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Wealthy candidates on both sides of the political aisle may fall short in upending political veterans in contests for the Senate and gubernatorial nominations. But the ugly races may leave the winners damaged going into the fall campaign.

Bank of America Corp. officials say the company has agreed to buy Countrywide Financial for $4 billion in stock. The acquisition will make Charlotte-based Bank of America the nation's biggest mortgage lender and loan servicer.

Though the nation's unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent in February, employers actually cut payrolls by a net 63,000 jobs. The rate fell because so many people decided to stop looking for work — a new sign of weakness in the economy.

Employers eliminated a net total of 216,000 jobs in August as the nation's jobless rate reached its highest level since June 1983. But the number of job cuts is the smallest decline in payrolls in a year.

This segment on healthcare starts with the news of California's federal waiver allowing the addition of 500,000 more people to MediCal. Then New York Times bestselling author T.R. Reid ("The healing of America") tells us that " despite all the rights and privileges and entitlements Americans enjoy today, we have never decided to provide medical care for everybody who needs it." Reid talks about what we can learn from other countries -- if we're willing.

Investors are moving their money into safe places fast. Demand for Treasury securities is high and gold prices are shooting up. Many people with funds in money markets are wondering whether they are still safe. Financial experts say they are.

Faced with mounting anxieties about U.S. economic problems as energy prices soar and more Americans lose their homes in foreclosures, President Bush urged Congress to help allay those fears. At a news conference Tuesday, the president discussed energy prices, food costs and farm legislation.

President Obama unveiled a multitrillion-dollar spending plan Monday, pledging an intensified effort to combat high unemployment and asking Congress to quickly approve new job-creation efforts that would boost the deficit to a record-breaking $1.56 trillion.

In key races across the nation, candidates won -- and lost -- in part because of the television and Web ads they ran. The Message Machine looks at nine ads that were truly unique and really made a difference in the 2010 campaign.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he faces problems that his predecessor, Tony Blair, did not. "I think what I'm dealing with are the new challenges," Brown says, citing a global economic crisis and climate change as two examples.