Nation briefs

WASHINGTONBill Clinton stumps for Dems

Bill Clinton, popular in territory unfriendly to President Barack Obama, is reprising his role as a super-surrogate for Democrats battling to keep their Senate majority and win other races. Clinton appears today in Louisville, Ky., with Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democrat who's trying to unseat Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. Clinton is the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry a swath of Southern states crucial to the 2014 midterms: his native Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana.

THE SOUTHGay marriage: 13 states targeted

Less than two weeks after a federal judge declared Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, an effort has been launched in the South seeking to build wider acceptance of gay and lesbian couples in the hope of overturning similar bans across the region. The $1 million effort will be focused on field organizing and sharing the stories of gay couples through local community and business events as well as social media in 14 Southern states. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was among those kicking off the "Southerners for the Freedom to Marry" campaign yesterday. "This is about the fact that marriage equality is on an irreversible path toward being legalized across the United States of America," said Reed, who spoke of his initial reluctance to move from civil unions to supporting gay marriage based on religious reasons. Georgia and the 13 other states targeted have either a constitutional or statutory provision defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and Republicans still hold considerable sway there.

LOUISIANARiver reopened after oil spill

The Coast Guard reopened a normally bustling stretch of the lower Mississippi River to ships and boaters yesterday, two days after an oil spill closed the waterway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. About 31,500 gallons of light crude oil spilled into the river after a tank barge pushed by the towboat Hannah C. Settoon collided with another towboat Saturday afternoon. There were no reports of any wildlife harmed by spilled oil, the Coast Guard said.