Obama urges court to overturn gay marriage ban

Obama urges court to overturn gay marriage ban

White House press secretary Jay Carney pauses during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb., 28, 2013.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a historic argument for gay rights, President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban and turn a skeptical eye on similar prohibitions across the country.

The Obama administration's friend-of-the-court brief marked the first time a U.S. president has urged the high court to expand the right of gays and lesbians to wed. The filing unequivocally calls on the justices to strike down California's Proposition 8 ballot measure, although it stops short of the soaring rhetoric on marriage equality Obama expressed in his inaugural address in January.

California is one of eight states that give gay couples all the benefits of marriage through civil unions or domestic partnership but don't allow them to wed. The denial of marriage to same-sex couples, "particularly where California at the same time grants same-sex partners all the substantive rights of marriage, violates equal protection," the administration said.

The administration's position, if adopted by the court, would likely result in gay marriage becoming legal in the seven other states: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island.

In the longer term, the administration urges the justices to subject laws that discriminate on sexual orientation to more rigorous review than usual, a standard that would imperil other state bans on same-sex marriage.

The brief marks the president's most expansive view of gay marriage and signals that he is moving away from his previous assertion that states should determine their own marriage laws. Obama, a former constitutional law professor, signed off on the administration's legal argument last week following lengthy discussions with Attorney General Eric Holder and Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.

Benedict becomes 1st pope in 600 years to resign

Benedict becomes 1st pope in 600 years to resign 

Pope Benedict XVI greets faithful from his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, the scenic town where Pope Benedict XVI will spend his first post-Vatican days and made his last public blessing as pope,Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013.

 

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) -- Benedict XVI left the Catholic Church in unprecedented limbo Thursday as he became the first pope in 600 years to resign, capping a tearful day of farewells that included an extraordinary pledge of obedience to his successor.

As bells tolled, two Swiss Guards standing at attention at the papal palace in Castel Gandolfo shut the thick wooden doors shortly after 8 p.m., symbolically closing out a papacy whose legacy will be most marked by the way it ended - a resignation instead of a death.

Benedict, who will spend his first two months of retirement inside the palace walls, leaves behind an eight-year term shaped by struggles to move the church beyond clerical sex abuse scandals and to reawaken Christianity in an indifferent world - efforts his successor will now have to take up.

For the time being, the governance of the Catholic Church shifts to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the camerlengo, or chamberlain, who along with the College of Cardinals will guide the church and make plans for the conclave to elect the 266th leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

One of Bertone's first acts was to lock the papal apartment inside the Vatican. In another task steeped in symbolism, he will ensure that Benedict's fisherman's ring and seal are destroyed.

On Benedict's last day, the mood was vastly different inside the Vatican than at Castel Gandolfo. At the seat of the popes, Benedict's staff tearfully bade the pontiff good-bye in scenes of dignified solemnity. A more lively atmosphere reigned in the countryside, with well-wishers jamming the hilltop town's main square shouting "Viva il Papa!" (Long live the pope!) and wildly waving the yellow and white flags of the Holy See.

"I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this Earth," Benedict told the cheering crowd in his final public words as pope.

It was a remarkable bookend to a papacy that began on April 19, 2005 with a similarly meek speech delivered from the loggia overlooking St. Peter's Square, where the newly elected Benedict said he was but a "simple humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord."

Over eight years, Benedict tried to set the church on a more traditional course, convinced that all the ills afflicting it - sexual abuse, dwindling numbers of priests and empty pews - were a result of a misreading of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

His successor is likely to follow in his footsteps given that the vast majority of the 115 cardinals who will elect the next pope were appointed by Benedict himself and share his conservative bent.

For the most part, his cardinals have said they understood Benedict's decision. But Sydney Cardinal George Pell caused a stir on Thursday by saying it was "slightly destabilizing" - a rare critique of a pope by one of his cardinals.

Benedict's journey into retirement began with a final audience with his cardinals Thursday morning, where he sought to defuse concerns about his future role and the possible conflicts arising from the peculiar situation of having both a reigning pope and a retired one living side-by-side inside the Vatican.

"Among you is also the future pope, whom I today promise my unconditional reverence and obedience," Benedict told the cardinals.

Benedict's decision to live at the Vatican in retirement, be called "emeritus pope" and "Your Holiness" rather than revert back to "Joseph Ratzinger" and wear the white cassock associated with the papacy has deepened concerns about the shadow he might cast over the next papacy.

Benedict has tried to address those worries over the past two weeks, saying that once retired he would be "hidden from the world" and living a life of prayer. On Thursday he took a step further with his own public pledge to place himself entirely under the authority of the new pope.

Benedict also gave a final set of instructions to the "princes" of the church who will elect his successor, urging them to be united as they huddle to choose the next pope.

"May the College of Cardinals work like an orchestra, where diversity - an expression of the universal church - always works toward a higher and harmonious agreement," he said.

It was seen as a clear reference to the deep internal divisions that have come to the fore in recent months following the leaks of sensitive Vatican documents that exposed power struggles and allegations of corruption inside the Vatican.

The audience inside the Apostolic Palace was as unique as Benedict's decision to quit, with the pope, wearing his crimson velvet cape and using a cane, bidding farewell to his closest advisers and the cardinals themselves bowing to kiss his fisherman's ring for the last time.

A few hours later, Benedict's closest aide, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, wept by his side as they took their final walk down the marbled halls of the Apostolic Palace to their motorcade that took them to the helipad at the top of a hill in the Vatican gardens.

As bells tolled in St. Peter's and in church towers across Rome, Benedict took off in a helicopter that circled St. Peter's Square, where banners reading "Thank You" were held up skyward so he could see. He flew to 

Castel Gandolfo, where he has spent his summers enjoying the quiet gardens overlooking Lake Albano.

Around the time he took off, the Vatican sent a final tweet from Benedict's Twitter account, (at)Pontifex. "Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives."

Soon afterward, that tweet and all Benedict's previous ones were deleted and the profile was changed to read "Sede Vacante."

And a few seconds past 8 p.m., the soft click of the 20-foot-high wooden door at Castel Gandolfo closed, signaling the end of the papacy. A Vatican official was then seen taking down the Holy See's white and yellow flag from the Castel Gandolfo residence.

"We have the pope right here at home," said Anna Maria Togni, who walked two kilometers (one mile) from the outskirts of Castel Gandolfo to witness history. "We feel a tenderness toward him."

Benedict set his resignation in motion Feb. 11, when he announced that he no longer had the "strength of mind and body" do to the job. It was the first time that a pope had resigned since Pope Gregory XII stepped down in 1415 to help end a church schism.

In the weeks since Benedict's announcement, speculation has mounted whether other factors were to blame. By the time his final day came around though, Benedict seemed perfectly serene with his decision.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope's pledge to obey his successor was in keeping with his effort to "explain how he intends to live this unprecedented situation of an emeritus pope."

"He has no intention of interfering in the position or the decisions or the activity of his successor," Lombardi said. "But as every member of the church, he says fully that he recognizes the authority of the supreme pastor of the church who will be elected to succeed him."

The issue of papal obedience is important for Benedict. In his last legal document, he made new provisions for cardinals to make a formal, public pledge of obedience to the new pope at his installation Mass, in addition to the private one they traditionally make inside the Sistine Chapel immediately after he is elected.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican," a guide to the Vatican bureaucracy, welcomed Benedict's similarly public pledge, saying: "There is room in the church for only one pope and his pledge of obedience shows that Benedict does not want to be used by anyone to undermine the authority of the new pope."

He said he would have preferred Benedict to go back to his given name and eschew the white of the papacy.

"Symbols are important in the church," he said.

As budget cuts loom, is government shutdown next?

As budget cuts loom, is government shutdown next? 

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate to discuss what to do about automatic cuts to the federal budget, White House and congressional leaders said. The meeting is set to take place hours after the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will have officially kicked in. This suggests both sides are operating under the assumption a deal won't be reached to avert the cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With big, automatic budget cuts about to kick in, House Republicans are turning to mapping strategy for the next showdown just a month away, when a government shutdown instead of just a slowdown will be at stake.

Both topics are sure to come up at the White House meeting Friday between President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders, including Republican House Speaker John Boehner. A breakthrough on replacing or easing the imminent across-the-board spending cuts still seems unlikely at the first face-to-face discussion between Obama and Republican leaders this year.

To no one's surprise, even as a dysfunctional Washington appears incapable of averting a crisis over economy-rattling spending cuts, it may be lurching toward another over a possible shutdown.

Republicans are planning for a vote next week on a bill to fund the day-to-day operations of the government through the Sept. 30 end of the 2013 fiscal year - while keeping in place the new $85 billion in cuts of 5 percent to domestic agencies and 8 percent to the military.

The need to keep the government's doors open and lights on - or else suffer the first government shutdown since 1996 - requires the GOP-dominated House and the Democratic-controlled Senate to agree. Right now they hardly see eye to eye.

The House GOP plan, unveiled to the rank and file on Wednesday, would award the Pentagon and the Veterans Administration with their line-by-line budgets, for a more-targeted rather than indiscriminate batch of military cuts, but would deny domestic agencies the same treatment. And that has whipped up opposition from veteran Democratic senators on the Appropriations Committee. Domestic agencies would see their budgets frozen almost exactly as they are, which would mean no money for new initiatives such as cybersecurity or for routine increases for programs such as low-income housing.

"We're not going to do that," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. "Of course not."

Any agreement needs to pass through a gantlet of House tea party conservatives intent on preserving the across-the-board cuts and Senate Democrats pressing for action on domestic initiatives, even at the risk of creating a foot-tall catchall spending bill.

There's also this: GOP leaders have calculated that the automatic cuts arriving on Friday need to be in place in order for them to be able to muster support from conservatives for the catchall spending bill to keep the government running. That's because many staunch conservatives want to preserve the cuts even as defense hawks and others fret about the harm that might do to the military and the economy. If the automatic cuts are dealt with before the government-wide funding bill gets a vote, there could be a conservative revolt.

"The overall sequester levels must hold," said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif.

Little to no progress has been made so far between House and Senate leaders and the White House, and given the hard feelings engulfing Washington, there's no guarantee that this problem can be solved, even though the stakes - a shutdown of non-essential government programs after March 27 - carry more risk than the across-the-board cuts looming on Friday.

The funding plan for the rest of the fiscal year will be a main topic at the White House meeting on Friday, the March 1 deadline day for averting the across-the-board cuts.

Obama, speaking to a group of business executives Wednesday night, said the cuts would be a "tumble downward" for the economy, though he acknowledged it could takes weeks before many Americans feel the full impact of the budget shrinking.

The warring sides in Washington have spent this week assigning blame rather than seeking a bipartisan way out. In a glimpse of the state of debate on Wednesday, Republicans and the White House bickered over whether the cuts would be under way by the time Friday's meeting started. A spokesman for Boehner said they would be in place; the White House countered that Obama would in fact have until midnight Friday to set them in motion.

The cumbersome annual ritual of passing annual agency spending bills collapsed entirely last year - not a single one of the 12 annual appropriations bills for the budget year that began back in October has passed Congress - and Congress has to act by March 27 to prevent a partial shutdown of the government.

By freezing budgets for domestic agencies, the Republican plan would deny an increase for a big cybersecurity initiative, additional money to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal and money to build new Coast Guard cutters. GOP initiatives such as more money for the Small Business Administration or fossil fuels research would be hurt as well, but there's little appetite for the alternative, which is to stack more than $1 trillion worth of spending bills together for a single up-or-down vote.

But the GOP move to add the line-by-line spending bills for the Pentagon and veterans' programs to the catchall spending bill would give the military much-sought increases for force readiness and the Veterans Administration additional funding for health care.

That approach has few fans in the White House, which is seeking money to implement Obama's signature efforts to overhaul financial regulation and the nation's health care system, or within the Democratic Senate, where members of the Appropriations Committee want to add a stack of bills covering domestic priorities such as homeland security, NASA and federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI.

"You need balance," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "We feel as strongly about the domestic side as we do defense."

The catchall spending measure, known as a continuing resolution or CR inside Washington, was originally seen as a potential must-pass measure to avert Friday's cuts or make them less severe. But no serious talks to avert the cuts have been under way.

On Thursday, Democrats will force a vote on a measure that would forestall the automatic cuts through the end of the year, replacing them with longer-term cuts to the Pentagon and cash payments to farmers and installing a minimum 30 percent tax rate on income exceeding $1 million. But that plan is virtually certain to be toppled by a GOP-led filibuster vote.

Republicans in turn are considering offering a measure that would give Obama authority to propose a rewrite to the 2013 budget to redistribute the cuts. Obama would be unable to cut defense by more than the $43 billion reduction that the Pentagon currently faces, and would also be unable to raise taxes to undo the cuts. The GOP plan would allow a resulting Obama proposal to go into effect unless Congress passed a resolution to overturn it.

The idea is that money could be transferred from lower-priority accounts to accounts funding air traffic control or meat inspection. But the White House says that such moves would offer only slight relief. At the same time, however, it could take pressure off of Congress to address the sequester.

In the House, where Republicans in the past Congress passed legislation to replace the cuts, Boehner has said it's now up to Obama and the Senate to figure a way out. The Senate never took up the House-passed bills, which expired when the new Congress was seated in January.

Father of Newtown victim: Ban assault weapons

Father of Newtown victim: Ban assault weapons 

Neil Heslin, the father of a six-year-old boy who was slain in the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, holds a picture of himself with his son Jesse and wipes his eye while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After weeks of arguing constitutional fine points and citing rival statistics, senators wrangling over gun control saw and heard the anguish of a bereft father.

Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, was among those cut down at a Connecticut elementary school in December, asked the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to ban assault weapons like the one that killed his child.

"I'm not here for the sympathy or the pat on the back," Heslin, a 50-year-old construction worker, told the senators, weeping openly during much of his hushed 11-minute testimony. "I'm here to speak up for my son."

At his side were photos: of his son as a baby, of them both taken on Father's Day, six months before Jesse was among 20 first-graders and six administrators killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. That massacre has hoisted gun control to a primary political issue this year, though the outcome remains uncertain.

The hearing's focus was legislation by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to ban assault weapons and ammunition magazines carrying more than 10 rounds. A Bushmaster assault weapon was used at Newtown by the attacker, Adam Lanza, whose body was found with 30-round magazines.

Feinstein said such a firearm "tears peoples' bodies apart. I don't know why as a matter of public policy we 

can't say they don't belong.'"

Republicans had several answers. They argued her proposal would violate the Second Amendment's right to bear arms and take firearms from law-abiding citizens, and said current laws aimed at keeping guns from criminals are not fully enforced.

"The best way to prevent crazy people" from getting firearms is to better enforce the existing federal background check system, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

That system is designed to prevent criminals, people with mental problems and others from obtaining guns. It only applies to weapons sold by federally licensed dealers, and expanding that system to nearly all gun transactions is the central proposal in President Barack Obama's package of gun restrictions he unveiled last month, along with bans on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.

As if to underscore the hurdles Obama's plan faces on Capitol Hill, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told reporters Wednesday that he opposed universal background checks like the president wants and predicted it would not be part of his chamber's gun legislation. He wants the current federal background check system strengthened, improving how states provide it with mental health information about citizens and cracking down on illegal gun trafficking.

At the same time, election results from Tuesday highlighted gun control's potency as a political issue. Illinois state Rep. Robin Kelly won a House Democratic primary in the state after a political committee favoring firearms curbs financed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Independence USA, spent more than $2 million on ads for her. Kelly's opponent had opposed an assault weapons ban.

The Senate Judiciary panel could begin writing gun legislation Thursday, but that seems all but certain to slip to next week.

At the Senate hearing, spectators dabbed tears from their cheeks as Heslin described his last morning with his son, including getting a final hug as he dropped him off at school. The hearing room was packed with relatives and neighbors of victims of Newtown, as well as people affected by other shootings at Aurora, Colo., and Virginia Tech.

"It's all going to be OK," Heslin says his son told him. "And it wasn't OK."

Dr. William Begg, an emergency room doctor who treated some Newtown casualties, described assault weapons wounds. Begg noted that the coroner's report said each child had three to 11 bullet wounds.

"They had such horrific injuries to their little bodies," said Begg. He said an assault weapons bullet "opens up" and does not travel in a straight line, adding, "That's not a survivable injury."

The hearing featured heated exchanges, such as when Graham pressed Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn about the government's prosecution of only a handful of the roughly 80,000 people annually who fail background checks after falsely stating they qualify for guns.

"I want to stop 76,000 people from buying guns illegally," Walsh said, defending the background check system and heatedly interrupting Graham, a Senate rarity.

Former Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Fla., once a law enforcement officer, told the senators they have an opportunity to take effective action against gun violence. She has favored expanding the availability of mental health information to the authorities and opposes taking guns from people.

"It is not time for feel-good legislation so you can say you did something," she said.

That drew an angry objection from Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who said, "This is not feel-good legislation."

Feinstein's bill - and most of Obama's guns agenda - will have to overcome opposition from the National Rifle Association, which has long kept lawmakers from enacting gun restrictions.

Another hurdle is uncertain support from moderate Democrats.

Feinstein's measure has 21 co-sponsors, all Democrats. Including herself, it is sponsored by eight of the 10 Judiciary panel Democrats - precarious for a committee where Democrats outnumber Republicans 10-8. 

Among those who haven't co-sponsored the measure is Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who did not attend Wednesday's session.

Her bill would ban future sales of assault weapons and magazines carrying more than 10 rounds of ammunition, exempting those that already exist. It specifically bans 157 firearms but excludes 2,258 others in an effort to avoid barring hunting and sporting weapons.

Meanwhile, the House Education and Workforce Committee debated ways to keep students safe, such as the NRA proposal for more armed guards at schools.

"Two thousand kids die each year in automobiles each year," said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., comparing that number with the comparatively few children who die in schools. "Schools are safe places and for the most part they really are."

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said school safety is linked to firearms, saying, "Turning schools into armed fortresses is not the answer."

Budget battle guide: This time may be for real

Budget battle guide: This time may be for real 

Air Force personnel salute as Air Force One, with President Barack Obama on board, arrives at in the rain at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The president was returning from Newport News, Va., for an event on the automatic budget cuts.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- America's leaders have threatened to shut the government down, drive it over a cliff and bounce it off the ceiling. Now they're ready to smack it with a "sequester." And it sounds like they mean it this time.

If no one backs down, big cuts in federal spending begin Friday. Should Americans be worried?

A primer on the nation's latest fiscal standoff - how we got here, who could get hurt and possible ways to end this thing:

---

What, again?

Like life in a bad Road Runner cartoon, the United States has survived the New Year's "fiscal cliff," double rounds of debt-ceiling roulette and various budget blow-ups over the past two years. Now the threat is $85 billion in indiscriminate spending cuts that would hit most federal programs and fall hardest on the military.

By law, these cuts known as the "sequester" will begin unfolding automatically at week's end unless President Barack Obama and Congress act to stop them.

Why did they agree to a law like that? In hopes of finally getting the nation's trillion-dollar-plus annual budget deficits under control.

---

Isn't deficit-cutting good?

Obama, nearly all of Congress and plenty of economists say two things:

1) The budget deficit needs to be reduced.

2) The sequester is the wrong way to do it.

"Only a fool would do it this way," says Paul Light, a budget expert at New York University. "Primordial. It's beyond belief."

It makes him think of the movie "Dr. Strangelove," with Slim Pickens riding bronco on an atomic bomb, waving his cowboy hat.

The sequester was designed to land with a mighty splat - to create such a mess if allowed to occur that lawmakers would do the right and honorable thing and negotiate a measured, meaningful and discerning package of deficit reduction to head it off. But that didn't happen, so the sequester is about to.

And, yes, that should mean progress on the nation's debt. The sequester is one of several developments expected to restrain the nation's red ink after four straight years of deficits topping $1 trillion.

Yee-haw.

---

Are the cuts really that bad?

It's unlikely they will be as bad - or at least as immediate - as some overexcited members of the Obama administration have made out. But the cuts have the potential to be significant if the standoff drags on.

Early on, about 2 million long-term unemployed people could see a $30 cut in benefit checks now averaging $300 a week. Federal subsidies for school construction, clean energy and state and local public works projects could be pinched. Low-income pregnant women and new mothers may find it harder to sign up for food aid.

Much depends on how states and communities manage any shortfalls in aid from Washington.

Furloughs of federal employees are for the most part a month or more away. Then, they might have to take up to a day off per week without pay.

That's when the public could start seeing delays at airports, disruptions in meat inspection, fewer services at national parks and the like.

An impasse lasting into the fall would reach farther, probably shrinking Head Start slots, for example.

Much of the federal budget is off-limits to the automatic cuts. Among exempted programs: Social Security, Medicaid, food stamps, Pell Grants and veterans' programs.

Even so, officials warn of a hollowed-out military capability, compromised border security and spreading deterioration of public services if the sequester continues. It's "like a rolling ball," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "It keeps growing."

---

Maybe it's fiscal-crisis fatigue.

Americans are yawning this one off. Only 27 percent of those surveyed for a Pew Research Center/USA Today poll last week said they had heard a lot about the looming automatic spending cuts.

Less than a third think the budget cuts would deeply affect their own financial situation, according to a Washington Post poll. Sixty percent, however, believe the cuts would have a major effect on the U.S. economy.

That's what economists and business people are nervous about.

The political standoff is the factor that economists blame most for the slowing economy, according to the latest Associated Press Economic Survey. The uncertainty is causing businesses to hold back on investment and hiring, and it's making consumers less confident about spending, economists warn.

---

How did it come to this?

Obama and congressional Republicans have been deadlocked over spending since the GOP won control of the House in 2010, with a big boost from tea party activists who champion lower taxes and an end to red-ink budgets.

House Republicans refused to raise the nation's borrowing limit in 2011 without major deficit cuts. To resolve the stalemate, Congress passed and Obama signed the Budget Control Act, which temporarily allowed borrowing to resume, set spending caps and created a bipartisan "supercommittee" to recommend at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. Republicans and Democrats on the committee failed to compromise, however.

That triggered the law's doomsday scenario - the so-called "fiscal cliff" package of across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts.

In a New Year's Eve deal, Obama and Congress agreed to raise taxes on some of the nation's wealthiest earners. And they postponed the spending cuts for two months - until Friday.

That was supposed to buy time to cut a deal.

---

No surrender?

As the days melt into hours, neither side shows sign of blinking - or even negotiating.

Obama insists on a blend of targeted spending cuts and tax increases. Republican leaders reject any more tax increases and say the savings must come from spending cuts.

While both sides talk about reducing the deficit, Obama and other Democrats say this must be done gradually, to avoid wounding an already weak economy.

The president is taking his case to the people, blasting Republicans at campaign-style events. GOP leaders, just back from a congressional vacation themselves, are publicly grousing that Obama should be bargaining with them, not grand-standing.

---

Is there a way out?

Expect intense negotiations to begin in Washington if enough Americans begin yelping about the pain from reduced federal spending.

Obama and Congress could agree to pare down the budget cuts to a more logical package of reductions, perhaps with some tax changes, too. Such a deal could also retroactively restore spending where they want to.

The "sequester" isn't the only line in the sand, however.

On March 27, legislation that has been temporarily financing the government expires. Without agreement to extend it, the threat of a government shutdown looms again. Later in the spring, it will be time to raise the nation's debt limit again.

So far, two years of budget crises have been settled with quick fixes. They have barely dented the underlying disagreement over how to reform Medicare, Social Security, taxes and spending to address the nation's long-term deficit problem.

If those festering questions remain unanswered, the U.S. economy will remain a hostage to politics.

Senate confirms Hagel for defense secretary

Senate confirms Hagel for defense secretary 

FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2013, file photo, Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. A deeply divided Senate is moving toward a vote on President Barack Obama’s contentious choice of Chuck Hagel to head the Defense Department, with the former Republican senator on track to win confirmation after a protracted political fight.

  

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A deeply divided Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Republican Chuck Hagel to be the nation's next defense secretary, handing President Barack Obama's pick the top Pentagon job just days before billions of dollars in automatic, across-the-board budget cuts hit the military.

The vote was 58-41, with four Republicans joining the Democrats in backing the contentious choice. Hagel's only GOP support came from former colleagues Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Dick Shelby of Alabama and Mike Johanns of Nebraska - all three had announced their support earlier - and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The vote came just hours after Republicans dropped their unprecedented delay of a Pentagon choice and allowed the nomination to move forward on a 71-27 vote.

Hagel, 66, a former two-term Nebraska senator and twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran, succeeds Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Hagel, who is expected to be sworn in at the Pentagon on Wednesday, said in a statement that he was honored that the president and the Senate "have entrusted me to serve our nation once again."

Obama welcomed the bipartisan Senate vote, although 41 Republicans opposed his nominee, and said in a statement that "we will have the defense secretary our nation needs and the leader our troops deserve."

The president looked past the divisions and said he was grateful to Hagel "for reminding us that when it comes to our national defense, we are not Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans, and our greatest responsibility is the security of the American people."

Republicans had opposed their onetime colleague, casting him as unqualified for the job, hostile toward Israel and soft on Iran. The objections remained strong well after the vote.

"I continue to have serious questions about whether Chuck Hagel is up to the job of being our secretary of defense," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement. "I hope, for the sake of our own national security, he exceeds expectations."

Hagel joins Obama's retooled second-term, national security team of Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA Director-designate John Brennan at a time of uncertainty for a military emerging from two wars and fighting worldwide terrorism with smaller, deficit-driven budgets.

Among his daunting challenges are deciding on troop levels in Afghanistan as the United States winds down its combat presence and dealing with $46 billion in budget cuts set to kick in on Friday. He also will have to work with lawmakers who spent weeks vilifying him.

Republicans insisted that Hagel was battered and bloodied after their repeated attacks during the protracted political fight.

"He will take office with the weakest support of any defense secretary in modern history, which will make him less effective on his job," said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate GOP's No. 2 Republican.

Not so, said Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, who pointed out that Hagel now has the title and the fight is history.

"All have to work together for the interest of the country," said Reed, D-R.I.

The vote ended one of the most bitter fights over a Cabinet choice and former senator since 1989 when the Democratic-led Senate defeated newly elected President George H.W. Bush's nomination of Republican John Tower to be defense secretary.

In the course of the rancorous, seven-week nomination fight, Republicans, led by freshman Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, insinuated that Hagel has a cozy relationship with Iran and received payments for speeches from extreme or radical groups. Those comments drew a rebuke from Democrats and some Republicans.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, dismissed the "unfair innuendoes" against Hagel and called him an "outstanding American patriot" whose background as an enlisted soldier would send a positive message to the nation's servicemen and women.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., questioned how the confirmation process devolved into a character assassination in which Hagel was accused of "having secret ties with our enemies."

"I sincerely hope that the practice of challenging nominations with innuendo and inference, rather than facts and figures, was an aberration and not a roadmap," she said in a statement after the vote.

Obama got no points with the GOP for tapping the former two-term Republican senator. GOP lawmakers excoriated Hagel and cast him as a radical far out of the mainstream.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., clashed with his onetime friend over his opposition to President George W. Bush's decision to send an extra 30,000 troops to Iraq in 2007 at a point when the war seemed in danger of being lost. Hagel, who voted to authorize military force in Iraq, later opposed the conflict, comparing it to 

Vietnam and arguing that it shifted the focus from Afghanistan.

McCain said several GOP lawmakers also had "a lot of ill will" toward the moderate Republican for his criticism of Bush and his backing for Democratic candidates.

Shortly after a White House meeting with Obama on immigration on Tuesday, McCain voted against his onetime friend and fellow Vietnam veteran.

Republicans also challenged Hagel about a May 2012 study that he co-authored for the advocacy group Global Zero, which called for an 80 percent reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons and the eventual elimination of all the world's nuclear arms.

In an echo of the 2012 presidential campaign, Hagel faced an onslaught of criticism by well-funded, Republican-leaning outside groups that labeled the former senator "anti-Israel" and pressured senators to oppose the nomination. The groups ran television and print ads criticizing Hagel.

Opponents were particularly incensed by Hagel's use of the term "Jewish lobby" to refer to pro-Israel groups. He apologized, saying he should have used another term and should not have said those groups have intimidated members of the Senate into favoring actions contrary to U.S. interests.

The nominee spent weeks reaching out to members of the Senate, meeting individually with lawmakers to address their concerns and seeking to reassure them about his policies.

Hagel's inconsistent performance during some eight hours of testimony during his confirmation hearing last 

month undercut his cause.

On Feb. 12, the Armed Services Committee approved the nomination on a party-line vote of 14-11. Two days later, a Democratic move to vote on the nomination fell a few votes short as Republicans insisted they needed more time to consider the pick.

Hagel's nomination also became entangled in Republican demands for more information about the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in that attack.

Republicans allowed the nomination to move forward, with 18 Republicans joining the Democrats. Many had warned against the precedent of denying a president his Cabinet choices.

Paul's vote for Hagel came as something of a surprise. Moira Bagley, a spokeswoman for the senator, said 

that while he disagrees with Hagel on a number of issues, Paul believes a president should have some leeway in his political appointments.

Missing the vote was Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.

South Africa: will Pistorius train while on bail?

South Africa: will Pistorius train while on bail? 

In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius appears in court during his bail hearing in Pretoria, South Africa, for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. A spokeswoman for Oscar Pistorius says he has reported to authorities under the bail terms in the murder case against him in Preoria, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Oscar Pistorius on Monday informed South African authorities that he wants to resume athletic training while on bail for the murder case against him, a government official said.

A spokeswoman for the Olympic runner, however, denied that he was making immediate plans to return to the track while awaiting trial for the Feb. 14 shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

"Absolutely not," said spokeswoman Janine Hills. "He is currently in mourning and his focus is not on his sports."

The double-amputee Paralympian discussed bail terms with his probation officer and a correctional official at the Pretoria Magistrate's Court in the capital, according to correctional officials. The guidelines will determine his daily routine until his next court appearance on June 4.

"It's his wish to continue to practice," James Smalberger, chief deputy commissioner of the department of correctional services, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Smalberger said the issue came up because authorities need to know his movements whenever he leaves the home where he is staying.

The timing of any resumption of training was uncertain.

Pistorius' longtime coach, Ampie Louw, declined to comment on any training plans for the runner, referring questions to a spokeswoman for the athlete's family.

Louw had said when the runner was in detention that he wanted to put him back into training in the event that he was granted bail. But he had also said Pistorius could be "heartbroken" and unwilling to immediately run again.

Pistorius, who was released on bail Friday, is staying at the house of his uncle, Arnold, in the affluent suburb of Waterkloof in Pretoria. He faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder in the killing of Steenkamp, in the early hours of Valentine's 

Day. Prosecutors say the pair had an argument before Steenkamp was killed; Pistorius says he mistook her for an intruder and shot her accidentally.

Smalberger said officials will visit Pistorius at his uncle's home at least four times a month, and that the runner indicated his interest in training again. More planning must occur before the start of any training.

"We want a training program from his coach so that we have backup for his movements," Smalberger said.

"He's not under house arrest, but his movements need to be known to us so that we don't pitch there and he's not there," he said. "We agree on `free time' normally during the course of the day, and in the evening we expect him to be home."

Pistorius' 2013 season had been geared towards the Aug. 10-18 World Championships in Moscow, where the South African 4x400 relay team will be trying for another medal to add to the silver it won at the 2011 edition.

Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair had set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000). The 26-year-old track star was also ordered to hand over his passports, turn in any guns he owns and keep away from his upscale home in a gated community in Pretoria, the scene of the crime.

He cannot leave the district of Pretoria without his probation officer's permission and is not allowed to consume drugs or alcohol, the magistrate said.

Jobless, cities could be first to feel budget pain

Jobless, cities could be first to feel budget pain 

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, accompanied by White House press secretary Jay Carney, briefs reporters on the sequester, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, at the White House in Washington.

  

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Who'll be the first to feel the sting?

Jobless Americans who have been out of work for a long time and local governments that are paying off loans to fix roads and schools are in tough spots when it comes to the automatic federal budget cuts that are scheduled to kick in Friday.

About 2 million long-term unemployed people could see checks now averaging $300 a week reduced by about $30. There could also be reductions in federal payments that subsidize clean energy, school construction and state and local public works projects. Low-income Americans seeking heating assistance or housing or other aid might encounter longer waits.

Government employees could get furlough notices as early as next week, though cuts in their work hours won't occur until April.

The timing of the "sequester" spending cuts has real consequences for Americans, but it also has a political ramifications. How quickly and fiercely the public feels the cuts could determine whether President Barack Obama and lawmakers seek to replace them with a different deficit reduction plan.

Eager to put pressure on Republican lawmakers to accept his blend of targeted cuts and tax increases Obama has been highlighting the impact of the automatic cuts in grim terms. He did it again on Monday, declaring the threat of the cuts is already harming the national economy.

Republicans say he is exaggerating and point to rates of spending, even after the cuts, that would be higher than in 2008 when adjusted for inflation. All Obama has to do to avoid the damage, House Speaker John Boehner said at the Capitol, is agree to the GOP's recommended spending cuts - with no tax increases.

By all accounts, most of the pain of the $85 billion in spending reductions to this year's federal budget would be slow in coming. The dire consequences that Obama officials say Americans will encounter - from airport delays and weakened borders to reduced parks programs and shuttered meatpacking plants - would unfold over time as furloughs kick in and agencies begin to adjust to their spending reductions.

"These impacts will not all be felt on day one," Obama acknowledged in a meeting with governors at the White House on Monday. "But rest assured the uncertainty is already having an effect."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned that the federal government would be unable to "maintain the same level of security at all places around the country" once the automatic cuts began to take effect.

The public will feel the results "in the next few weeks," she said, and "it will keep growing."

The majority of the federal budget is in fact walled off from the cuts. Social Security and veterans' programs are exempt, and cuts to Medicare are generally limited to a 2 percent, $10 billion reduction in payments to hospitals and doctors. Most programs that help the poor, like Medicaid, food stamps, subsidized school lunches, Pell Grants and supplemental security income payments are also exempt.

Still, the Pentagon will feel the brunt of half the cuts. Pay for active military is off-limits for cuts, so the rest of the defense budget must absorb the hit. The Obama administration says defense contractors have already ramped down work, contributing to a dip in economic activity in the fourth quarter of last year. The Navy has decided not to deploy an aircraft carrier as planned to the Persian Gulf.

Elsewhere, the White House's budget office says long-term unemployed Americans would lose an average of more than $400 in benefits over the year. The cuts do not affect state unemployment benefits, which jobless workers typically get soon after their loss of work. The federal reductions could begin immediately, though some analysts say the government could delay them for a short period to avoid a harmful hit on the economy.

Bill Hoagland, a former top Republican Senate budget aide and now senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank, said the administration must be "betwixt and between" when it comes to addressing reductions in programs like jobless aid.

"They want to make sure the American public knows this sequester is a bad thing, but they also don't want to disrupt the economy too much," he said. "It's not that the reductions won't take place. But they could delay the impact of that until later in the year."

Administration officials also say the Treasury Department is prepared to begin reducing subsidies that cover interest payments by state and local governments on public works, school and renewable energy projects. That means those governments will have to find money in their budgets to make up the difference in bond interest payments, and while that might not affect projects already under way, it could delay new construction efforts.

The sequester, says Douglas Rice of the Center on Budget and Policy priorities, also would mean that families that leave subsidized housing would be less likely to be replaced with people from waiting lists, and that eventually some families could lose their apartments.

Many federal programs, like heating aid for the poor, already have many more people seeking assistance than the program budgets can cover. Funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, for instance, has fluctuated greatly in recent years, with the administration proposing to cut it by 13 percent this year. In such cases, it may be impossible for people denied aid to know whether it's because of the sequester since they might have been denied help anyway.

In some instances the cuts will be felt not by beneficiaries being thrown out of programs but by longer delays to get help. In the case of subsidized housing, for example, there are already long waits for assistance in most of the country.

In the case of the Women, Infants and Children program for low-income pregnant women and their children, the government has generally tried to make sure that every eligible woman can get food aid. States aren't permitted to cut the food benefit, which means fewer people will be served. The Agriculture Department says it will prioritize things so that pregnant women and nursing mothers keep their aid but post-partum women who do not breastfeed could lose their aid.

Who gets hit first also depends on how the government's budget flows. Education aid to school districts, for instance, is delivered in the fall, so impacts won't be felt until the new school year. But some teachers are already being informed that they could lose their jobs in August or September. Most Head Start programs won't feel cuts until the upcoming school year, too.

Some programs, like subsidized child care for the poor, are run by states, which will have flexibility in how to allocate the cuts. Just one in six eligible low-income families benefits from a federally funded child care slot. Cuts to the program leave states with difficult options: reduce the number of children cared for, require poor families to contribute more or cut payments to providers.

"I don't think people are going to feel it as dramatically as the administration has been suggesting," said Hoagland. "I'm not questioning the administration's numbers, I'm questioning their timing."

Pope gives final Sunday blessing before resigning

Pope gives final Sunday blessing before resigning 

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during his last Angelus noon prayer, from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Benedict XVI gave his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter's Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn't abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer. The 85-year-old Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI bestowed his final Sunday blessing of his pontificate on a cheering crowd in St. Peter's Square, explaining that his waning years and energy made him better suited to the life of private prayer he soon will spend in a secluded monastery than as leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

On Thursday evening, the 85-year-old German-born theologian will become the first pope to have resigned from the papacy in 600 years.

Sunday's noon appearance from his studio window overlooking the vast square was his next-to-last appointment with the public of his nearly eight-year papacy. Tens of thousands of faithful and other admirers have already asked the Vatican for a seat in the square for his last general audience Wednesday.

Perhaps emotionally buoyed by the warm welcome, thunderous applause and the many banners reading "Grazie" (Thanks) held up in the crowd estimated by police to number 100,000, Benedict looked relaxed and sounded energized, in sharp contrast to his apparent frailty and weariness of recent months.

In a strong and clear voice, Benedict told the pilgrims, tourists and Romans in the square that God had called him to dedicate himself "even more to prayer and meditation," which he will do in a monastery being renovated for him on the grounds behind Vatican City's ancient walls.

"But this doesn't mean abandoning the church," he said, as many in the crowd looked sad at his approaching departure. "On the contrary, if God asks me, this is because I can continue to serve it (the church) with the same dedication and the same love which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suitable to my age and to my strength."

The phrase "tried to" was the pope's adlibbed addition to his prepared text.

Benedict smiled in pleasure at the crowd after an aide parted the white curtain at his window and he gazed at the people packing the square, craning their head for a look at him. Giving greetings in several languages, he gratefully acknowledged what he said was an outpouring of "gratitude, affection and closeness in prayer" since he stunned the church and its 1.2 billion members on Feb. 11 with his decision to renounce his papacy and retreat into a world of contemplation.

"Prayer is not isolating oneself from the world and its contradictions," Benedict told the crowd. He said he had heard God's call to prayer, "which gives breath to our spiritual life" in a special way "at this moment of my life."

Heavy rain had been forecast for Rome, and some drizzle dampened the square earlier in the morning. But when Benedict appeared, to the peal of church bells as the clock struck noon, blue sky crept through the clouds.

"We thank God for the sun he has given us," the pope said.

Even as the cheering continued and shouts of "Long live the pope" went up in Italian and Spanish, the pontiff simply turned away from his window and stepped back down into the apartment, which he will leave Thursday, taking a helicopter to the Vatican summer residence in the hills outside Rome while he waits for the monastery to be ready.

A child in the crowd held up a sign on a yellow placard, written in Italian, "You are not alone, I'm with you."

No date has yet been set for the start of the conclave of cardinals, who will vote in secret to elect Benedict's successor.

"Now there will be two popes," said the Rev. Vilmar Pavesi, a Portuguese priest who was among the throngs in the square. "There will be the pope of Rome, the elected pope, and there will be the bishop emeritus of Rome, who will live the life of a monk inside the Vatican walls."

One Italian in the crowd seemed to be doing a little campaigning, hoisting a sign which mentioned the names of two Italian cardinals considered by observers to be potential contenders in the selection of the next pontiff.

Flags in the crowd represented many nations, with a large number from Brazil.

The cardinals in the conclave will have to decide whether it's time to look outside of Europe for a pope. The papacy was considered the realm of Italian prelates for centuries, until a Pole, John Paul II, was elected as pontiff in 1978, to be followed in 2005 by the German-born Benedict.

Crucially, Italian prelates have continued to run the behind-the-scenes machinery of the church's governance, and cardinals will likely be deciding what role the Italians might have played in a series of scandals clouding the central bureaucracy, including allegations of corruption and power-grabbing.

Benedict has not made any direct comment on details of the scandals.

In one of his last papal tweets, Benedict wrote Sunday in English: "In these momentous days, I ask you to pray for me and for the church, trusting as always in divine providence."

Johnson wins 2nd Daytona 500; Patrick finishes 8th

Johnson wins 2nd Daytona 500; Patrick finishes 8th 

Jimmie Johnson celebrates after winning the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A big first for Danica Patrick, but an even bigger second for Jimmie Johnson.

Patrick made history up front at the Daytona 500 Sunday, only to see Johnson make a late push ahead of her and reclaim his spot at the top of his sport.

It was the second Daytona 500 victory for Johnson, a five-time NASCAR champion who first won "The Great American Race" in 2006.

"There is no other way to start the season than to win the Daytona 500. I'm a very lucky man to have won it twice," said Johnson, who won in his 400th career start. "I'm very honored to be on that trophy with all the greats that have ever been in our sport."

It comes a year after Johnson completed only one lap in the race because of a wreck that also collected Patrick, and just three months after Johnson lost his bid for a sixth Sprint Cup title to go two years without a championship after winning five straight.

Patrick, the first woman to win the pole, also became the first woman to lead the race. She was running third on the last lap, but faded to eighth at the finish and admitted she'll replay it over in her mind.

"I would imagine pretty much anyone would be kicking themselves about what they coulda, shoulda have done to give themselves an opportunity to win," she said. "I think that's what I was feeling today, was uncertainty as to how I was going to accomplish that."

There were several multi-car crashes during the race, none approaching the magnitude of the wreck that injured more than two dozen fans a day earlier in the second-tier Nationwide Series race on the same track. Daytona International Speedway workers were up until 2 a.m repairing the fence that was damaged in the accident, and track officials offered Sunday morning to move any fans who felt uneasy sitting too close to the track.

Several drivers said the accident and concern for the fans stuck with them overnight and into Sunday morning, and Johnson was quick to send his thoughts in Victory Lane.

"Me personally, I was just really waiting to get the news on how everybody was, how all the fans were overnight, just hoping that things were going to improve ... was not really ready to proceed until you had some confirmation that things were looking more positive," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was involved in Saturday's accident but refocused and finished second to Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

The race itself, the debut for NASCAR's new Gen-6 car, was quite similar to all the other Cup races during Speedweeks in that the cars seemed to line up in a single-file parade along the top groove of the track. It made the 55th running of the Daytona 500 relatively uneventful.

When the race was on the line, Johnson took off.

The driver known as "Five-Time" raced past defending NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski on the final restart and pulled out to a sizable lead that nobody challenged over the final six laps.

"We have a hard time finishing these races. Boy, to run 1-2, man, what a day," said Rick Hendrick, team owner for both Johnson and Earnhardt.

Mark Martin was third in a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. Keselowski, who overcame two accidents earlier in the race, wound up fourth in Penske Racing's new Ford. Ryan Newman was fifth in a Chevy for Stewart-Haas Racing and was followed by Roush-Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle, who was second on the last lap but was shuffled back with Patrick to finish sixth.

Regan Smith was seventh for Phoenix Racing, while Patrick, Michael McDowell and JJ Yeley rounded out the top 10.

Patrick was clearly disappointed with her finish, even though she ran inside the top-10 the entire race. When the race was on the line, though, she was schooled by Earnhardt, who made his move for the win.

Still, Patrick became the first woman in history to lead laps in the 500 when she passed Michael Waltrip on a restart on Lap 90. She stayed on the point for two laps, then was shuffled back to third. She ended up leading five laps, another groundbreaking moment for Patrick, who in 2005 as a rookie became the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500.

Janet Guthrie was the first woman to lead laps at NASCAR's top Cup Series, in 1977 at Ontario, where she led five laps under caution.

"Dale did a nice job and showed what happens when you plan it out, you drop back and get that momentum. You are able to go to the front," Patrick said. "I think he taught me something. I'm sure I'll watch the race and there will be other scenarios I see that can teach me, too."

Earnhardt was impressed, nonetheless.

"She's going to make a lot of history all year long. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch her progress," said Earnhardt Jr. "Every time I've seen her in a pretty hectic situation, she always really remained calm. She's got a great level head. She's a racer. She knows what's coming. She's smart about her decisions. She knew what to do today as far as track position and not taking risks. I enjoy racing with her."

The field was weakened by an early nine-car accident that knocked out race favorite Kevin Harvick and sentimental favorite Tony Stewart.

Harvick had won two support races coming into the 500 to cement himself as the driver to beat, but the accident sent him home with a 42nd place finish.

Stewart, meanwhile, dropped to 0-for-15 in one of the few races the three-time NASCAR champion has never won.

"If I didn't tell you I was heartbroken and disappointed, I'd be lying to you," Stewart said.

That accident also took former winner Jamie McMurray, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kasey Kahne out of contention.

The next accident - involving nine cars - came 105 laps later and brought a thankful end to Speedweeks for Carl Edwards. He was caught in his fifth accident since testing last month, and this wreck collected six other Ford drivers.

The field suddenly had six Toyota drivers at the front as Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing drivers took control of the race. But JGR's day blew up - literally - when the team was running 1-2-3 with Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch setting the pace.

Kenseth, who led a race-high 86 laps, went to pit road first with a transmission issue, and Busch was right behind him with a blown engine. Busch was already in street clothes watching as Hamlin led the field.

"It's a little devastating when you are running 1-2-3 like that," Busch said.