Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to place new emphasis on ridding the world of nuclear weapons if he is elected president, warning that nuclear terrorism is the “gravest danger” facing the country.

A Florida man has stirred up controversy in the Orlando area by buying ad space on billboards that show an image of the falling World Trade Center’s Twin Towers alongside the words, “Please don’t vote for a Democrat.”

The ad also points readers to a Web site, www.TheRepublicanSong.com, which posts a country-rock music video written and performed by billboard creator and businessman Mike Meehan.

Americans are nearly split on support for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, according to an ABC-Washington Post poll out Tuesday, while a new Quinnipiac poll shows just the opposite.

An ABC-Washington Post poll of 1,119 adults shows voters divided 50-49 percent for a timetable for withdrawal. However, the Quinnipiac poll of 1,725 likely voters finds 51-43 percent against a timetable.

CHICAGO — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s former campaign manager, now on Barack Obama’s team, says she could easily work for her old boss again if Clinton were on the Democratic ticket.

Clinton replaced Patti Solis Doyle after poor early showings in the primaries, but Solis Doyle told The Associated Press on Wednesday she didn’t think their longtime friendship was permanently damaged. She joined the Obama campaign last month as chief of staff to Obama’s eventual running mate.

NEW YORK — Advocates for gay and lesbian parents are denouncing Sen. John McCain, an adoptive father himself, for opposing adoptions by gays, which prompted his presidential campaign to clarify Tuesday that he does not seek a federal ban on the practice.

Only one state, Florida, outlaws adoptions by gays, which have become commonplace in much of the nation.

The Republican nominee-in-waiting was asked for his views on the subject in an interview published Sunday in The New York Times.