National

Wednesday, Oct. 25, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to the same state benefits, protections, and obligations as different-sex couples. The court split, however, on how to remedy current state law.

BOSTON — El año pasado, debido a la mala publicidad y opinión pública que el presidente Bush tenía y sigue teniendo por la guerra en Irak y el mal manejo de la destrucción causada por el huracán Katrina, Karl Rove, director político del presidente, decidió que la manera de ganar las elecciones de este año sería atacando a los indocumentados.

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — Las tensiones están altas en Connecticut con todos los tres escaños republicanos en contienda además de una por el Senado donde está mucho en juego.

With a poll earlier this month showing the candidates neck-and-neck, San Jose’s nonpartisan mayoral contest between City Councilmembers Cindy Chavez and Chuck Reed has become a real cliff-hanger.

The right is fond of invoking the views of “the founding fathers,” but on church-state issues they run into a problem: The founding fathers themselves inserted language into the Constitution that prohibited any “religious test” for persons holding federal office, and later added the famous language in the First Amendment forbidding the “establishment of religion.”

From door-knockers to phone bankers to families sitting around the kitchen table, pre-election conversation reflects a deep unease with the economy.

The big electoral news here in Massachusetts is the fight for the governor’s office, largely between Democrat Deval Patrick and the Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healy. Two other candidates in the race are independent Christy Mihos, who originally was planning on running as a Republican, and Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross. All four have participated in the debates.

TUCSON, Ariz. — In spite of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for Arizona to require voters to show identification before casting a ballot, public opinion polls show several incumbent right-wing congressmen in deep trouble.

Voters in Michigan can deliver a knockout punch to the Bush agenda. But to do so, they will have to find their way through a Republican minefield that works to scapegoat the victims of an economic crisis that has Michigan autoworkers and the communities they live in reeling.

Some 100 union coal miners jammed the Mine Safety and Health Administration district office in Morgantown, W.Va., Oct. 24. They demanded stepped up enforcement of safety laws, oxygen packs and other equipment, and more mine inspectors. They also protested President Bush’s appointment of a coal operator to head the federal mine safety agency.