San Antonio televangelist John Hagee, whose anti-Catholic remarks created a stir when John McCain received his endorsement with fanfare, has issued a letter expressing regret for "any comments that Catholics have found hurtful." The letter was issued after weeks of conversations between Mr. Hagee and Roman Catholic Republicans on repairing the damage to Mr. McCain's campaign and the alliance built between conservative Catholics and evangelicals. Mr. McCain praised Mr. Hagee's letter Tuesday, adding he had not been involved in brokering the apology letter.

NORTH BEND, Wash. – John McCain on Tuesday cast Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton as latecomers to the environmental battle. "They have never, to my knowledge, been involved in legislation nor hearings nor engagement on this issue," he said at a news conference. Mr. McCain proposes to cut greenhouse gas emissions 60 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton have committed to an 80 percent cut in emissions by 2050, a level favored by many scientists.

Democrat Travis Childers on Tuesday won a U.S. House seat in Mississippi's deeply Republican 1st Congressional District. He won a special election to fill the final few months of congressional term vacated by Roger Wicker, appointed to the U.S. Senate after Trent Lott resigned. The win allows Democrats to add to their 235-199 majority in Congress – if only for a few months until November's general elections.

John Tyler Hammons, a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Oklahoma, was elected mayor Tuesday of Muskogee, Okla., a city of 38,000 in the northeastern part of the state. With all precincts reporting, Mr. Hammons won with 70 percent of the vote.

Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are co-sponsors of the Senate version of the "Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act," which would increase education aid to military members who've served on active duty since 9/11. John McCain has faulted the measure, saying it doesn't encourage soldiers to re-enlist.