Voting machine controversy
The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election.

Boeing Gets Waiver From Air Force
The Air Force awarded Boeing Co. a $56 million satellite project yesterday, waiving its suspension of the defense giant's bidding for new space business. In July, the Air Force suspended three Boeing units from bidding on space contracts for an indefinite period because of "serious and substantial violations of federal law" during a 1998 competition with Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp. The suspension took effect last month.

Looking to Raise Patriot Act Support, Ashcroft Raises Only Questions
But while Ashcroft did his best to portray the USA Patriot Act in a positive light -- believing that people simply needed to be educated on the law -- some believe the move backfired. His short stumping tour last week was successful in that it brought the Patriot Act to the attention of Americans and even more media, but "as a result of his tour, the Patriot Act received a lot more negative press," said Finan. "He's only succeeded in raising more questions."

Dossier nothing like reality: UN weapons chief
A British intelligence dossier "did not correspond to reality" by suggesting Saddam Hussein's regime could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, the chief UN weapons inspector has said. Dimitris Perricos, in an interview published in the Greek Eleftherotypia newspaper, added that inspections had found no evidence to support US and British accusations that Saddam possessed an arsenal capable of widespread death and damage. "There is no doubt that the phrase of 'within 45 minutes' that was included in the British report did not correspond to reality," he was quoted as saying.