The White House said on Thursday that President Obama is a Christian who prays daily as it looked to tamp down growing doubts among Americans about the president's religion.

White House spokesman Bill Burton made the remarks hours after a poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18%, said they think Obama is Muslim. That was up from 11% who said so in March 2009. The survey also showed that just 34% said Obama is Christian, down from 48% who said so last year. The largest share of people, 43%, said they don't know his religion.

As Obama headed out for a vacation, Burton told reporters aboard Air Force One that most Americans care more about the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and “they are not reading a lot of news about what religion the president is.” Burton added, “The president is obviously a Christian. He prays every day.”

The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether they should actually build it.

In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted Monday and Tuesday — after Obama's comments about the mosque — 24% said they think he is Muslim, 47% said they think he is Christian and 24% didn't know or didn't respond.

-- Associated Press

Before departing for an extended family vacation, President Obama made yet another push for small business relief, blasting Republican "obstruction" to a measure that he said could boost the stagnant economy.

Read the full post in The Swamp.

-- Mike Memoli

New motorcoaches would for the first time be required to have lap-shoulder seat belts under a proposal announced Monday by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The plan affects large tour-style buses, not smaller vehicles such as city buses or school buses.

The motorcoach industry, which transports 750 million passengers a year, has 90 days to respond to the proposal. It would take effect three years after it's made final.

Spacewalking astronauts installed a new ammonia pump on the International Space Station on Monday, accomplishing the urgent cooling-system repairs after more than two weeks of impaired operations in orbit.

Making his third spacewalk in just 10 days, Douglas Wheelock slid the bathtub-size pump into place then bolted it down as Tracy Caldwell Dyson hooked up power cables.

An initial test proved successful. "Sweet," Wheelock exclaimed.

The astronauts then connected all the ammonia fluid lines. To everyone's relief, the work went smoothly, with no apparent leakage of the toxic substance. Back on the first spacewalk, ammonia streamed out and forced NASA to add an extra outing to get the job done.

President Obama is not surprised at reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates may step down next year, a White House spokesman said Monday.

Shortly before Obama took the stage to tout economic stimulus spending at an advanced battery manufacturing plant in Wisconsin, Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters that the White House had expected that Gates "would be talking about the next phase" in his career and that the president was "grateful for his service."

Read more in the Swamp.

-- Jim Tankersley in Menomonee Falls, Wis.

Photo: President Obama delivers remarks to workers at ZBB Energy Corp. in Menomonee Falls, Wis. Credit: David Banks / EPA

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who resigned from the military this year after controversial comments published in a magazine profile, will be teaching at Yale University this fall, according to a university spokeswoman.

McChrystal has been appointed a senior fellow with the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs beginning in the fall semester, said a statement from the spokeswoman, Dorie Baker.

McChrystal, who commanded the U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan, will teach a graduate-level seminar for students in the international relations master's program, the statement said.

"The course will examine how dramatic changes in globalization have increased the complexity of modern leadership," it said.

The statement quoted McChrystal as saying: "I am extremely excited to be teaching at Yale and I look forward to sharing my experiences and insights as a career military officer."

-- CNN

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he plans to leave his job next year.

A Republican and a holdover from the Bush administration, Gates had agreed to stay on at the request of President Obama. The move was intended to maintain stability at a time of two wars, although Gates has been open about his desire to return to his home state of Washington.

In an interview published Monday, Gates told Foreign Policy magazine that leaving in 2011 makes sense. It would give him time to oversee the major offensive under way in Afghanistan but bow out before the 2012 presidential elections.

Gates has been defense secretary since December 2006.

-- Associated Press

Air Force One is now en route to Milwaukee, where President Obama is kicking off his first extended political road trip of the midterm election season.

By week's end, the president will have appeared at events benefiting Democratic candidates in Wisconsin, Washington, Ohio and Florida. An event in Los Angeles on Monday night also will benefit Democratic Congressional candidates nationwide.

Read more at the Swamp.

-- Mike Memoli

The Obama administration says attempts to change the U.S. constitutional amendment that grants automatic citizenship to people born in the United States are “just wrong.”

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says she is surprised that Republican congressional leaders are joining a push to reconsider the 14th Amendment instead of working with Democrats on comprehensive changes in immigration rules. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says President Obama agrees with Napolitano's position.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he supports holding hearings on the 14th Amendment, although he emphasized that Washington should remain focused on border security.

-- Associated Press

President Obama will mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans on Aug. 29.

The White House said Obama will speak at Xavier University. Other administration officials who have worked on Katrina recovery efforts will also be in the region to mark the anniversary.

Obama made his first trip to New Orleans since taking office in October, holding a town hall with local residents. He returned to the city again this year to assess efforts to stop the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

-- Associated Press

President Obama has signed into law a $600-million border security bill that will put more agents and equipment along the Mexican border.

Obama signed the bill in the White House Friday. The measure will fund the hiring of 1,000 new Border Patrol agents to be deployed at critical areas along the border, as well as more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. It also provides for new communications equipment and greater use of unmanned surveillance drones.

Some Republicans, including border state Arizona Sen. John McCain, say that though the legislation is a start, it falls short by not dramatically increasing the number of customs inspectors along the border and not funding a program that charges illegal immigrants with a low-level crime.

-- Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- An Arkansas doctor accused of seeking revenge on a state medical board that repeatedly disciplined him was found guilty Monday of masterminding a homemade bomb attack that disfigured and partially blinded the board's chairman.

A federal jury convicted Dr. Randeep Mann, 52, of using a weapon of mass destruction and destroying a vehicle with an explosive in the February 2009 attack that nearly killed Dr. Trent Pierce. Mann, a federally licensed firearms dealer, also was convicted of illegally possessing 98 grenades and a machine gun. He was acquitted of illegally possessing a shotgun.

Those attending included some of pro basketball's greatest players, both past and present: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Magic Johnson and Bill Russell, to name a few.

Read more in The Swamp.

President Obama on Saturday morning took a break -- as in basketball’s fast break.

An avid basketball fan, Obama traveled to Fort McNair in Washington to shoot hoops, according to the White House pool report.

Obama wore a White Sox cap, a gray shirt and black pants when he and aide Reggie Love arrived at 9:43 a.m.

As the president departed the White House, several hundred Boy Scouts, in the area for their national convention, snapped pictures and waved.

Obama’s basketball visit is unconnected to the Lakers announcement that star Kobe Bryant was undergoing rehab after arthroscopic surgery.

[Updated, 9:26 a.m.: The president returned to the White House at 11:34 EDT.]

-- Michael Muskal
twitter.com/LATimesmuskal

Photo: President Obama arrives at Fort McNair to play some hoops. Credit: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio brought his campaign to central Florida Thursday, trying to maintain momentum in a closely-watched race that has become increasingly competitive.

Rubio's bid has lost some of the limelight it attracted earlier this year, when a surge in his support from state Republicans drove Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to pursue the same Senate seat as an independent. But his fund-raising remains robust, and polls show he and Crist locked in a tight race.

Although Crist's exit from the GOP in April was viewed in some circles as a desperate gamble that would extinguish his senatorial hopes, the opposite appears to have occurred. The governor has benefited from his statewide name recognition and high approval ratings and has seized the lead in the race as a result.

And the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has allowed Crist to assume an even higher profile.

For Rubio, it's all complicated a path to the Senate that once looked clear, but he remains a darling of conservatives.

July in Florida is typically hot and steamy, but the race is likely only to grow hotter from here.

For more on Florida Senate battle, check out the Swamp.

-- James Oliphant

Senate Democrats conceded on Thursday that they lacked the votes to pass a comprehensive energy bill and will propose a less ambitious measure that focuses on the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

An energy overhaul, including a cap on the emission of carbons, was one of President Obama’s hopes for his domestic agenda in Congress. But in an election year in which partisan wrangling has become the norm, energy legislation has seemed elusive.

Speaking after a caucus by Senate Democrats, Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, blamed Republicans for refusing to budge on an energy bill. Sixty votes were needed to prevent a GOP filibuster, and Democrats did not have the support without some GOP help.

“We have a responsibility – both to our constituents and our children – to take on America’s energy challenge,” Reid stated. “Many of us want to do that through a comprehensive bill that creates jobs, breaks our addiction to oil and curbs pollution. Unfortunately, at this time, not one Republican wants to join us in achieving this goal. That isn’t just disappointing. It’s dangerous."

Reid said Democrats would continue to seek GOP help on energy, but “Republican political calculations don’t change our obligation to lay the foundations of a safer and stronger future. So in the coming days, we’re going to introduce a solid four-part bill.”

Reid said the proposed legislation would focus on preventing the type of oil leak that already had spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Other aspects of the bill will deal with clean-energy jobs and energy efficiency, including a new fund to help ensure "our land and water is protected long into the future – even from the effects of climate change."

The proposed measures fall far short of the original Democratic hopes for a comprehensive bill that would include charges for carbon emissions.

-- Michael Muskal
twitter.com/LATimesmuskal

The House of Representatives approved extended jobless benefits for 2.5 million unemployed Americans, ending a long partisan battle. President Obama is expected to sign the bill, which the Senate approved after overcoming a Republican filibuster. The House vote was 272-152.

The measure would extend unemployment insurance through November for out-of-work Americans who have not yet exhausted up to 99 weeks of aid. Benefits would be retroactive to late May, when the previous extension expired. Jobless benefits vary from state to state but typically expire after 26 weeks.

Most Republicans contended that the $33.9-billion measure should be paid for with spending cuts rather than tacked onto the national debt. Democrats said the 9.5% national jobless rate is an emergency and thus exempt from budget-offset requirements.

-- Lisa Mascaro