US election at-a-glance: 21-27 June

WEEK IN A NUTSHELL

Both candidates express support for a landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning Washington DC's ban on handgun possession, although John McCain accuses Barack Obama of flip-flopping on the issue. An aide to Mr McCain apologises for telling a reporter that a terror attack on the US would be a "big advantage" for Mr McCain politically. Barack Obama holds a joint rally with former rival for the Democratic nomination Hillary Clinton in the - symbolically-chosen - town of Unity, New Hampshire.

KEY QUOTES

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."
Karl Rove on Barack Obama

McCain video targets Obama over campaign funding

"Certainly it would be a big advantage to him."
McCain adviser Charlie Black on the effect that a terror attack could have on his candidate's electoral prospects

"If he said that, and I do not know the context, I strenuously disagree."
John McCain distances himself from Charlie Black

"She rocks. She rocks. That's the point I'm trying to make."
Barack Obama on his former rival

"Unity is not only a beautiful place as we can see, it's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?"
Hillary Clinton

"A campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain once offered enormous possibilities for something new. Instead, the two presumptive nominees have opened their campaigns for the White House with what looks and sounds like a repeat of the kind of politics both have promised to leave behind."
Dan Balz, Washington Post

"All I can say [is] it's one in a long... series in reversals of positions."
John McCain attacks Barack Obama for changing his position on the constitutionality of the DC gun ban

NUMBER NEWS

The two pollsters companies conducting daily tracking polls both suggest that Barack Obama's lead over John McCain has contracted slightly over the last seven days.

Mr Obama started the week with a seven-point lead (according to Rasmussen) and a two-point lead (according to Gallup).

By the end of the week, his Rasmussen lead had reduced to four points, and his Gallup advantage had reduced to zero - the pollster has him neck-and-neck with Mr McCain on 44%.

But a monthly poll from the LA Times/Bloomberg published this week tells a different story.

It gives Mr Obama a commanding (and possibly inflated) 12-point lead over Mr McCain.

WEEKLY PICTURE

At her first joint appearance with Barack Obama since suspending her campaign, Hillary Clinton urged her supporters to back her former rival