Victim drives sleeping rapist to police station

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand rape victim drove her rapist to a police station when he fell asleep in his car after assaulting the woman, local media reported on Wednesday.

Vipul Sharma, 22, was found guilty of abduction and two charges of rape by the Auckland District Court Tuesday, court officials told Reuters Wednesday.

The New Zealand newspaper said Sharma met the woman at an Auckland bar in 2006 and later drove her first to a park where he raped her in the back seat of his car.

After the attack Sharma allowed the woman to drive and fell asleep in the passenger seat, so the woman drove him to Auckland Central police station where he was arrested, said the newspaper.

"She showed a lot of bravery and common sense. I have nothing but respect for what she has endured," police detective Simon Welsh told the newspaper.

By KOMO Staff

Friday 11-7-08

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3748, 3948, 2244, 2449, 1166, 8838

With a blessing from basketball royalty and backing from hometown voters, Kevin Johnson swept into office as mayor of Sacramento, Calif., while more than a dozen other sports figures played politics by running in elections across the country.

Johnson, a former all-star point guard for the NBA's Phoenix Suns, became the city's first black mayor and during his victory speech echoed Barack Obama's landmark presidential triumph.

"Sacramento also made history today in electing its first black mayor," Johnson said Tuesday night. "Both Obama and myself, we ran on a promise and the theme of change. No more business as usual."

Ex-quarterback Heath Shuler and former NFL coach Sam Wyche scored victories that had little to do with football, while heavyweight boxer Joe Mesi had a rough time in the political ring, losing a bid for a legislative seat in New York.

Craig Robinson wasn't on any ballot, but the Oregon State basketball coach could soon be a frequent White House visitor. Robinson watched election results in Chicago with his family, which includes his brother-in-law, the president-elect.

Johnson, a 42-year-old Democrat with conservative social views, defeated two-term incumbent Heather Fargo in a run-off election. He put some pizazz into his campaign with support from basketball icons Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley.

Johnson wants to raise the profile of his hometown and bemoans his city's image beside that of Los Angeles and San Francisco. He pledged to end a "tired, bureaucratic, uninspired, unresponsive" City Hall.

Shuler, a Heisman Trophy runner-up at Tennessee who played quarterback for the Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints, won his first bid for re-election to Congress.

Shuler is a North Carolina Democrat whose district is in the state's western mountains. He defeated Carl Mumpower, who had irritated local Republican officials by saying he would support efforts to impeach President Bush.

"I did what I said I would do and I think the people saw that," Shuler said.

Wyche coached in the NFL with Cincinnati and Tampa Bay and made it to the Super Bowl with the Bengals after the 1988 season. He ran as a Republican and commandingly won a seat on the Pickens County Council in South Carolina, an area that includes Clemson University. A former quarterback at nearby Furman, Wyche is an assistant football coach at Pickens High School and a broadcaster.

Mesi had a 36-0 record as a fighter and once had to stop fighting for two years because of bleeding in his brain. The Democrat had the support of Buffalo Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano in his attempt to win a state Senate seat but lost to Republican Michael Ranzenhofer.

Joining Shuler in re-election to the House was Rep. Baron Hill of Indiana, a former Furman basketball player. He defeated former Rep. Mike Sodrel, a Republican and trucking company owner. The two have faced off in four consecutive elections.

Norm Dicks, an ex-linebacker at the University of Washington, succeeded in his House re-election bid. Jason Chaffetz, a former BYU kicker who once had 10 extra points in a game, claimed a congressional seat in Utah after beating the incumbent in the Republican primary.

Sports was on the sidelines for the U.S. Senate races. The only senators with jock connections - Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, a Hall of Fame pitcher, and Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, owner of the Milwaukee Bucks - were not up for election.

Joey Browner, a former Pro Bowl safety with the Minnesota Vikings, lost as a write-in for the City Council in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan.

In state legislative races, Peter Boulware, a former star linebacker at Florida State who went on to the Baltimore Ravens, was vying for a seat in Florida and trailing by 403 votes. Boulware, a Republican, appeared headed for a recount.

Bob Heaton, who played with Larry Bird on the Indiana State team that went to the 1979 Final Four, lost a close race in Indiana.

Chided Lieberman meets with Reid on McCain support

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, took a first step on Thursday toward finding out what punishment he may face for backing Republican John McCain for president this year.

Lieberman met privately with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who afterward reiterated Democratic concerns and said they would have more talks before deciding what to do.

Lieberman has given no indication that he might become a Republican. But a Senate aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, "He's keeping all his options open."

During the meeting in Reid's office, Lieberman rejected a proposed reprimand that included him being stripped of the chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, the aide said.

Lieberman backed McCain over Obama for president largely because McCain, unlike Obama, supported the Iraq war. He appeared regularly with McCain on the campaign trail and spoke at the Republican Party's national convention.

Democrats expanded their majority in Tuesday's election and no longer need Lieberman as a member of their caucus to retain Senate control. His was the 51st vote that gave Democrats a majority, enabling their control of all committees and legislation.

Lieberman was elected to a fourth term in 2006 as an independent after losing the Democratic primary in Connecticut largely because of his support for the unpopular Iraq war. But he remained in the Senate Democratic caucus.

Democratic lawmakers and aides said they do not expect Reid to expel Lieberman from their caucus, but that the 66-year-old senator might decide to leave.

OPTIONS OPEN

Lieberman spoke briefly to reporters after meeting with Reid.

"The election is over, and I completely agree with (Democratic) President-elect (Barack) Obama that we must now unite to get our economy going again and to keep the American people safe," Lieberman said.

"That is exactly what I intend to do," Lieberman said. "And those are the standards I will use in considering the options that I have before me."

Neither he or Reid explained what options he had.

But as the Senate aide put it: "There's nothing firm right now on either side."

Democratic aides noted that with the exception of the war, Lieberman has routinely voted with the party on matters from the environment to health care.

In a written statement, Reid said: "While I understand that Senator Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus.

"I expect there to be additional discussions in the days to come, and Senator Lieberman and I will speak to our caucus in two weeks to discuss further steps," Reid said.

In endorsing McCain, Lieberman became the first nominee of a major party presidential ticket to later support a candidate of the opposing party. He was Al Gore's No. 2 in the 2000 White House race.

Reid, who requested Thursday's meeting, had "a genuinely friendly discussion" with Lieberman, the Senate aide said.

Lieberman reminded Reid that in leaving the Democratic Party in 2006, he said he would view the 2008 presidential election as an independent, the aide said.

The aide said Lieberman also noted that he kept his word to remain in the Democratic caucus the past two years so Democrats could retain control of the Senate, 51-49.

(Editing by Xavier Briand and Jackie Frank)

Rumor Mill Sees Groundwork for Another Putin Presidency

Dodgers' offer to Manny Ramirez valued at $45 million

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Venus, Jankovic reach Sony Ericsson semifinals
Associated Press

DOHA, Qatar -- Venus Williams defeated her sister 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the WTA Tour's season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, a match Serena Williams called her worst of the year.

Serena started to unravel early in the second set.

"I just couldn't keep a ball in play," she said. "Everything was off."

Venus won on her fifth match point and is 3-0 in round-robin play of a tournament that features the top eight players. Serena dropped to 1-1 but can still advance to the semifinals if she defeats Elena Dementieva on Friday.

The sisters are 9-9 in career matchups. Serena defeated Venus in the U.S. Open quarterfinals en route to the title this year, and Venus won their title match at Wimbledon.

Venus stayed composed throughout the match, using her powerful serve to frustrate Serena, but refrained from celebrating after winning.

"It wasn't the happiest match," Venus said. "The best part is that she still has an opportunity to qualify."

Both sisters played their trademark power tennis in the first set before the rallies turned shorter in the second, with Serena growing increasingly frustrated by her errors.

Venus earned two set points in the second when Serena double-faulted and converted the second with a crosscourt backhand that passed her younger sister at the net.

"I didn't even look like a top-eight player today. Maybe top 600, in the juniors," said Serena, who has won nine majors and is making her fifth appearance at the season-ending championships. She won the event in 2001.

Earlier Thursday, top-ranked Jelena Jankovic defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (6), 6-4 to secure a semifinal spot.

The seventh-ranked Kuznetsova saved two set points in the tiebreak before hitting a forehand into the net to drop the first set. Jankovic called for a trainer early in the second set for a back injury before recovering to win her second round-robin match.

"I hope I will be OK" for the semifinals, Jankovic said.

Kuznetsova has one more round-robin match to play but can't advance because she's lost twice.

Eight players are divided into two groups, with the top two in each group advancing to the elimination stage.

Dinara Safina played Dementieva later Thursday.

SUPREME COURT OF THE U.S. - RULES
..Part III. Jurisdiction on Writ of Certiorari

Rule 10. Considerations Governing Review on Writ of Certiorari

Review on a writ of certiorari is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion. A petition for a writ of certiorari will be granted only for compelling reasons. The following, although neither controlling nor fully measuring the Court's discretion, indicate the character of the reasons the Court considers:

• (a) a United States court of appeals has entered a decision in conflict with the decision of another United States court of appeals on the same important matter; has decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with a decision by a state court of last resort; or has so far departed from the accepted and usual course of judicial proceedings, or sanctioned such a departure by a lower court, as to call for an exercise of this Court's supervisory power;
• (b) a state court of last resort has decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with the decision of another state court of last resort or of a United States court of appeals;
• (c) a state court or a United States court of appeals has decided an important question of federal law that has not been, but should be, settled by this Court, or has decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with relevant decisions of this Court.

A petition for a writ of certiorari is rarely granted when the asserted error consists of erroneous factual findings or the misapplication of a properly stated rule of law.

In Some Nations, People Look to Obama as President of the World

President-elect Barack Obama is being embraced worldwide as a symbol of a new beginning for international relations.

Barack Obama's election on Tuesday set off international celebrations and ignited a fervor for the United States that has been unseen since the days immediately following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. 

To some observers, the international reaction has elevated America's president-elect to an unparalleled post: president of the world.

In Kenya, where Obama's father was born, a national holiday was declared on Thursday. In Indonesia, children danced at the school Obama attended when he was a young boy, embracing him as much for what he represents abroad as for the policies he advocates at home.

Click here to see photos of celebrations around the world.

"People from all over Africa, especially in Kenya, where this is a holiday, are feeling that the most powerful person in the world does not have to be a white guy. That's a huge breakthrough for the United States and for humanity," said Walter Russell Mead, the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten," Rama Yade, France's junior minister for human rights, told French radio. "On this morning, we all want to be American, so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes."

America's popularity abroad waned dramatically during the Bush administration, and some voters expressed hopes that in electing Obama, they could restore the country's image. The  wave of good feelings since Tuesday night suggests that even before taking office, Obama has made substantial inroads.

"This may be the beginning of a new world. It marks the end of old elites and opens the door for new approaches worldwide," an Israeli man in his mid-50s said in Tel Aviv.

Foreign observers, who paid rapt attention during the long election season, are taking a personal stake in the outcome of a vote a world away. Expectations are high for the 47-year-old Obama, who will take over on January 20 amid a financial collapse and who will preside over two wars on his first day in office.

"The standing of everybody in the world is going to be affected by what President Obama does or doesn't do," said Mead, noting that all eyes will be looking to the new president for a way out of the global financial crisis.

In the Muslim world, the response has been mixed. A journalist with a pan-Arab news channel told FOX News that on election night, workers were going around the newsroom congratulating each other, as if Obama were their president-elect.

Iraqis have expressed skepticism that any rapid changes will come as a result of the election, but many see their fates ineluctably tied to Obama's foreign policy. "By God, the new American President Obama has promised to pull the troops out. This is in the best interest of the Iraqi people," said one Baghdadi.

Arab heads of state have been more circumspect, waiting to see whether Obama's Mideast policy will depart significantly from that of the Bush administration, and some newspapers in the Arab world have openly announced their distrust of the president-elect.

"There is no significant difference between Obama and McCain. They disagree only on the means to achieve America's chief goal, which is to rule for another hundred years," said an editorial in the Saudi daily Al-Watan, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors the Arab press.

But some Iranians, speaking to FOX News, said they were excited by the prospect of the coming administration.

"I want to congratulate you on Barack Obama's victory that really turned a new chapter in the world's history -- that an African-American man, decent and intelligent, became president of the world," one Iranian said. 

"This was done in America. Your nation has the credit for it."

Not all observers expect this world embrace to be long-lasting. "I think overseas, as at home, opinion over the longer term will depend on what he actually does," said John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Obama was issued an early challenge Wednesday, as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the deployment of short-range missiles near his country's border with Poland.

"Those who have issues with us are certainly not giving him a honeymoon," Bolton said of Russia's action, which may have been intended to send a cold word of welcome to Obama and to test his resolve.

Russian citizens, too, have been wary in their evaluation of the next president.

"I don't think he can really become  the  world political leader," said Tatyana Solomonova, a real estate agent in Moscow. "The fact that he's black can be an obstacle -- there's still a lot of racism in the world, in Europe and Russia too. I think he can take a leading role in the Western hemisphere, but not in this part of the world."

In Moscow Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has a history of controversial remarks, was asked by a reporter about the prospect for U.S.-Russian relations after Berlusconi met with Medvedev.

Berlusconi responded by saying that the relative youth of Medvedev, 43, and Obama should make it easier for Moscow and Washington to work together.

Then he said, smiling: "I told the president that [Obama] has everything needed in order to reach deals with him: he's young, handsome and even tanned."

Italian news agencies said Berlusconi later defended his remark, calling the statement "a great compliment."

"Why are they taking it as something negative? ... If they have the vice of not having a sense of humor, worse for them," the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.

But Italy's only black lawmaker, Jean-Leonard Touadi, called the comment embarrassing.

"In the United States, a joke like that wouldn't just be politically incorrect, but a great offense to this amazing example of integration, which it seems the Italian premier should take as an example," Touadi said.

For good or ill, all eyes are now on Obama.

"Not everybody is going to get what they want, but this is a moment of hope," said Mead, who added that Obama was sure to fall short of some expectations.

"If you look at Jesus Christ, he walked on water and fed the 5,000 and he ended up getting crucified, so I think it's not unlikely that President-elect Obama is gonna disappoint some people also."

Obama adds symbolic NC victory to White House win

By MIKE BAKER and BARBARA RODRIGUEZ –  1 hour ago

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — President-elect Obama won North Carolina on Thursday, a symbolic triumph that underscored his political strength as he turned nine states that President Bush won in 2004 to Democratic blue.

The Associated Press declared Obama the winner after canvassing counties in North Carolina to determine the number of outstanding provisional ballots. That survey found that there are not enough remaining ballots for Republican John McCain to close a 13,693-vote deficit.

North Carolina's 15 electoral votes brings Obama's total to 364 — nearly 100 more than necessary to win the White House — to McCain's 162. Missouri is the only state that remains too close to call, with McCain leading by several thousand votes.

Obama's win in North Carolina was the first for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter won the state in 1976.

Of Bush's 2004 states, Obama captured Virginia, Florida and North Carolina in the South, Ohio, Indiana and Iowa in the Midwest and Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico in the West.

Obama ran an aggressive general election campaign in North Carolina after his wide primary victory in the state over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested he could win a trove of electoral votes that most assumed would belong to McCain.

McCain spent months watching North Carolina from afar during the summer as Obama visited regularly, but the GOP nominee returned to the state in the campaign's final few weeks as polls suggested an Obama victory was possible.

Obama spent millions of televisions ads that were buttressed by hundreds of staff members in dozens of offices to take advantage of North Carolina's rapidly changing demographics and a large bloc of black voters galvanized by his bid to become the first African-American president.

North Carolina's growing population includes a booming urban corridor from Charlotte to Raleigh along Interstate 85, while retirees from northern states — who are more willing to vote for Democrats — are filling the state's coast and mountains.

Exit polls also showed that some 30 percent of voters considered race a factor in their decision, with the numbers split evenly among voters who backed McCain and Obama. Nearly one in five voters considered race an important factor.

The economy also played a role — with 60 percent of voters considering it the top issue, with those voters breaking slightly to Obama. The state's manufacturing industry has been devastated by competitive imports, and the state's banking economy centered in Charlotte was struck by economic turmoil that led to the downfall of Wachovia Corp., in the weeks before Election Day.

Obama's win completed the party's sweep at the top of the North Carolina ticket. Beverly Perdue was elected the state's first female governor, while Kay Hagan unseated one of the GOP's most respected figures in Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Strains Between McCain and Palin Aides Go Public

Report: Palin's Wardrobe Is to Be Audited by GOP

By KATE SNOW

Nov. 6, 2008 —

Now that the defeated team of  Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin  have gone their separate ways, the knives are out and Palin is the one who is getting filleted.

Revelations from anonymous critics from within the McCain-Palin campaign suggest a number of complaints about the Alaskan governor:

  Fox News reports that Palin didn't know Africa was a continent and did not know the member nations of the North American Free Trade Agreement -- the United States, Mexico and Canada -- when she was picked for vice president.

  The New York Times reports that McCain aides were outraged when Palin staffers scheduled her to speak with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, a conversation that turned out to be a radio station prank.

  Newsweek reports that Palin spent far more than the previously reported  $150,000 on clothes  for herself and her family.

  Several publications say she irked the McCain campaign by asking to make her own concession speech on election night.

The tension is likely to continue or get worse. Lawyers for the Republican National Committee are heading to Alaska to try to account for all the money that was spent on clothing, jewelry and luggage, according to The New York Times.

Reports of agitation  between the two camps bubbled up in the final weeks of the campaign as  Barack Obama began pulling away  and the GOP duo was unable to regain the momentum.

But those reports are no longer in the rumor stage as McCain loyalists are now blasting away at the  Alaska governor, who was a favorite of the Republican right during the campaign, but was  cited in numerous polls  as a reason why many Americans wouldn't vote for the Arizona Republican.

Perhaps the most dangerous allegation for Palin are reports in The New York Times and Newsweek that when she was urged by McCain adviser Nicole Wallace to buy three suits for the Republican convention and three suits for the campaign trail, she went on the now-infamous shopping spree at swank stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

A Republican donor who agreed to foot a majority of the expenses was stunned when he received the bill, Newsweek reported. Both the Times and Newsweek report that the budget for the clothing was expected to be between $20,000 and $25,000. Instead, the amount reported by the Republican National Committee was $150,000.

That wasn't the whole tab, however, according to Newsweek. The magazine claims that Palin leaned on some low-level staffers to put thousands of dollars of additional purchases on their credit cards. The national committee and McCain became aware of the extra expenditures, including clothes for husband Todd Palin, when the staffers sought reimbursement, Newsweek reported.

McCain Aide Calls Palin Family 'Wasilla Hillbillies'

There is one comment in particular from a McCain aide that guaranteed to  heighten friction  between the two camps. The angry aide described the Palin family shopping spree to Newsweek as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."

It's unclear how much McCain knew about the clothing debacle. Reports suggest that he was kept out of the loop for fear that he would not approve.

Both Newsweek and The New York Times say McCain and Palin had little contact with each other.

"I think it was a difficult relationship," one top McCain official confided to The New York Times. But a high level McCain adviser told ABC News that the two had a good working relationship.

"He likes her," this senior McCain adviser said last week. "He's had no problem with her. He's very appreciative of what she's done."

The adviser said McCain and Palin talked at least once a day. He also said McCain frequently joked about how large Palin's crowds were compared to his.

However, press accounts today suggest that Palin rubbed many of the McCain aides the wrong way. On election night when it was clear that McCain would be giving a concession speech instead of an acceptance speech, Palin approached McCain with a speech in hand hoping to make her own concession speech, according to published reports.

Vice presidential candidates traditionally leave the spotlight to the top of the ticket on election night and McCain aides made it clear to Palin that she would be a spectator that night, not a speaker, The New York Times reported.

And when McCain and Palin split up in Arizona Wednesday, the  personal differences  were stark.

McCain drove himself home in a Toyota sport utility vehicle. Palin's departure was a grander event. She left with an entourage of 18 family members and friends and a Secret Service detail, heading to the airport in a motorcade stretching more than a dozen vehicles, flanked by a dozen more cops on motorcycles.

Interview Prep Lacking, McCain Staffers Say

McCain aides had numerous complaints about Palin. She was unwilling or unable to find the time and energy to prep for her disastrous interview with Couric. And when she did study, she astonished her handlers by her unsophisticated views.

She didn't know Africa was a continent, according to Newsweek. Fox News revealed that during her cramming, she couldn't name the three countries that belong to the North American Free Trade Agreement: the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Questions followed Palin home to Alaska. She was asked about some of the accusations from anonymous sources when she landed there late Wednesday.

Asked about the Fox report that she did not know the NAFTA members or that Africa was a continent, Palin said, "If they're an unnamed source, that says it all. I won't comment on anyone's gossip based on anonymous sources. That's kind of a small of a bitter type of person who anonymously would charge that I didn't know an answer to a question. So until I know who's talking about it, I won't have a comment on a false allegation."

Palin Insists She's No Diva

When pressed on what went wrong with the campaign, she said, "I certainly am not one to ever waste time looking backwards."

She defended herself against the notion that she is to blame for the failure of the McCain-Palin ticket.

"I don't think anybody should give Sarah Palin that much credit, that I would trump an economic, woeful time in this nation that occurred about two months ago, that my presence on the ticket would trump the economic crisis that America found itself in a couple of months ago and attribute John McCain's loss to me," Palin told reporters in Arizona Wednesday.

"Now, having said that, if I cost John McCain even one vote, I'm sorry about that because John McCain I believe is the American hero. I had believed that it was his time. & He being so full of courage and wisdom and experience, that valor he just embodies, I believe he would've been the best pick, but that is not the Americans' choice at this time."

She also rejected the characterization that she was a "diva" on the campaign trail, as one anonymous McCain adviser told CNN.

"If only people, y'know, come on up and travel with us to Alaska and see this 'diva' lifestyle that I supposedly live or would demand, because it's just false," she said.

Asked about her national political ambitions, she said, "I have not given it any thought in the context of making any kind of decisions at all, so no, just happy to be back here."

In one of her favorite coffee shops in Wasilla Tuesday morning, Palin summed it up this way: "Forever, I'm going to be Sarah from Alaska."

1 - Will you have/cook more holiday food or desserts?

2 - How many pounds do you think you will gain?

CHICAGO - Preschoolers with a parent away at war were more likely to show aggression than other young children in military families, according to the first published research on how the very young react to wartime deployment.

Hitting, biting and hyperactivity — “the behaviors parents really notice” — were more frequent when a parent was deployed, said lead author Dr. Molinda Chartrand, an active duty pediatrician in the U.S. Air Force.

The study, which was small and included fewer than 200 children, adds to previous evidence of the stress that deployment puts on families. Last year, a study of almost 1,800 Army families worldwide found that reports of child abuse and neglect were 42 percent higher during times when the soldier-parent was deployed.

This time, researchers looked at families living on a large Marine base in 2007. (The base wasn’t identified in the study.) Children, 3 to 5 years old, with a deployed parent scored an average of five points higher for behavior problems on two questionnaires widely used in child psychology than did the children whose Marine-parents weren’t deployed.

About 1 in 5 of the older preschoolers with a parent at war displayed troubling emotional or behavioral signs.

First research of its kind
Since the war began in Afghanistan seven years ago and Iraq more than five years ago, “this is the first time any data have been published on these little kids,” said Chartrand, who conducted the study while at Boston University School of Medicine.

The researchers surveyed parents and child care providers of 169 preschool-age children. Parents, mostly mothers, answered questions on their children’s behavior and emotional state. Parents also completed questionnaires on their own stress and depression.

The age of the children made a big difference in the study, which appears in November’s Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

While older preschoolers had trouble, deployment had the opposite effect on children younger than 3, yielding fewer behavior problems as rated by parents and caregivers.

The researchers speculated that, with fathers away, the younger children had more time to bond with their mothers, a benefit for that age group. But preschoolers 3 and older may be more negatively affected by their fathers’ absence.

In a few families, it was the mother who was away at war, but for most (92 percent), it was the father. The Marine-fathers had been away an average of about four months when the mothers and day care providers were surveyed.

Children with existing conditions such as autism and attention deficit disorder were excluded from the study, and the researchers took into account the at-home parent’s depression and stress.

That made the results especially notable to Michelle Kelley, a psychology professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., who was not involved in the new study but has done similar research with older children in military families.

“You’re pulling out the mom’s depressive symptoms and her stress so the difference in the kids is above and independent of that,” Kelley said. “If these kids are having difficulty, it’s pretty likely that other kids are having difficulty as well.”

'We need to do more'
Col. Richard Ricciardi of Walter Reed Army Medical Center called the study important, while noting that the small number of families means no sweeping conclusions can be made. The findings are in line with unpublished military research he’s reviewed and what’s known about child development, he said.

He called for further research on preschoolers in military families. “We need to do more of this,” he said.

During the past year, the Marine Corps has increased its funding of programs to help families, said Kimberly Holmes, who directs a family program at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The Marines are relying less on volunteers, instead hiring staff to give more support to families. Four new child care centers are planned at the base, which will provide care to an additional 1,200 preschoolers.

Deborah Gibbs of the nonprofit RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C., who conducted last year’s study of deployment and child abuse, has seen changes in the Army in the past year. She said Army doctors have been ordered to be more alert to problems if a parent is away at war.

Most military families are resilient, she said.

“They deal with a lot of separation and uprooting as a matter of course.”