AP File PhotoSen. Barack Obama holds a slight lead in Michigan polls over Sen. John McCain.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Republican John McCain has narrowed the gap between himself and Democrat Barack Obama in Michigan, according to a poll released Thursday.

Forty-six percent of those polled say they'd back Obama if the election were held now, while 42 percent would support McCain. A month ago, Obama held a slight 48-percent-to-42-percent lead over McCain in a Quinnipiac poll.

The more recent statewide poll of 1,684 likely voters was conducted July 14 through Tuesday by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. It was commissioned by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. It coincides with similar polls for Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin, all considered electoral battleground states.

GRAND RAPIDS -- A 60 percent turnout isn't too bad when the folks who run our nation's elections get together. More than 30 of the nation's secretaries of state will be in town this weekend for their association's annual summer conference, said Terri Lynn Land, Michigan's Secretary of State and the conference host.

One hot topic will be a rotating regional primary to choose presidential nominees.

The conference, which is expected to draw about 300 visitors, will feature workshops on election reform, voter outreach and enhanced state Web sites. Keynote speakers will be U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, and U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit. 

AP File PhotoEyes on his work: House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, watches the board during a vote at the state Capitol.

LANSING -- A taxpayer who wants to recall Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon is trying to revive the failed effort in federal court.

State election officials ruled that not enough valid voter signatures were turned in by recall supporters to put the issue on the August ballot. State courts upheld that decision. But recall supporters argued in a federal court filing last week that the state law under which some signatures were rejected is unconstitutional.

The suit filed by Rose Bogaert, a leader in the effort to recall Dillon, now seeks to put the recall proposal on the November ballot. A hearing on the case is possible as early as next week, although it could be delayed.

AP File PhotoAiming higher: State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, R-Kalamazoo, right, talks with state Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, at the Michigan Capitol.

LANSING -- As he drives across Michigan in a 1997 Dodge minivan, Jack Hoogendyk has time to ponder the long, difficult road ahead in his U.S. Senate campaign against longtime incumbent Carl Levin.

The Republican state lawmaker from the Kalamazoo area, where having a Dutch surname can be a plus, is hardly a household name in the rest of the state. Eighty-seven percent of Michigan voters said in a recent poll that they didn't recognize his name. Only one in 10 didn't know Levin, a Democrat with a 54 percent favorable rating.

Hoogendyk, 52, also is an underdog in his quest for the cash he'll need to mount a credible challenge. According to recent campaign finance reports, Hoogendyk's campaign had $40,816 in cash on hand as of June 30, compared to more than $4.4 million for Levin.

An EPIC-MRA poll conducted for the Detroit News and TV stations WXYZ, WILX, WOOD and WJRT and released this week had 58 percent backing Levin and 32 percent supporting Hoogendyk. Ten percent were undecided.

Press Photo/Noel Webley IIMaking friends: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty chats with guest Frank Harrell at the Kent County Republican Party's Annual Lincoln Day on Wedensday evening at Northern Jet Management at Gerald R. Ford International Airport.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Even on this night of nights for the Kent County GOP, the political unease lay just beneath the surface.

To be sure, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty fed his well-heeled crowd plenty of applause lines as he laid out a conservative prescription for what ails America.

But even Republican stalwarts such as Alan Bolter conceded at Wednesday's Kent County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner it could be a bumpy road ahead for presumptive presidential nominee John McCain.

AP File PhotoBoth John McCain and Barack Obama use telepromters, but you can only tell with one of them.

WASHINGTON — If the presidential election were decided by speeches alone, it would be over already.

Barack Obama soars, John McCain struggles. Obama beams, McCain grins at the wrong time.

Obama looks off into a heavenly distance and then right at YOU.

McCain pivots his head in three positions -- left, center, right, center, left, center, right. He may be speaking to "my friends" but he is looking, quite obviously, at a projected script.

WASHINGTON — What's rising faster than gas prices this summer? Americans' worries about them.

The economy is the nation's top concern by far, but anxiety about energy has grown more since spring than any other issue while the focus on Iraq continues to fade, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The findings by the Associated Press-Ipsos poll provide the latest confirmation of how economic woes -- including job losses, rising inflation and the ailing financial and housing markets -- are dominating voters' worries as this fall's presidential election approaches.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty

GRAND RAPIDS -- With some reports saying he is close to being named presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty would have none of it.

"It's an honor to have my name mentioned. I'm proud to support him," Pawlenty said today before his appearance as keynote speaker at the Kent County Lincoln Day Dinner.

Asked if he had been contacted by the Arizona senator's campaign, Pawlenty issued his stock response: "I have stopped engaging in the discussion."

LANSING, Mich. -- Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have appealed to Michigan voters with nearly $6 million in campaign ads so far.

The nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network said Wednesday that a check of advertising data at television stations shows Republican McCain spent $3.2 million airing ads between May 28 and July 20.

Democrat Obama spent $2.7 million for ads running between June 20 and July 28.

AP PhotoGreeting the crowd: John McCain makes a campaign stop at the FM. Kirby Center on Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Republican John McCain on Wednesday credited the recent $10-a-barrel drop in the price of oil to President Bush's lifting of a presidential ban on offshore drilling, an action he has been advocating in his presidential campaign.

The cost of oil and gasoline is "on everybody's mind in this room," McCain told a town-hall meeting.

He criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for opposing drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Ten days ago, Bush lifted a 1992 presidential ban on offshore drilling and urged Congress to do likewise. "The price of oil dropped $10 a barrel," said McCain, who argued that the psychology of lifting the ban has affected world markets.

AP File PhotoAll together: The Obama family -- from left, Michelle, Malia, Sasha and Barack -- arrives at a May rally in Des Monies, Iowa.

WASHINGTON -- The rules in the Obama household for Malia and Sasha are clear-cut:

• "No whining, arguing or annoying teasing," their mother, Michelle Obama, told People Magazine.

• Make the bed. "Doesn't have to look good, just throw the sheet over it," said the mother of 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha.

• Set your own alarm clock. "They get themselves up, get their own clothes," said their grandmother Marian Robinson.

• And the allowance from Dad for doing chores is $1 a week. Barack Obama conceded that "I'm out of town for weeks at a time, so Malia will say, 'Hey you owe me for 10 weeks."'

The likely Democratic presidential nominee and his wife are determined that his bid not disrupt the normal, happy childhood of their daughters, who would be two of the youngest residents of the White House in 30 years if Obama wins. Amy Carter was 9 when she moved in the White House in 1977.

Chuck Grassley

When Chuck Grassley isn't conservative enough for the Republican Party, you know we have a problem.

He was my senator for many years in Iowa and has been the fiscal conservative conscience of Congress since arriving there before I was born. A devout Baptist, he was always a member of the Christian Right. I didn't always agree with him, but he has been extraordinarily principled and dedicated to my former state.

He has an 80 percent rating from the American Conservative Union and a 5 percent rating from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.

AP File Photo"Two different goals:" Ron Paul waves during a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington in February.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Supporters of maverick Rep. Ron Paul who are organizing a rally as an alternative to the Republican National Convention are moving their crosstown event to a larger venue.

The Rally for the Republic featuring Paul -- the Texas conservative failed in his bid to win the GOP nomination for president -- is scheduled for Minneapolis' Target Center, home of basketball's Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Target Center can accommodate at least 15,000 people for such an event. Planners for the Paul event had originally considered a college basketball arena that seats about 11,000 people.

AP PhotoSpeculation is swirling that John McCain may name his running mate in the next few days.

ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Yet another town-hall meeting isn't doing the trick. Neither is dropping in on a former Republican president. So just what can John McCain do to draw attention away from his showy Democratic rival? Pick a running mate, perhaps.

Speculation swirled Tuesday that McCain might name his vice presidential partner within the next few days -- right in the middle of Barack Obama's overseas tour.

LANSING -- Proposed constitutional changes that slash the pay of elected officials -- but would also politically benefit Democrats -- enjoy strong public support, a Democratic Party poll shows.

About 70 percent of 600 likely voters surveyed last week said they would vote for the Reform Michigan Government Now change to the state constitution if it makes the November ballot. Strongest support comes from the 240 Republican voters surveyed, 73 percent of whom back the measure, according to the survey released Monday. Sixty percent of Democratic voters surveyed endorsed it.

"Did they ask in the question that it would give Democrats control of state government for the next 10 years?" asked GOP spokesman Bill Nowling. "No, I don't think they asked that."

Dianne Byrum, spokeswoman for the reform campaign, said "70 percent of the voting public like these reforms, and they want an opportunity to vote for them in November."