Britain’s once feared Conservatives ditch nasty tag, seek power with new mood of toleranceLONDON — Who’s nasty now? California Republicans finish convention, look ahead to 2010 races for governor, US SenateINDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The Republican race to challenge liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer for her U.S. Senate seat next year is shaping up as a likely contest between a socially conservative state lawmaker and a former Silicon Valley chief executive whose views are barely known to GOP voters in the state. British PM Gordon Brown confronts party, country as Labour seeks winning formula at conferenceLONDON — It’s a challenging time for British politics — not to mention Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, which starts its annual convention Sunday. Calif. gubernatorial candidates pitch fiscal conservatism to party faithful at GOP conventionINDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Nearly a year ahead of their primary election, California Republicans are being asked to consider who would best represent their struggling party in a changing state with daunting challenges ahead. Netroots Nation: Reality tempers liberal blogger enthusiasm for Obama, but support still therePITTSBURGH — They wish he’d done more in his first eight months, but the liberal bloggers who helped propel Barack Obama to the White House are far from giving up on him. Years before 2012 caucuses, Iowa making changes _ signaling it will fight to stay firstDES MOINES, Iowa —Last year’s marathon presidential campaign should have sated even the most intense political junkies, but in Iowa and New Hampshire some are already looking ahead to 2012. For Palestinian exiles attending Fatah conference, return to West Bank is bittersweetBETHLEHEM, West Bank — After lives spent in exile fighting Israel, it’s a bittersweet homecoming to the West Bank for hundreds of veterans in the Fatah movement of the late Yasser Arafat. |