For Obama, selling an agenda can get personal

Ever in search of the right face to humanize his agenda, President Barack Obama sure isn't shy about using his own.

Never mind the limousine, the butlers and the presidential jet Obama has now. Or the Ivy League degrees and the millions of dollars in book sales. The leader who lives in an executive mansion is fond of reminding people he is one of them: a parent who is not so far removed from economic struggles and family juggles.

"Anybody who has been out of work _ and by the way, I've been out of work _ knows that feeling you get when you're out of work," he told an audience in Iowa. "It's not just because you're worried about paying the bills. …

Native son trying to take down Trent Lott in Mississippi

Fascinated with politics since the age of three, Chicago native and Mississippi state Rep. Erik Fleming faces an uphill battle to keep veteran U.S. Sen. Trent Lott from winning a fourth term.

Fleming, a Lindblom High School and Jackson State University grad-uate, was recently in Chicago to attend a fundraiser on his behalf as he prepares for the primary election.

His interest in politics started with a set of encyclopedias in his home. Each volume that he picked up had something about a president. "I thought it was cool to see the pictures of the presidents," Fleming told the Defender. He then began to read more about the presidents and the other political …

Weighty Mo. Man Wins Custody of Child

A man who claimed his obesity kept him from being allowed to adopt a baby will be allowed custody of the child while he and his wife move forward with adoption, a judge ruled Monday.

Gary Stocklaufer and his wife, Cindy, were awarded custody of the 8-month-old boy at a hearing before Circuit Court Judge John R. O'Malley. The child has been in the custody of another couple, who also have been trying to adopt him.

The Stocklaufers' case gained national attention after the couple said they were denied a petition to adopt the child because of Gary Stocklaufer's weight; he had weighed 550 pounds. He underwent gastric bypass surgery in August and has lost about …

Little-known WPWR scores thanks to NFL; Will be Bears' home Thursday, as sports networks push luck

Quick. Which television station in Chicago is WPWR? I'm talkingabout the number on the dial.

No fair looking it up, and don't shrug it off, either. You'regoing to need to know this.

At least you'll sure want to know it if you or someone in yourfamily is a Bears fan and prone to high blood pressure.

That's because little-watched WPWR, broadcast Channel 50 (Channel8 on most cable systems), is the only local station carrying thisThursday's Bears-Redskins football game, and I sure wouldn't wantanybody blowing a gasket that night when they tune in to all theusual suspects and find no trace of their beloved Bears.

Who would think without prompting to …

In brief

KOZ opportunities

The state maintains a database of Keystone Opportunity Zones that have been established around Pennsylvania. There are eight sites in Lebanon and Dauphin counties listed on the state Department of Community and Economic Development's site-search Web site. Five of them are in Lebanon County. Most are for industrial or manufacturing, with the largest occupying 49 acres in the new Aspens Business Park. There were no KOZ sites listed for York, Lancaster or Cumberland counties. Keystone Opportunity Zone sites come with greatly reduced taxes.

View the DCED database at www. pasitesearch.com/selectsites/Search Results.aspx?koz=l&region=07

-Staff …

278 Die in Afghanistan, 2 Other Nations

As of Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006, at least 278 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The Defense Department last updated its figures on September 30, 2006.

Of those, the military reports 176 were killed by hostile action.

Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 56 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two are the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations …

Gates: Military to adhere to Obama's decision

Despite the fierce policy divide inside the White House over Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that the military will fall in line with whatever President Barack Obama decides.

The debate over whether to send as many as 40,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan is a major element of the strategy overhaul that senior administration policy advisers will consider this week as they gather for at least two top-level meetings on the evolving direction in the war.

At issue is whether U.S. forces should continue to focus on fighting the Taliban and securing the Afghan population, or shift to more narrowly targeting al-Qaida terrorists believed to be …