By CAROLYN LOCHHEAD, San Francisco Chronicle

WASHINGTON -- As the Bush administration proposes backstopping mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a $300 billion line of credit and Congress contemplates another economic stimulus, the question is who will bail out the government?

SAN FRANCISCO --

Sen. Barack Obama aims to reverse Republican Richard Nixon's famous "Southern Strategy" of appealing to white voters by increasing African American turnout to try to make inroads in the Republican stronghold. States are listed in descending order of their likelihood to swing Democratic this fall.

WASHINGTON -- As the nation's first major party African American nominee for president, Democrat Barack Obama would be testing the audacity of hope in his effort to wrest large blocs of the old Confederacy from Republicans.

WASHINGTON -- As Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain set about choosing their running mates, their vice presidential picks should come with a warning attached: Buyer beware.

WASHINGTON -- Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain offer voters a stark if orthodox choice on the economy, but according to experts, intense new budget pressures -- including military costs and health care spending -- could render economic orthodoxy outdated.

WASHINGTON -- This year's unusual presidential election may toss out one more assumption: the old red-blue map that shows Democrats owning the two coasts, Republicans dominating the South and interior West, and a few battleground states picking the winner.

WASHINGTON -- The long fixation on race, gender, age and class in the Democratic primaries will soon spread to the general election as the Democratic nominee seeks the keys to the Republican kingdom: Ohio and Florida.

Both states were hotly contested battlegrounds in 2000 and 2004 that gave George W. Bush two terms in the White House. Without them, Republicans lose the presidency.

WASHINGTON -- In little-noticed testimony last week, top military and diplomatic experts painted a vivid picture of how tight a bind the United States now finds itself in, how precarious is the position of U.S. soldiers and how difficult are the decisions the next president will face.

WASHINGTON -- The two lawyers and the Navy pilot running for president declared their candidacies during a long economic expansion. But today, they are seeking to lead the world's biggest economy as policymakers scramble to confront a financial meltdown that at times has more resembled events in Argentina or Indonesia than the United States.

WASHINGTON -- The attacks on Sen. Barack Obama's credibility, ethics and experience that pushed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to a convincing victory in swing-state Ohio and helped her cling to Texas came back full circle the day after.