Jerusalem - Israeli Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is due to meet US President George W Bush at the White House "soon," a statement issued by his office said.

Bush spoke with Olmert on the telephone Wednesday afternoon and invited the Israeli leader to Washington, the statement said.

Olmert resigned last month to fight corruption allegations, but has since continued to rule Israel at the head of a transitional government which will be in place until early elections are held on February 10.

With the financial crisis weighing on American household budgets and the US consumer appearing to be in a foul mood, the effects on investors and the economy are likely to be harsh. The Conference Board, a New York-based business research group, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index plummeted to 38 in October from an upwardly revised reading of 61.4 in September. This decline brings the index to its lowest level since its inception in 1967.

Speaking at James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told the people who packed into an overflow room that the 2008 election represents “a clear choice between the past and the future.” There were about 8,000 people at the soccer field at James Madison, but there wasn’t room for them at the indoor venue where there were 12,000 more people, mainly students too excited to sit.

Alaska Senator Republican Ted Stevens, convicted of seven felonies, is being persistently pressurized by fellow Republicans to step down from the Senate. John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have wasted no time in separating their campaign from the “corruption and insider dealing that has become so pervasive in the nation's capital.”

Republican John McCain has lately been picking on Congressman Barney Frank warn voters about the fiscal dangers that would accompany Barack Obama’s presidency. It appears Frank has found a comfortable home in McCain’s speeches in the campaign’s closing days.

As it is customary for candidates to return to their home state to vote on Election Day, the Alaska Governor is also expected to do the same. The campaign, however, has not announced this officially yet, due to the amount of time it takes to fly to Alaska and the need for the GOP Vice-Presidential nominee to continue campaigning.

In case Palin travels to her Anchorage office the evening of November 3rd, she will travel back to the continental US after she votes, to join her running mate in Phoenix for their Election Night party.