked to at all about this vice presidential issue was Senator Clinton. They had a discussion back in early June about it." -Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod, on ABC

"I don't think there's any question at all that the Clintons are wholeheartedly behind Barack Obama. They want to see a Democrat elected president of the United States." -Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, on CBS

"She ran a fantastic campaign. I'm a huge admirer of hers." -Caroline Kennedy, on NBC

On McCain's ad about why Obama did not choose Clinton

"This ad will have a three-day life span. When Hillary Clinton speaks on Wednesday night, she will blow this ad out of the water." -Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, on CBS

"This campaign is not about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. This campaign is about George Bush and four more years of George Bush under John McCain. That message is going to echo clearly from this platform." -Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., on CBS

(CNN) – The Obama campaign has succeeded partly through astute, unprecedented use of the Internet. But some of the most obvious Web site domain names for the Obama-Biden ticket might not actually belong to the campaign anytime soon - if ever.

After hearing about Obama's selection for his number-two slot, anyone who tried to surf to obamabiden.org was re-directed to an eBay page selling that domain name for a starting bid of $100,000.

As of 6:30 p.m. ET, there were no bids listed.

The same seller lists 15 similar domain names up for sale, including obama-biden.com, obama-biden.org, and obamabiden-08.com.

Though the seller does not list his name on the ebay site, he does list it as public information at godaddy.com, where he purchased the site. That site shows that Luke Freudenberg bought the site back in December.

Freudenberg - whose city of residence is listed at both godaddy.com and eBay.com - did not immediately respond to a message sent via ebay or phone messages left on a work number. He does not have a home number publicly listed.

Perhaps the most obvious site for an Obama-Biden ticket, obamabiden.com, is owned by someone else.

Lyle Dean bought that site back in 2006. He also owns obamabiden2008.com.

On Friday, he told CNN's Abbi Tatton in an e-mail exchange that he has had no offers, but "numerous media inquiries."

Dean called himself an "enthusiastic supporter" of the Obama-Biden ticket.

Watch more on McCain’s claim that Obama would raise your electric bill.

(CNN) - John McCain's campaign got a lot of attention last week for its ad that likens Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

The ad calls Obama "the biggest celebrity in the world," but asks, "Is he ready to lead."

In addition to the flashy imagery, the ad also claims that Obama would raise taxes on electricity. But is that claim true? CNN's Josh Levs reports.

John McCain's comments on affirmative action led Obama to charge that he 'flipped' his position.

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) - Sen. John McCain said Sunday he supports an Arizona ballot initiative aimed at ending race- and gender-based preference programs - an announcement his rival cast as a reversal from his previous stance.

Sen. Barack Obama - speaking to an auditorium full of minority journalists at the Unity conference - accused McCain of having "flipped."

But McCain's own campaign refused to say whether it stands by the candidate's announcement that he supports the ballot initiative.

In an interview broadcast on ABC's "This Week," host George Stephanopoulos asked McCain if he supports a referendum on the ballot in his home state "that would do away with affirmative action."

"Yes, I do," he responded. "I do not believe in quotas. But I have not seen the details of some of these proposals. But I've always opposed quotas."

Stephanopoulos asked, "But the one here in Arizona you support?"

"I support it, yes," replied McCain.

McCain did not indicate that he had a standing opposition to such initiatives, or that he was changing his stance by supporting the initiative in Arizona.

Contacted by CNN, McCain's campaign sent a statement from spokesman Tucker Bounds.

"John McCain has always been opposed to government- mandated hiring quotas, because he believes that regardless of race, ethnicity or gender, the law should be equally applied. He has long stood for the protection of civil rights and equal opportunity for all Americans," the statement said.

But pressed about whether McCain indeed supports the Arizona initiative, the campaign would not answer. In 1998, McCain called a similar ballot measure "divisive."

Obama told attendees to the Unity conference that he was "disappointed... that John McCain flipped and changed his position. I think in the past he had been opposed to these kinds of... initiatives as divisive. And I think he's right."

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, a prominent Obama supporter, issued a statement accusing McCain of having made "a stunning reversal on his respectable record on affirmative action."

Obama and Sarkozy held a press conference Friday.

PARIS, France (CNN) - Sen. Barack Obama said Friday he was avoiding criticizing President Bush on his trip through Europe.

Speaking to reporters, the Democratic presidential candidate cited a tradition that "you don't criticize a sitting president while overseas," adding that "it's very important" that U.S. foreign policy is presented "in one voice."

"I can say affirmatively an effective U.S. foreign policy will be based on our ability not only to project power, but also to listen and to build consensus. And the goal of an Obama administration in foreign policy would be, obviously to act on behalf of the interests of the security of the United States, but also to listen to our allies," he said.

(CNN) - A roundup of quotes from the Sunday political talk shows, as compiled by the CNN Wire:

"I think that the U.S. government provides an awful lot of aid to Pakistan, provides a lot of military support to Pakistan. And to send a clear message to Pakistan that this is important, to them as well as to us, that I think - that message has not been sent."
-Sen. Barack Obama, on how to engage Pakistan to help improve security in Afghanistan, speaking to CBS' "Face the Nation"

"I think the consequences could be very dangerous in that regard. I'm convinced at this point in time that coming - making reductions based on conditions on the ground are very important."
-Adm. Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the possibility of a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, speaking to "Fox News Sunday"

"I think it sends a signal that there is one, that eventually we do want to bring our troops back, and that... with where we are, conditions are improving in Iraq."
-Mullen, on President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's talk of a "general time horizon," speaking to "Fox News Sunday"

"I was not caught by surprise. I was working quite diligently with Congress to get reform, and we're very close to get reform."
-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, rejecting a Wall Street Journal editorial saying the "Fannie Mae debacle caught him by surprise," speaking to CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer"

"The fundamentals of our economy are solid long term... and they compare favorably with the long-term fundamentals of... other industrial economies around the world."
-Paulson, on the strength of the U.S. economy, speaking to CNN's "Late Edition"

"I'm not going to get into our internal deliberations. We are always looking for ways to reach out to the Iranian people. We believe very strongly that the Iranian people... harbor no animosity toward the United States. And we certainly harbor no animosity toward them."
-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on the possibility that the Bush administration may be considering establishing a diplomatic mission in Tehran, speaking to CNN's "Late Edition"

"I think it is achievable, and I think it's important that we achieve it."
-Former Vice President Al Gore, on his challenge to Americans to switch all electricity production to wind, solar, and other carbon-free sources within 10 years, speaking to NBC's "Meet the Press"

Sen. Charles Schumer said the OTS 'ought to stop pointing false fingers of blame.'

NEW YORK (CNN) – Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday the Bush administration is trying to "blame the fire on the person who calls 911" by suggesting he had a role in one of the costliest U.S. bank failures.

Federal regulators with the Office of Thrift Supervision were "asleep at the switch" when it came to IndyMac's "reckless" behavior, the New York Democrat complained.

The OTS announced Friday that it was taking over the $32 billion IndyMac and transferring control to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The OTS pointed the finger directly at Schumer for the failure, accusing him of sparking a bank run by releasing a letter that "expressed concerns about IndyMac's viability."

"In the following 11 business days, depositors withdrew more than $1.3 billion from their accounts," the OTS said in a statement announcing the California-based lender's takeover on Friday.

The statement included a quote from OTS Director John Reich saying, "Although this institution was already in distress, I am troubled by any interference in the regulatory process."

Schumer, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, chairman of Congress' Joint Economic Committee and the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, rejected any suggestions of responsibility for IndyMac's collapse.

Full story

(CNN) - A roundup of quotes from the Sunday political talk shows, as compiled by the CNN Wire:

On the candidates' Iraq strategies:

"I think what's significant about what's happened in the last week - frankly, in the last month, since Senator Obama clinched the nomination - is how many big positions - Iraq, Iran, free trade, the death penalty - that Senator Obama has ... altered his position on.

"On Iraq, John McCain has been right and consistent, and Senator Obama has been wrong."

–Sen. Joe Lieberman, Independent from Connecticut, on ABC's "This Week"

"The Republicans, and John McCain specifically, are trying desperately to get away from the reality of John McCain's position, which is that he has a plan for staying in Iraq and Barack Obama has a plan for getting out of Iraq... (Obama's position) is no change whatsoever in his fundamental determination to end the war."

–Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, on CBS' "Face the Nation"

"We're winning because John McCain understood Iraq better than anybody else. The surge has worked. The political, economic and military progress in Iraq is undeniable... The only way we can lose this war now is to go down the road that Obama suggests."

–Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, on "Face the Nation"

"I think Senator McCain has not been consistently right. He's been fundamentally wrong on the strategy."

–Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, on "This Week"

Bob Barr, on his presidential candidacy as a Libertarian:

"The nanny state is right up there behind you. It's Capitol Hill. It's the White House. It's all these federal buildings around here that are adding trillions of dollars over the years to the cost of doing business, the cost of educating children, the cost of traveling in this country. It is a federal government that has become so big that it has stifled individual liberty and freedom in this country. And Americans realize that."

–on ABC's "This Week,"

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Days after both men reversed course on major issues, the presidential campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain spent much of Sunday's talk-show circuit working to ensure accusations of "flip-flopping" don't stick.

Both sides tried to go on offense, with the Obama camp accusing McCain of "yet another flip-flop," on the issue of oil drilling and the McCain camp saying Obama broke his word on the issue of campaign financing.

McCain said he now supports lifting a federal ban on off-shore drilling that he once supported.

Daschle pointed to the issue, saying, "we're surprised at yet another flip-flop on the part of John McCain here."

But McCain's economic adviser Carly Fiorina, on CBS' "Face the Nation," argued that "a good leader is influenced by the facts on the ground."

Watch: McCain's 'false' claim, Obama's Pinocchios

She added, "We've never before faced a situation where the price of a barrel of oil has doubled in the last 12 months. So what John McCain has said is that we now need to take control of our own energy future." Watch more on the off-shore drilling debate »

When McCain announced his decision Tuesday, he said off-shore oil drilling could be part of a plan "in the short term in resolving our energy crisis." But many analysts argue any significant oil production gain would be years away.

On the issue of campaign financing, Obama announced Thursday he would not take public financing for the general election.

Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, had long spoken in support of public financing, and when asked on a questionnaire whether he would accept public financing if the competition did, he answered "yes."

Full Story

Watch Bob Barr's interview with John Roberts

(CNN) – Former Rep. Bob Barr, the newly-selected Libertarian presidential nominee, rejected suggestions Monday that he could spoil his former party's chances of holding onto the White House.

"There are two folks that are out to spoil the race here - it's Senator Obama and Senator McCain. They're setting out, I think, to spoil our chances," he told CNN's "American Morning."

He added, "There are millions of voters out there that are not going to vote for Senator McCain, and we aim to reach those voters with the message of smaller government and more individual liberty."

For years, Barr was a prominent Georgia Republican in the House. He played a leading role in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.

His positions on some issues have left some Libertarians unsure about his candidacy. He opposed legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, supported the Patriot Act, and co-sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act.

While the Defense of Marriage Act was backed by opponents of gay marriage, and allowed states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, Barr told CNN Monday that it was a "very sound individualistic and states' rights policy."

And he said he has been working for five years "to either amend or repeal the Patriot Act because of the way it has been used and abused by the Bush administration to curtail the civil liberties of American citizens in this country. We can defend America without taking away civil liberties and privacy rights of American citizens, and we ought to be doing that."

He also supports U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Barr, 59, left the Republican Party in 2006, and announced in April that he would form a presidential exploratory committee. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 and represented a conservative district in the Atlanta suburbs for four terms.

He worked as an occasional contributor and analyst for CNN after leaving office.

The last two Libertarian presidential candidates, Michael Badnarik in 2004 and Harry Browne in 2000, drew fewer than 400,000 votes each. But Barr is a more prominent political figure, and his selection Sunday at the Libertarian National Convention in Denver is drawing more attention to the party.

He told CNN Monday he hopes to have his name on the ballot in all 50 states, and vowed, "We are going to launch a very vigorous campaign all across America."

Barack Obama picked up his 273rd superdelegate endorsement Sunday.

(CNN) – A Young Democrats of America board member threw her support to Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday, bringing Obama to a tie with Sen. Hillary Clinton in the superdelegate race.

Crystal Strait, 28, became the 273rd superdelegate in Obama's column, by CNN's count. Clinton had 273 Sunday as well - technically 273.5 because of some Democrats Abroad superdelegates who are given half a vote each.

Obama holds a large enough lead among pledged delegates that many believe Clinton's presidential aspirations for 2008 are virtually over.

But neither candidate is expected to have the 2,025 total delegates to win, so superdelegates - elected representatives and other party insiders given seats the party's convention - will ultimately award the nomination. A flood of superdelegate endorsements for Obama could effectively end the
Democratic race.

The Obama campaign, in a written statement Sunday, called Strait "the 276th superdelegate to endorse Obama." Campaigns and various news organizations have slightly different counts, based on conversations with superdelegates and other factors.

"Barack Obama has shown a real commitment to young voters in his campaign and in response young people have overwhelmingly voted and caucused for Obama in these primary contests," Strait said in a written statement.

"We know that if a young person votes three times in a row for a party, they become a party voter for life. We know that because of high youth turnout in 2004 and 2006, 2008 is the third and critical election for young voters. And that's why I know I want to pledge my delegate vote to Barack Obama."

Nationwide, young Democratic voters have overwhelmingly supported Obama.

Strait was formerly the president of California Young Democrats. Clinton won this year's Democratic primary in California 52-43. CNN exit polls showed Clinton edged Obama out among the youngest voters age 18 to 24. Among California voters 18 to 29, both Clinton and Obama got 49 percent.

Barack Obama’s campaign denied the suggestion that Hillary Clinton is looking for a deal.

(CNN) – Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign rejected suggestions Sunday that Sen. Hillary Clinton is staying in the race in hopes of brokering some kind of agreement with the likely nominee.

"I don't believe that Senator Clinton is looking for a deal," Obama's chief campaign strategist David Axelrod told "Fox News Sunday," when asked about suggestions she may want the Obama campaign's help retiring her campaign debt.

"I don't think that's what this is about," he said.

Axelrod said he believes Clinton "will have the capacity to retire her debt."

He also denied rumors that the Clinton camp may be in some kind of discussions with the Obama camp to make her his running mate. "There's been no discussion about vice presidential nominees and this whole scenario," said Axelrod.

Clinton's top strategist Howard Wolfson told the same program, "We think Senator Clinton is going to be the nominee," and that he has "seen no evidence of her interest" in the number two slot.

"This isn't about debt retirement or about the veep," he said.

"This is about winning campaigns in key upcoming states, making the case to superdelegates that based on Senator Clinton's track record, winning the big states - Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Florida - running ahead of John McCain now nationally in polls and in those key states, that we would be the best nominee."

Both Democratic campaigns cite different polls to show the candidates' potential nationwide standing against Sen. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Wolfson added that if voters in West Virginia "want to end this on Tuesday, they're perfectly capable of it." Both campaigns expect Clinton to win in the state, and polls show her ahead by a wide margin.

But mathematically, Clinton's chances of collecting enough delegates to clinch the nomination have shrunk to the point that many consider her presidential aspirations for 2008 virtually over.

Wolfson said the Clinton camp has a total of about $20 million in debt.

Both campaigns have broken fundraising records. But Obama has outpaced Clinton since January, outspending her in advertising by a wide margin in many states. The Clinton camp has large sums of money in donations usable only for a general election, if she were to make it that far.

Axelrod said Clinton has "competed hard" and is "playing it out as she sees fit. I don't think she's waiting for a cue or a signal from us or an offer of financial assistance. And I think that would demean her to suggest otherwise."

He added, "I don't think even under any scenario... that we were going to transfer money from the Obama campaign to the Clinton campaign. We obviously need the resources we have. We have a great task ahead of us." He said he believes "there was a misunderstanding out there about that."

Axelrod also denied reports that Obama's wife Michelle wants nothing to do with the Clintons, presenting a potential obstacle to what some have called a "dream ticket."

"That's false," he said, emphasizing that there have not been "any overtures" about a possible Clinton-Obama ticket.

Wolfson and Axelrod appeared separately on "Fox News Sunday," avoiding the head-to-head matchups they have often engaged in previously. They also limited attacks on each other to a minimum, in a noticeable change from the back-and-forth throughout much of the campaign season.