Washington - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has pulled ahead of his Democratic rival Barack Obama in a series of opinion polls released after the two parties' nominating conventions.

Polls showed McCain received a major boost from the Republican convention last week - greater than Obama was given after the Democrats' convention the week before
- as the presidential campaign enters its final stretch.

Washington, Sept. 8 : Alaskan Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin may be drawing huge crowds during her various campaign stops, but party presidential nominee John McCain is taking all precautions to shield her from the press.

According to Fox News, McCain is being accompanied by Palin on the campaign trail in swing states, but is being heavily insulated.

All her stump speeches have been from a teleprompter whereas McCain, Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden are speaking extemporaneously.

New York, Sept. 8 : His name is John McCain, but believe it or not, he is voting for Barack Obama.

Johnathan B. McCain, a Brooklyn-based musician, is not a Republican, travels frequently to Europe and says a few people have said that he looks like Obama.

According to the New York Daily News, McCain, 40, says that he has never used his famous name - or his striking resemblance to Obama to get a good table in a crowded restaurant or get out of a parking ticket.

The combination, however, has gotten him on talk radio shows around the city.

Dhaka, Sept. 8 : The location of the orphanage in Bangladesh from where Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s stepdaughter, Bridget, was taken has been revealed.

McCain and his wife adopted Bridget as their daughter 17 years ago from a Dhaka orphanage.

She was then a desperately ill baby girl after a cyclone struck Bangladesh in 1991, the Sunday Telegraph reveals.

New York, Sept. 8 : Republican presidential nominee John McCain has taken a slight lead over his Democratic rival Barack Obama -- 48-45 percent, according to the latest Gallup Daily Tracking poll published on Sunday.

It is the largest advantage for McCain, though still within the 2-point margin of error, since May.

The 48 percent also registers the largest raw number McCain has received in the poll since Gallup started its daily tracking of the two presidential candidates in March. McCain matched that number in May.

Washington, Sept. 8 : Republican presidential nominee John McCain has said that if he is elected president, he will appoint Democrats to his Cabinet.

Fox News quoted McCain as saying that he wanted the best people to tackle the nation’s toughest problems regardless of partisanship.