Economy is top issue on campaign trail

Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama are use the campaign trail to talk about the troubling U.S. economy. Earlier today, Senator McCain told a group of small business owners that his goal as president would be to get the economy at full strength again. The Arizona senator supports making Bush's tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 permanent, believing lower tax rates would in turn increase savings. McCain's rival, Senator Obama is calling for another round of tax rebate checks and would like to keep the Bush tax cuts in place for most Americans, but not for those who make about $250 thousand a year or more.

President Bush is trying to rally European leaders to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Bush called on his allies earlier today in Slovenia during his final European Union-U.S. summit as president. He said their nuclear risk is an incredible danger to world peace. Both Bush and EU leaders were ready to threaten Iran with further financial sanctions unless it suspends its nuclear enrichment.

President Bush's former spokesman will testify before a House committee next week in the case of leaking CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. Scott McClellan will reportedly discuss whether Vice President Dick Cheney ordered him to make misleading public statements about the leak. Plame's CIA identity was disclosed to the news media by several top Bush administration officials five years ago, including former White House adviser Scooter Libby and former top White House political adviser Karl Rove.

A growing number of restaurants and supermarkets are pulling tomatoes from their menus and store shelves after a recent salmonella outbreak. Federal officials have reportedly found that a 17-state outbreak is linked to three types of raw tomatoes - red plum, red roma and red round tomatoes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that since mid-April, 167 people have been indentified as having salmonella with the same genetic fingerprint. At least 23 have been hospitalized.