The firm of a top aide to John McCain received payments from troubled Freddie Mac, two people with knowledge about the situation said.

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Sen. John McCain's campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

By David Jackson and Jill Lawrence Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are trying to influence the course of the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout plan as they prepare for the first of their debates this week.

By Larry Eichel, The Philadelphia Inquirer Jul. 18--What Barack Obama is to do in the coming days sounds like a no-brainer for a presumptive nominee with limited foreign-policy experience. Go overseas. Visit the troops. Drop by the Mideast. Hobnob with major European leaders.

By David Jackson WASHINGTON -- As Barack Obama travels abroad, John McCain will visit battleground states.