Clinton aides start leaking details to the Associated Press about Bill's big speech tonight, promising that Bill will unequivocally argue that Obama is ready to assume the job he did for eight years:

Former President Clinton, setting aside his own criticism and ambivalence, planned a full-throated endorsement Wednesday of Barack Obama as a leader ready to confront any challenge....

Clinton aides said that in his prime-time speech the former president would argue forcefully that Obama is prepared for the domestic, foreign and national security challenges that will arise in the coming years.

If this proves true, it means that the task of vouching for Obama's commander-in-chief readiness -- which Hillary didn't directly vouch for, as Republicans pointed out -- has been granted to Bill. Hillary, after all, had questioned Obama's national security preparedness in a high-profile way, making it harder for her to offer a strong endorsement of it yesterday.

Bill, by contrast, was not as directly vocal on this subject during the primary. So he's less hamstrung from making the case now. And since he was president himself, he's uniquely qualified to discuss what the job entails and vouch for Obama's preparedness for it.

One other tidbit:

The wide-ranging, roughly eight-minute speech also focused on Democrats' policy achievements, including Clinton's own.

Clinton's task tonight will be to argue convincingly that Obama is well positioned to pick up where the last Democratic president left off, without appearing to be flacking his own accomplishments too aggressively. It's been widely reported that Bill feels that his achievements were given short shrift by Obama, so observers will be scrutinizing every syllable that comes out of Bill's mouth for signs that he's trying to reopen the discussion over his own presidency.

New McCain Ad: Obama "Dangerously Unprepared" To Deal With Iran
The McCain campaign has a new ad out, which the campaign says will run in "key states," attacking Obama as "dangerously unprepared to be president" and confront the threat of Iran. The ad -- and it's a good question whether this will seriously run anywhere -- seems tailor-made to counter today's Dem convention theme of national security:

Tonight: Bill Clinton And Joe Biden To Address Convention
Tonight's theme for the Democratic Convention is national security, but two speakers in particular will get the most attention: Bill Clinton, who will have the tough job of following Hillary's speech for unity from last night, and Joe Biden, whose role will be to tear into John McCain as Barack Obama's running mate.

Obama In Montana Today
Barack Obama is campaigning today in Billings, Montana, a state that has been improbably brought into contention this election season.

McCain Off The Trail Today
John McCain does not have any announced public events for today.

NYT: Obama Camp Falling Short Of Fundraising Goals
The New York Times reports that the Obama campaign's fundraising totals, while impressive, are not enough to truly make it worth the time and effort he has to spend on fundraising in order to make up for the public money he has foregone. A source of the problem: Anemic fundraising from former Hillary Clinton donors, who only give about $4 million in June and July.

Don Young Just Barely Ahead In Alaska Primary
After a close vote count all night long, scandal-plagued GOP Rep. Don Young of Alaska seems to be just barely fending off primary challenger Sean Parnell -- which would drastically raise the Dems' chances of winning this seat in a deep-red state. With 97.9% of precincts reporting, Young is ahead by 145 votes out of nearly 85,000 between the two of them, and only nine precincts have yet to report.

Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida
A new poll of Florida from Strategic Vision (R) gives John McCain a 49%-42% lead in this big swing state. Recent polls have all given McCain the edge here, though his lead in this poll is a bit bigger than in the others.

Poll: Freshman Dem Faces Tight Race In Deep-Red District
A new SurveyUSA poll shows freshman Dem Congressman Chris Carney, who won his rural Pennsylvania district in 2006 thanks to the incumbent's scandals, is in a very tight race against his Republican opponent. Carney has 49% against GOP nominee Chris Hackett's 45%, within the ±4% margin of error.

If you've been watching cable news today, you've seen pundit after pundit hyping the division between the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But the prize for desperate pimping of the Dem-division meme goes to Chris Matthews, who literally asked a Hillary-land insider to reveal her secret scheme for "restoration of the Clinton presidency."

Matthews, who was grilling longtime Hillary aide Lisa Caputo, actually asked:

"What is the current Clinton plan to regain the White House for the family? I mean, if Barack Obama wins this general election, he will no doubt be renominated by the Democratic party in four years -- how can the Clintons get back the White House if Barack does win?"

Caputo was so taken aback by the question that she got flummoxed on the air and laughed: "Oh Chris, how can you ask that question, for God's sake?"

A deflated Matthews rejoined: "So there's no more plan for a Clinton restoration, of a Clinton presidency? I'm serious. Why are you laughing?"

So many reasons, Chris, so many reasons. . .

Former Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson appears to officially confirm, on the record, that there's a real rift between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, writing openly about it in The New Republic today:

There is still work to do on the Bill Clinton front. He feels like the Obama campaign ran against and systematically dismissed his administration's accomplishments. And he feels like he was painted as a racist during the primary process.

Wolfson even goes out of his way to suggest what Obama should do to make Bill feel better:

Senator Obama would go a long way towards healing these wounds if he were to specifically praise the accomplishments of the Clinton presidency in a line or two during his speech on Thursday. That should be painless -- he isn't running against the Clinton legacy anymore, and it would probably be a good idea to remind voters that the last time Democrats were in charge of the White House, we had peace and prosperity. Similarly, he could thank President Clinton for all of the work he did throughout his life to bridge the divides in our country. This is a cause near and dear to the president's heart.

President Clinton has his part to play as well. He needs to offer a strong argument in favor of Barack Obama's candidacy on Wednesday night, and remind everyone why he is one of the most gifted campaigners in our generation between now and November.

What both Clintons say about Senator Obama -- and what Senator Obama says about both of them during this week--can go a long way towards tamping down whatever disunity still exists between the two camps and their supporters.

The Politico reported today on the rift, but senior Hillary adviser Maggie Williams and top Obama adviser David Axelrod issued a joint statement today describing the story as "rumor."

Yet Wolfson, a top Hillaryland insider, appears to be confirming such a rift, at least over two things in particular: Allegations of racism lodged against Bill during the primary, and the Obama campaign's insufficient attention to Bill's accomplishments as President.

Full Obama-Clinton statement after the jump.

Read more »

The DNC's committee for the convention announces the dates of two key speakers at the big event: Michelle Obama, and Hillary. From the release:

Monday August 25th's headline prime-time speaker will be Michelle Obama.

Senator Hillary Clinton, who is a champion for working families and one of the most effective and empathetic voices in the country today, will be the headline prime-time speaker on Tuesday August 26th.

The headline prime-time speaker on Wednesday August 27th will be Barack Obama's Vice Presidential nominee.

Not that this was in any doubt at all, but this would appear to confirm that Hillary is definitely not Veep. Reports have it that Bill will speak on Wednesday, too.

The New York Times has the details from unnamed Democrats:

Yes, Bill Clinton will have a role at the Democratic convention.

After a curious week of back-and-forth between the Obama and Clinton worlds, the former president was offered an invitation to speak on the second-to-last night of the party's convention in Denver. He will take the stage on Aug. 27, three Democratic senior officials said, before the address by the party's vice-presidential nominee.

The offer was extended by the Obama campaign on Thursday to Mr. Clinton, who accepted it.

So with Mrs. Clinton speaking on Aug. 26, followed by her husband, the Obama campaign is giving two nights of prime time coverage to the Clinton family.

Look for Bill's speech to be scrutinized endlessly by people searching for whatever hint of insufficient enthusiasm about Obama they can find.

Bill Clinton took a bit of heat for supposedly refusing to say in an interview the other day that Obama was ready to be president...

The former president said he would not divulge his full thoughts on the campaign until after the election, and also stopped short of saying that Obama was currently ready to be president.

"You can argue that nobody is ready to be president. I certainly learned a lot about the job in the first year," Clinton said.

But today, speaking to reporters on his campaign plane, Obama himself appeared to let Bill slide...

Obama also spoke with President Clinton this week. "He was very supportive. I thought he showed extraordinary restraint in a fairly provocative interview while he was on his trip."

Honestly, I don't really get why Bill's comments were even remotely controversial. After all, Bill also said this in the interview:

"He clearly can inspire and motivate people and energize them which is a very important part of being president. And he's smart as a whip so there's nothing he can't learn."

"There's nothing he can't learn." Even putting that aside, Bill's framing was obviously pro-Obama, in the sense that he was discounting the argument that experience can really prepare you for the job. That's McCain's argument -- that the more experience you have, the better prepared you are to be president.

Separately, Obama also denied today there was any friction between the Obama and Hillary camps over her role at the convention, saying discussions were going "seamlessly."

Report: Hillary's Biggest VP Impediment Is Bill
Jill Iscol, a donor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, told the Los Angeles Times that Barack Obama personally told her that Hillary Clinton was under consideration for vice president, but Bill Clinton's presence makes things "complicated." He said once you're a president, even if you're a former president, you're always a president," Iscol said.

Report: Hagel, Reed To Join Obama For Iraq Trip
Multiple news outlets have now reported that Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, the Nebraska conservative who has turned vocally against the Iraq War, will be accompanying Barack Obama on his upcoming trip to Iraq. Also along for the trip will be Sen. Jack Reed, a Dem point man on foreign policy, but Hagel's presence is far more interesting -- might he become a mirror image of Joe Liebemran, crossing party lines to support the Dem for president?

Both Nominees Taking The Day Off
Both presidential candidates are taking the day off today. Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain have any public events scheduled.

Sebelius Not Denying VP Talk
In an interview with CQ, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius said that was not ever vetted for the vice presidency by John Kerry's team in 2004 -- but did not make the same statement about the Obama campaign this year. "Any discussion about this process is being done by the campaign itself," Sebelius said.

German Pol: Obama Shouldn't Speak At Brandenburg Gate
The leader of Bavaria's conservative party says Barack Obama shouldn't speak at the Brandenburg Gate, and accused the leftist foreign minister of pandering to the candidate. "Obama didn't do anything for German unification," Erwin Huber told the newspaper Welt am Sonntag. "That's not a criticism, but as a result there is no reason to grant him such a privilege."

Poll: Obama Leads In Missouri
A new Research 2000 poll in Missouri gives Barack Obama a 48%-43% lead in this swing state, with a ±3.5% margin of error. Most recent polls have given McCain the lead here, but the pollster's analysis in this case indicates that economic insecurity is increasingly driving voters into the Democratic column.

Possible Spoiler Candidate Files In Louisiana District
Some bad news for House Dems: Louisiana state Sen. Michael Jackson, who lost the special election Democratic primary to Rep. Don Cazayoux in a conservative district this spring, has filed to run in November as an independent. Jackson could potentially pick up African-American voters who might otherwise go for Cazayoux, thus splitting the vote in favor of the Republican in a district that Democrats just picked up.

Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton:

"Senator Obama had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign. He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come."

Cue up pundits telling us what a liability Bill will be to Obama...

Late Update: Apparently Obama skipped Maureen Dowd's column yesterday saying that Bill is trying to undermine Obama.

Late Late Update: Here's the statement from Bill's office:

President Clinton had a very good conversation with Senator Obama today. He renewed his offer to do whatever he can to ensure Senator Obama is our next President.

President Clinton continues to be impressed by Senator Obama and the campaign he has run, and looks forward to campaigning for and with him in the months to come. The President believes that Senator Obama has been a great inspiration for millions of people around the country, and he knows that he will bring the change America needs as our next President.

Obama To Show Missouri A Patriotism Speech
Barack Obama will be at the Harry Truman Memorial Building in Independence, Missouri, where he will deliver a speech this morning on "what patriotism means to him and what it requires of all Americans who loves this country and want to see it do better," according to the campaign's morning e-mail to reporters. The event is clearly a key move to answer the McCain's recent push to tie every issue to the idea of patriotism, and the notion that McCain is a more loyal American. The doors open for the event at 10 a.m. ET.

John McCain In Pennsylvania Today
John McCain will be spending his time today in Pennsylvania, a major swing state that has not voted Republican for president since it went to George H.W. Bush in 1988, but where McCain is hoping to win working-class voters. McCain will be greeting supporters in Allentown, and then touring a sheet metal factory in Pipersville.

McCauliffe: Obama And Bill Clinton Will Talk Soon
Terry McAuliffe told CNN yesterday that Barack Obama and Bill Clinton will finally talk to each other some time soon, and that Bill will be ready to campaign for Obama soon. "I believe that in the next 24 to 48 hours they will talk and off we will go," McAuliffe said.

McCain Camp: Obama Should Condemn Clark's Comments
John McCain's campaign is demanding that the Obama camp condemn remarks yesterday by Gen. Wesley Clark on CBS' Face The Nation, in which Clark said that McCain's having been shot down in Vietnam was not a qualification to be president. "If Barack Obama wants to question John McCain's service to his country, he should have the guts to do it himself and not hide behind his campaign surrogates," said retired Adm. Leighton Smith in a McCain campaign press release.

Poll: Dead Heat In Virginia
A new SurveyUSA poll of Virginia shows Barack Obama with a statistically insignificant lead of 49%-47%, with a ±4% margin of error. A little over a month ago, Obama had a 49%-42% lead. The vice presidential match-ups also show that Gov. Tim Kaine would not affect the margins, and that Sen. Jim Webb would potentially bring a net three points to the Dem ticket.

Poll: McCain Up By Ten In Georgia
A new Rasmussen poll of Georgia gives John McCain a 53%-43% lead, outside the ±4% margin of error. This is contrary to a recent InsiderAdvantage poll that gave John McCain only a one-point lead, and had native son Bob Barr's presence on the ballot significantly affecting the race. In this Rasmussen poll, Barr only gets one percent.

When you write an item about leading Hillary supporter Ed Rendell, you are required to describe him as "blunt." And here is Rendell again, being, well, blunt about Bill Clinton's alleged hard feelings towards Obama...

Bill has to "get over it," and "shake it off," Rendell says. Did someone say he's blunt?

Ben Smith noted yesterday that Obama's campaign has harmed Bill in some ways, because Obama has run an implicit campaign against his presidency. That said, who the heck knows if Bill is really "miffed" with Obama, as everyone keeps saying; the original report that got this going is based only on the word of an anonymous Democrat who supposedly spoke to Bill.

I don't know if Bill is "miffed" or not. He very well may be, and if he is in fact "miffed," Rendell is right; he should get over it. Either way, it has now become true that Bill is "miffed," and there will be no changing that, ever.

Bill Clinton's office, responding to lots of chatter in political circles about why he hasn't yet endorsed Barack Obama, releases a terse statement:

"President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next President of the United States."

It's not exactly an appearance with Obama at a rally in Unity, New Hampshire -- but it's an endorsement nonetheless.

If Obama advisers were upset with the Clintons' conduct during the primary -- especially that of Bill Clinton -- it's not getting in the way of a larger reality: They know they'll need party unity for the general election, and are hoping to have as much help as possible from them.

Barack Obama's top strategist David Axelrod told Fox News that he expects to see Hillary Clinton hitting the trail for Obama. "We hope so," said Axelrod. "We expect so, based on what she said publicly. But this has been an unbelievably grueling process and she deserves some time to chill out."

As for Bill: "Bill Clinton was very successful, and is a very smart guy, so I think beyond the campaigning elements of it, you know he's somebody who I think Obama would want to have a relationship with. He's got a storehouse of knowledge that very few people have."

Bill Clinton has taken another step in the Hillary campaign's arguments about the Democratic popular vote, bluntly telling a crowd in Puerto Rico that super-delegates and the party as a whole will have to judge just how much caucuses should matter.

"And the party will have to decide whether they believe the caucuses -- where you get about one delegate for 2000 votes -- are more important than the primaries where you get one for 12,000," Bill told the crowd.

This is on top of a line from Hillary's new letter to super-delegates, in which she predicted that by the time this race is over, she will have won more pledged delegates from primaries -- a subtle message that Obama's victories in caucus states are illusory as far as how much support they truly represent for him.

Although Bill Clinton's remarks throughout the campaign have been the object of some controversy, that isn't slowing him down. Bill is doing his best to get out on the trail as much as possible -- and according to the Wall St. Journal is as responsible as anyone else for the campaign's harsh tone:

Mr. Clinton has placed several of his own aides at headquarters, including his former lawyer and a bevy of strategists. Known as a bad loser, Mr. Clinton privately buttresses his wife's drive to push on, telling her, according to aides: "We're not quitters."

On his own daily message calls, advisers say, he implores: "We've got to take him on every time." At the Clintons' Washington, D.C., home recently, these people say, he reviewed possible TV spots and told ad makers to be more hard-hitting, faster and harsher.

Bill Clinton is now coming under fire from House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), for his recent accusation that the Obama campaign had long planned to play the race card against him.

Clyburn characterized the former president's behavior throughout this campaign as "bizarre," and said that there is now a nearly-unanimous view among African-Americans that the Clintons are "committed to doing everything they possibly can to damage Obama to a point that he could never win."

"When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar," Clyburn said. "I think black folks feel strongly that that this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation."

Clyburn has not publicly endorsed in the Democratic race.

In a further indication of just how perturbed Bill Clinton has been with this campaign, Bill made the following accusation against the Obama camp on a local Philadelphia radio show yesterday: "I think that they played the race card on me. We now know, from memos from the campaign that they planned to do it along."

It's not entirely clear what "memos" Bill might be referring to. The closest such memo in existence is one the Obama campaign put out a while ago, accusing the Clinton people of playing the race card on various occasions.

After the interview had officially ended, but while his microphone was still on, Bill upped the ante: "I don't think I should take any shit from anybody on that, do you?"

Late Update: Bill is now denying that he made this accusation, despite the widespread publication online of the audio from yesterday.

During a campaign event in Pennsylvania, Bill Clinton said that Hillary has done better with older voters because they are too smart to be fooled by Barack Obama and his aspersions on Bill's record.

"I think there is a big reason there's an age difference in a lot of these polls," said Bill. "Because once you've reached a certain age, you won't sit there and listen to somebody tell you there's really no difference between what happened in the Bush years and the Clinton years; that there's not much difference in how small-town Pennsylvania fared when I was president, and in this decade."

During a campaign stop today in Indiana, Bill Clinton defended his wife's reputation on the Bosnia flap, claiming it was all a product of a misstatement at 11 p.m.

"This is a big deal to her," Bill said. "Some of you may have seen that she took a terrible beating in the press for a few days because, she was exhausted at 11 o'clock at night and she started talking about Bosnia and she misstated the circumstances under which she landed in Bosnia. Did you all see all that?"

"And, oh, they acted like she was practically Mata Hari, you know? Just making up all this stuff," he added, then going on to describe just how dangerous a place Bosnia was.

Sleep deprivation doesn't completely explain Hillary's series of comments. But either way, the Clinton camp might still not be too happy having the story pushed back into the headlines.

Speaking last night to volunteers in the Texas district conventions, Bill Clinton used perhaps the most blunt dismissal of caucus losses that we've yet seen — and seemingly setting up a scenario in which the Clinton campaign could lose even the aggregate popular vote, but justify battling on by way of only looking at the popular votes from primary states.

"Right now, among all the primary states, believe it or not, Hillary's only 16 votes behind in pledged delegates," said Bill, "and she's gonna wind up with the lead in the popular vote in the primary states. She's gonna wind up with the lead in the delegates."

During an appearance with Philadelphia-based conservative talk-radio host Michael Smerconnish, Barack Obama mounted a defense of Jeremiah Wright's accomplishments, despite some areas of disagreement. And on top of that, he managed to get in a reminder of some of Bill Clinton's personal problems in the 1990s.

"Understand this," Obama said, "something else that has not been reported on enough is despite these very offensive views, this guy has built one of the finest churches in Chicago. This is not a crackpot church.

"Witness the fact that Bill Clinton invited him to the White House when he was having his personal crises. This is a pillar of the community and if you go there on Easter on this Easter Sunday and you sat down there in the pew you would think this is just like any other church."

Both campaigns are working to register voters as Democrats for Pennsylvania's closed primary by tomorrow's deadline, so an appearance on Smerconnish's show would make sense in the Obama campaign's efforts to recruit independents and crossover Republicans.

During his appearance this morning on Fox News Sunday, Bill Richardson attempted to dial back the negativity in the Democratic race, rejecting the accusation by retired Air Force Gen. Tony McPeak that Bill Clinton was engaging in McCarthyism against Barack Obama.

"I don't believe President Clinton was implying that," the former Clinton cabinet member Richardson said of the allegation that Bill Clinton was questioning Obama's patriotism.

On the other hand, Richardson strongly responded to James Carville's comparison of Richardson endorsing Obama to Judas Iscariot selling out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. "I'm not going to get in the gutter like that," Richardson said. "And you know, that's typical of many of the people around Senator Clinton. They think they have a sense of entitlement to the presidency."

At an Obama event in Oregon today, retired Gen. Tony McPeak compared Bill Clinton to Joe McCarthy, over Bill's remarks yesterday that a Hillary vs. McCain race would be a contest between "two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country ... instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."

Many Obama supporters have interpreted Bill's comments as a subtle slam on their candidate's patriotism. "I grew up, I was going to college when Joe McCarthy was accusing good Americans of being traitors, so I've had enough of it," McPeak said, as he stood on the stage with Obama.

The Hillary camp slammed McPeak and demanded a retraction from the Obama team. "I think most Democrats were shocked to learn that a two-term Democratic president was compared to Joseph McCarthy," said spokesman Howard Wolfson.

The Obama camp isn't backing down, though, and they've sent out a memo containing numerous examples of Bill Clinton or his aides attacking the Republicans as McCarthyists throughout the 1990s.