PRESS DIGEST - Washington Post - Feb 9

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Washington Post included the following items on its front page on Feb. 9. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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President Bush tried to calm his party's base Friday. Without naming Sen. John McCain, Bush assured a group that the eventual Republican nominee will "carry a conservative banner" to the White House.

Just as Super Tuesday revealed a divide among the nation's Democrats, many households are finding loyalties split as the capital region prepares to vote in Tuesday's primaries.

Five years of war have disfigured the people of Iraq, hobbling and maiming many thousands of them. There are no definitive counts.

President Bush drew great applause during his State of the Union address last month when he called on Congress to allow U.S. troops to transfer their unused education benefits to family members. But in his $3.1 trillion federal budget, he included no funding for such an initiative, which government analysts calculate could cost $1 billion to $2 billion annually.

Vice President Dick Cheney has joined a majority in Congress in opposing a gun ban in the District of Columbia, breaking with his own administration's official stance.