String help

[Rigga]

Hi,

I am new to python and am working on a script that parses a file and loads
the results in to variables for processing.  I am having problems when it
comes to data in the file that wraps over two lines i.e.

las -
        lomas

What i want to be able to do is to some how strip all the spaces from it
so while it is contained as a variable so it equal 'las - lomas'

How do I go about doing this? I have tried it using the
string.strip(myvariable,"") however that doesnt appear to do anything.

Any help appreciated

Rigga