The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Mayes decides against congressional run

PRESCOTT—Arizona Corporation Commission member Kris Mayes says she won’t run for Congress this year and will instead remain on the utility-regulating panel.

Mayes weighed entering the race for the Republican nomination for the 1st Congressional District seat now held by Republican Rep. Rick Renzi. He’s under federal criminal indictment and has announced he won’t run for re-election.

Executive privilege claims hit by House Judiciary

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Bush’s refusal to let two confidants provide information to Congress about fired federal prosecutors represents the most expansive view of executive privilege since Watergate, the House Judiciary Committee told a federal judge Thursday.

Lawyers for the Democratic-led panel argued in court documents that Bush’s chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and former White House counsel Harriet Miers are not protected from subpoenas last year that sought information about the dismissals. The legal filing came in lawsuit that pits the legislative branch against the executive in a fight over a president’s powers.

Executive privilege is not a right spelled out in the Constitution, so the legal issues are murky and disputes are normally resolved politically. The suit is risky for both sides. Courts have not been kind to the presidency in fights over subpoenas; Congress could have its power to demand information curtailed permanently.

Petraeus makes pitch to Iraq’s neighbors

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The top U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus, in Iraq has revealed for the first time that he quietly visited several Middle East countries in an effort to slow the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq.

Petraeus did not name the countries he visited, but the Associated Press has learned that the trips, all taken since last September, were to Jordan, Kuwait Bahrain, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Also Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he sees no chance that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq will drop to 100,000 by the end of the year, guaranteeing a heavy American military presence as the war grinds into its sixth year to the end of the Bush presidency. President Bush said his top commander can take “all the time he needs” to consider further withdrawals after July.

Poll says McCain tied with both Democrats

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Republican Sen. John McCain has erased Sen. Barack Obama’s 10-point advantage in a head-to-head matchup, leaving him essentially tied with both Democratic candidates in a poll released Thursday.

An AP-Ipsos poll taken in late February had Obama leading McCain 51-41 percent. The current survey, conducted April 7-9, had them at 45 percent each. Clinton led McCain, 48-43 percent, in February. The latest survey showed Clinton with 48 percent support to McCain’s 45 percent. Factoring in the poll’s margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, Clinton and McCain are statistically tied.

Mid-year budget deficit hits all-time high

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The federal deficit through the first half of this budget year is at an all-time high, underscoring the pressure the budget is coming under as the overall economy slumps.

The Treasury Department reported Thursday that the deficit through the first six months of the budget year totaled $311.4 billion, up 20.5 percent from the same period a year ago. That was the largest deficit for the first half of a budget year on record, surpassing the old six-month mark of $302 billion set in 2006.