The new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll is out, and it finds that McCain's barrage of "celeb" ads and smears on Obama's alleged lack of patriotism has worked to produce a dead-heat:

Barack Obama's public image has eroded this summer amid a daily onslaught of attacks from Republican rival John McCain, leaving the race for the White House statistically tied, according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll released today.

Far more voters say McCain has the right experience to be president, the poll found. More than a third have questions about Obama's patriotism.

Obama is leading McCain 45%-43%, within the poll's margin of error. In June, an LA Times poll found Obama up by 12, though other polls found a tighter race.

The poll also finds a noticeable erosion in Obama's favorability ratings:

Obama's favorable rating has sunk to 48% from 59% since the last Times/Bloomberg poll in June. At the same time, his negative rating has risen to 35% from 27%.

Meanwhile, the results are a bit mixed on whether McCain's attacks on Obama's commander in chief readiness have worked. On the one hand, the poll found that 63% of voters have confidence in Obama's ability to deal wisely with an international crisis, which is certainly solid and not far behind the 77% who feel that way about McCain.

On the other hand...

Nearly half of voters say Obama lacks the right experience to be president, while 14% feel that way about McCain.

There is some good news in the poll for Obama. McCain faces some serious problems: Obama's leading on the economy, which is the most important issue to voters; McCain's supporters are less enthusiastic than Obama's; and independents are leaning towards Obama.

The McCain campaign keeps the "celeb" sneer attack ad campaign going with this new Spanish-language radio ad that tweaks the main theme a bit: "Fame must be grand for Barack Obama. But is he ready to lead in tough economic times?"

The ad also lays it on thick with the "grand" crack, adding that Obama has a "grand history of raising taxes." As in, dahling, you're so grand.

The ad, which translates "grand" as "fabulosa," is running in Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. Full script after the jump.

Read more »

One thing that frequently gets this blog in a funk is the rather astonishing ability of some pundits to see questionable or even reprehensible political behavior on the part of McCain and his top advisers as a sign of good character on his part.

Today David Brooks offers a classic of this genre, lamenting about how sad it is that McCain has been forced by external events -- and Obama's stubborn refusal to agree to a debate framework entirely on McCain's terms -- to run the negative campaign he never wanted to:

When McCain and his team set out to win the presidency in 2008, they hoped to run a campaign with this sort of spirit. McCain would venture forth on the back of his bus, going places other Republicans don't go, saying things politicians don't say, offering the country the vision of a different kind of politics -- free of circus antics -- in which serious people sacrifice for serious things.

It hasn't turned out that way. McCain hasn't been able to run the campaign he had envisioned. Instead, he and his staff have been given an education by events.

Can someone pass me a hankie? It's...it's...so sad!

Brooks, of course, never bothers actually talking about McCain's negative campaigning with any specificity, and needless to say, he certainly never gets around to passing judgment on his tactics. Because in the narrative Brooks -- and certain select other pundits -- have built, McCain is exonerated in advance for any and every political tactic he employs, because he supposedly never wanted to do it in the first place.

But Brooks adds a new twist to this narrative: "The man who hopes to inspire a new generation of Americans now attacks Obama daily," he writes. "It is the only way he can get the networks to pay attention."

Yes, the "celeb" sneer ads; McCain's willingness to accuse Obama almost daily of being willing to lose a war to avoid losing a political campaign; the McCain campaign's endorsement of Joe Lieberman's claim that Obama hasn't always put his country first -- all this is just the media's fault.

Update: A typically sharp take on this from Ed Kilgore.

There's been a ton of buzz on the web for the last day or so -- beginning with this Daily Kos diary -- suggesting that John McCain patterned his story about a Vietamese captor drawing a cross in the dirt before him on a similar episode from Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn's time in the Soviet gulags.

But it turns out that this episode probably never happened to Solzhenitsyn at all, and according to a Solzhenitsyn biographer it appears nowhere in his published writing. Columbia University professor Michael Scammell, the author of Solzhenitsyn: A Biography, says the episode "never happened," and didn't appear in Solzhenitsyn's book, Gulag Archipelago, either.

This only solves a piece of the mystery, but it's a key piece. It doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility that McCain or his biographer, Mark Salter, picked up the tale that this happened to Solzhenitsyn elsewhere and embellished it for their own purposes.

But it takes one well-trafficked theory off the table: That McCain, a fan of Solzhenitsyn, picked it up straight from his works. More broadly, it also skewers once and for all the cherished right-wing falsehood that this happened to Solzhenitsyn at all.

Read more »

We've just learned that MoveOn is about to sink half a million dollars into a huge ad buy in North Carolina linking Elizabeth Dole, who's facing a tough re-election fight, to John McCain and Big Oil.

Here's a first look at MoveOn's spot, which will run statewide starting tomorrow night:

The ad, which highlights GOP support for tax breaks for oil companies, will be released sometime today in honor of McCain's high-profile trip to an oil rig.

It's likely that the spot foreshadows more ads from MoveOn linking GOP Senate incumbents to Big Oil and McCain. Though some polls show public preference for McCain's position on drilling, MoveOn and Dems believe that hammering away at the links between the GOP and the big oil companies can change the conversation in their favor.

Barack Obama is giving his speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars right now. With some Dems questioning whether he's hitting back hard enough against John McCain's attacks, Obama went out of his way to directly confront McCain's claim that he would rather lose a war than lose an election.

From the prepared remarks:

But one of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can't disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism. I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest. Now, it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.

Let me be clear: I will let no one question my love of this country. I love America, so do you, and so does John McCain. When I look out at this audience, I see people of different political views. You are Democrats and Republicans and Independents. But you all served together, and fought together, and bled together under the same proud flag. You did not serve a Red America or a Blue America -- you served the United States of America.

So let's have a serious debate, and let's debate our disagreements on the merits of policy -- not personal attacks. And no matter how heated it gets or what kind of campaign he chooses to run, I will honor Senator McCain's service, just like I honor the service of every veteran in this room, and every American who has worn the uniform of the United States.

Obama declared that it's time for McCain to "acknowledge" that Obama genuinely wants to serve America's national interest. It'll be interesting to see what McCain says if and when he's asked directly by reporters whether he's prepared to acknowledge this -- and how hard the national press corps will grill him for a direct answer to the question.

Keep in mind that the McCain campaign endorsed Joe Lieberman's claim that Obama hasn't always put his country first. Obama's full speech after the jump.

Late Update: Here's video:

Read more »

A new Quinnipiac poll finds that Barack Obama's national lead over John McCan has shrunk from nine to five points -- and it also suggests that McCain's playacting of commander in chief during the Russia-Georgia crisis may have paid off.

Here are the numbers, compared to mid-July:

Obama 47% (50%)

McCain 42% (41%)

The poll also finds McCain has a substantial edge on who voters think is best qualified to deal with the Russia crisis, 55%-27% -- suggesting that McCain had success with his efforts to brand himself as the leadership figure during the crisis by dispatching campaign allies to the region and generally filling the airwaves with a lot of tough talk.

Indeed, almost a third of Democrats, and 55% of independents, prefer McCain to Obama on Russia. Of course, it's unclear how much of an issue the Russia crisis will be in the fall campaign.

Separately, the poll finds that Obama is holding on to his commanding lead among women, younger voters, and blacks, while McCain's lead among men and whites has edged up slightly. Full poll here.

In the latest veepstakes development, the Politico reports that John McCain is likely to announce his running-mate pick on August 29 -- the day immediately after Barack Obama officially accepts the Democratic nomination in Denver.

If this pans out, it could really cut one of two ways: McCain's pick could have to share media time with the post-game coverage of Obama's speech, and thus lose some of the bump that often comes with VP coverage. Or it could work to McCain's advantage and completely overshadow the post-Denver coverage, thus depriving Obama of his own post-convention bump.

The McCain campaign has outspent the Obama camp by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in some cases by as much as a million dollars or more, in virtually all of the dozen battleground states where both campaigns are up on the air, according to a firm that tracks national advertising.

Evan Tracey, the chief operating officer of TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, confirmed to us in response to our questions that McCain's campaign has racked up a huge ad spending advantage in what he called "traditional battleground states," the states that both campaigns are sinking cash into.

McCain is advertising heavily in 12 traditional battlegrounds; Obama is advertising in those same 12 plus roughly seven more; and McCain holds a heavy advantage in virtually all the 12 shared states.

The comparison is significant, and in one sense it lends comfort to Obama, because McCain has not been able to pull ahead in those states despite vastly outspending him in them. But the flip-side of this is that Obama has not been able to make significant enough headway in many of the seven states where Obama has the airwaves to himself.

Here's the comparison of the two camps' spending on ads up to the present in the 12 states where both are up on the air, according to Tracey:

Iowa: McCain has spent roughly $700,000 more than Obama.

Missouri: McCain has spent roughly half a million more than Obama.

Ohio: McCain has spent approximately one million more than Obama.

Pennsylvania: McCain has spent roughly a million and a half more than Obama.

Michigan: McCain has outspent Obama by about a million dollars.

New Hampshire: Spending is about even.

New Mexico: McCain has spent approximately $300,000 more, and has outspent Obama by roughly two to one.

Nevada: McCain has outspent Obama by $800,000, also roughly two to one.

Missouri: McCain has spent $500,000 more than Obama.

Virginia: Obama has spent a million more than McCain, largely because Obama is advertising statewide while McCain is only up in a small part of the north.

Wisconsin: McCain has spent roughly a half million more than Obama.

North Dakota: Obama has outspent McCain by around $170,000.

The reason for this is partly that both campaigns are spending at roughly the same rate overall, but Obama is spread thinner and is spending in more states. Tracey says that the campaigns are both spending between $1 million and $1.6 million a day overall.

Meanwhile, Obama is up on the air in all of McCain's states, but also in Indiana, Alaska, Montana, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and southern Virginia.

"There are two ways to look at this," Tracey says. On the one hand, Obama is pouring significant resources into seven states where McCain is spending nothing at all, and hasn't necessarily gained enough in those states to show for it.

But Tracey adds that the spending disparity in the core battlegrounds also bodes well for Obama in some ways. "The concern for McCain is that he's outspending Obama" in the more traditional battlegrounds at a rate "that's not going to be sustainable," he says. "But he's not building any real leads in these states."

The Obama campaign may be banking on the fact that with enough spending in non-traditional states they can eventually force the McCain campaign to broaden the number of states they're spending in, making it tougher for the McCain team to keep pace with Obama's spending advantage this fall.

Late Update: Some of you rightly note that Colorado isn't on the list even though both campaigns are advertising there. We'll bring you word on Colorado's spending disparity as soon as we get it.

Separately, it's worth pointing out that the total list where both are up is still 12, even including Colorado. That's because Virginia shouldn't really be on the list, because McCain's advertising is very limited there regionally.

Late Update: We inadvertently left Colorado and Michigan off the list of states where both are advertising; they've now both been added, above. Also, North Dakota was accidentally described as a state where Obama is advertising solo; in fact, both campaigns are up on the air there.

Finally, we initially said that there are 11 states where both are up on the air; it's in fact 12 states, not counting Virginia, which is a special case because McCain is only up in a small northern corner of the state in order to access the D.C. market. Obama is up statewide there.

Early on in the general election, the McCain campaign announced to great fanfare that they were going to make an all-out effort to pursue the female vote and win over disaffected Hillary supporters.

Since then, Obama advisers have been very sensitive about stories saying he is struggling among women. And today, Dana Singiser, Obama's senior advisor for the women's vote, uncorked a detailed and extensive memo making the case that McCain's the candidate struggling with the female vote. It asks: "Does McCain have a Woman Problem?"

Despite his campaign's outreach efforts, McCain's attempt to bridge the gender gap has fallen flat. He fares worse among women than any presidential candidate since Bob Dole in 1996. In the August 13 Pew Poll, Obama holds a 51-38 lead among women over McCain. In the August Time Magazine poll, Obama leads 49-39.

McCain's share of the women's vote is considerably below the 48% George W. Bush won in 2004 or the 43% he earned in 2000. Indeed, if McCain dips even a little, he is at risk of falling below Bob Dole's 38% share of women's vote in 1996, which is the lowest share of any major part candidate in the last 36 years. More than half the female electorate (53%) holds mostly positive views of Obama, while only 37% feel mostly favorable toward McCain.

Part of the idea here might be to try to get a "McCain's women problem" media drumbeat going, much as opinion-makers have been quick to jump all over Obama's alleged problems with working class voters and with Hillary supporters. (We're waiting...)

The jury is still out, however, on the question of whether female subgroups are holding Obama back in key battleground states. For instance, whatever advantages he may have among the national female vote, the latest Public Policy Polling survey finds that McCain is dead even with Obama in Ohio in part because of the reluctance of middle-aged white females to back the Illinois Senator.

For the hard-core junkies among you, the full memo is after the jump.

Read more »

An interesting factoid buried in this Associated Press article:

Recognizing an opportunity, Obama has opened more offices in rural areas than any other Democratic presidential candidate in years, pushing a message focused on job creation.

The fact that Obama has opened up more offices in rural areas than many past Dems could partly reflect how well funded he is, as well as his broader 49-state strategy. But it's noteworthy in light of everything we keep reading about his alleged troubles with these voters.

Indeed, AP says Obama has an opportunity here. While Bush carried 60% of the rural vote in 2004, an AP poll in June found that McCain isn't doing as well, winning rural voters over Obama 40%-34% (also suggesting a large undecided bloc there).

Anyway, the story of Obama's rural outreach seems worth fleshing out. We'll bring you more when we get it.

A nice catch from Steve Benen: When top McCain surrogate Bobby Jindal, who's been discussed as a Veep possibility, was asked by NBC's David Gregory what "big idea" is at the heart of McCain's campaign, Jindal pulled a homina homina homina, citing McCain's energy policy...

In response to the "big idea" question, Jindal said: "I think there's several, but certainly when it comes to domestic issues, he understands the energy crisis is probably the biggest economic obstacle we face..." That doesn't count as a big new original idea.

When pressed again by Gregory for any "big idea," Jindal again filibustered by talking about McCain's energy policy, suggesting that McCain would battle Washington "gridlock." That doesn't count as a big new original idea, either, needless to say.

Late Update: It looks like Think Progress' Faiz Shakir was the first one to flag this. Apologies.

Here's the response from Obama spokesperson Bill Burton to McCain's attack today proclaiming that Obama wants us to lose in Iraq out of "ambition":

"All his bluster, distortions and negative attacks notwithstanding, it is hard to understand how Senator McCain can at once proclaim his support for the sovereign government of Iraq, and then stubbornly defy their expressed support for a timeline to remove our combat brigades from their country. The difference in this race is that John McCain is intent on spending $10 billion a month on an open-ended war, while Barack Obama thinks we should bring this war to a responsible end and invest in our pressing needs here at home."

The idea that McCain's Iraq policies are directly at odds with what the Iraqi government wants has gotten scattered mention by Team Obama in statements and ads. Perhaps this is the start of a renewed effort to push it for all it's worth.

A bunch of folks have pointed out already that yesterday's long New York Times piece on John McCain's response to 9/11 is really, really good.

With McCain today questioning Obama's judgment on Iraq, this nugget from the Times piece is really worth flagging -- it highlights very vividly just how eager McCain was to go to war with Iraq in the days after the terror attacks:

Within hours, Mr. McCain, the Vietnam War hero and famed straight talker of the 2000 Republican primary, had taken on a new role: the leading advocate of taking the American retaliation against Al Qaeda far beyond Afghanistan. In a marathon of television and radio appearances, Mr. McCain recited a short list of other countries said to support terrorism, invariably including Iraq, Iran and Syria...

Within a month he made clear his priority. "Very obviously Iraq is the first country," he declared on CNN. By Jan. 2, Mr. McCain was on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea, yelling to a crowd of sailors and airmen: "Next up, Baghdad!"

Recall that a key McCain campaign message is that he hates war and that he, unlike the man he would replace, knows its costs and approaches it with great reluctance. In that context, video of this moment referenced by The Times would be gold.

John McCain is ratcheting up his attacks on Obama over Iraq in a speech this morning, declaring flatly that Obama wants the U.S. to fail in Iraq because of "ambition."

In the speech, which is going on now, McCain accuses Obama of having tried to "legislate failure" in Iraq. He adds his familiar charge that Obama would rather lose the war than lose the election, and declares that Obama's desire to lose in Iraq is motivated by nothing but his desire to be president:

Senator Obama still cannot quite bring himself to admit his own failure in judgment. Nor has he been willing to heed the guidance of General Petraeus, or to listen to our troops on the ground when they say -- as they have said to me on my trips to Iraq: "Let us win, just let us win." Instead, Senator Obama commits the greater error of insisting that even in hindsight, he would oppose the surge. Even in retrospect, he would choose the path of retreat and failure for America over the path of success and victory. In short, both candidates in this election pledge to end this war and bring our troops home. The great difference is that I intend to win it first.

Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president. What's less apparent is the judgment to be commander in chief. And in matters of national security, good judgment will be at a premium in the term of the next president -- as we were all reminded ten days ago by events in the nation of Georgia.

Here you have the Roveian strategy at its most naked: Keep repeating that your opponent's strong point -- his judgment in opposing the war, something that majorities agree was a bad idea -- is a negative.

Also, it bears repeating that here McCain is basically accusing Obama of treason. Full speech after the jump.

Late Update: The Obama camp responds.

Read more »

A number of you have already chewed over the new poll from Public Policy Polling that finds McCain has pulled even with Obama in Ohio.

The survey finds the two in an absolute dead heat, with 45% apiece, with 10% undecided. McCain had trailed in the state in two previous Public Policy polls.

The pollsters say that McCain's gains are fueled by the fact that he's actually doing better among Republicans (89%-7%) than Obama is among Dems (75%-17%). That's largely because middle-aged white females are neglecting to choose Obama, "an indication that it could be former supporters of Hillary Clinton who are holding out.

One caveat, however: The poll finds that Obama is winning only 80% of black voters, a finding that's out of line with some other surveys.

Dem Party leaders call on Obama to run sharper race on economy
Some leading Dems, worried that the race against McCain looks tougher than they imagined, want Obama to sharpen his economic message and convert his popularity into a stronger sense among voters that he will improve their lives in concrete ways. "It's fine to tell people about hope and change," says Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio, "but you have to have plenty of concrete, pragmatic ideas that bring hope and change to life."

Obama in Nevada today; McCain off the trail
Obama is in Reno today and will attend a fundraiser tonight in California; McCain has no public events. Hillary is campaigning for Obama today in New Mexico.

Obama: By November, people will understand that this election is "not about me"
In an interview with CBN's David Brody, Obama responded to a question about the "celeb" sneer ads with an answer that sounded a bit like an acknowledgment that right now, the election is shaping up more as a referendum on his character than on his opponent or on their respective policies. "I think ultimately the American people are going to understand by the time they go into the polling place in November that this is not an election about me," Obama said. "This an election about them."

Kaine: It's unlikely I'll be Veep
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is campaigning his heart out for Barack Obama, but he appears to have largely written off his chances of becoming Veep. "I don't have any illusions about it," Kaine said. "I don't think that's likely to happen."

Pundits: McCain won the day at Saddleback Church
Some on-air pundits say McCain was the winner last night when both men appeared at the Sddleback megachurch in Orange County, California. ABC's George Stephanopoulos said that McCain "solidified his ties to the evangelical community," while Jake Tapper said that McCain "won over this crowd" with tales about his POW captivity -- you know, the topic we keep hearing McCain is reluctant to discuss.

Obama outworking McCain in North Carolina
In yet another sign that the Obama camp is dead serious about broadening the electoral map, his campaign is vastly out-organizing McCain's in North Carolina, a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic president since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Although John Kerry lost to President Bush in this state by over 13 points -- with John Edwards on the ticket, no less -- the polling average finds Obama trailing McCain here by only around four or five points.

Bush: "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable" in the conduct of foreign policy
Displaying his typically acute self-awareness, President Bush is now reacting to the Russia-Georgia crisis thusly: "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century."

Senator Joe Biden, a top Obama surrogate who's being discussed as a potential Veep for Obama, just announced that he'll be visiting Georgia, too, in addition to key McCain surrogates Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham.

"I am going to Georgia this weekend to get the facts first-hand and to show my support for Georgia's people and its democratically-elected government," Biden said in a statement released today. "I look forward to reporting to my colleagues in the Senate and on the Foreign Relations Committee, as well as the Administration, about what I learn."

The move, which is likely to stir even more speculation about Biden's Veep chances, could play in Obama's favor. The Illinois Senator would almost certainly like one of his key foreign policy allies to visit Georgia, too, at a time when McCain is trying to usurp the commander-in-chief role with regard to the Russia-Georgia crisis by talking to the lead actors in the crisis almost daily and dispatching his own campaign allies to the region.

Late Update: Biden is going at the request of Georgia's President.

DNC Out-Raises RNC For First Time This Cycle
The Democratic National Committee has announced that they raised $27.7 million for the month of July, just edging out the RNC's $26 million, the first time this whole cycle that the usually-underfunded DNC has outdone the RNC. The DNC, including its joint committee with the Obama campaign, has $28.5 million cash on hand, bringing the Democratic total with the Obama campaign to $94.3 million -- just narrowly behind the Republicans' aggregate total of over $100 million on hand.

Obama Leaves Hawaii
Barack Obama's Hawaiian has come to an end last night, as the candidate left the islands to head back to the mainland and the campaign trail. Between now and November, it will be practically nothing but non-stop campaigning.

Obama And McCain To Appear At Saddleback Church Tonight
Barack Obama and John McCain will both be at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church tonight, where they will take questions separately from Warren on various national issues. Note that this is not a debate, in which the candidates would take questions simultaneously, though they are expected to share the stage for a brief photo opportunity. The event is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET.

Loretta Sanchez: Half Of House Dems Could Vote For Hillary At Convention
In an indication that the Democratic Convention could unintentionally give an appearance of Democratic disunity, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez of California is predicting that up to half of the House Dems could end up voting for Hillary Clinton under an open roll call. "I felt she was the most experienced and the best candidate and I still feel that way," Sanchez added -- though for the record, it should be noted that Hillary herself has said she personally plans on voting for Obama.

McCain: Western State Water Compact Should Be Reopened
John McCain may have just gotten in trouble in the key swing state of Colorado, telling The Pueblo Chieftain that the 1922 water compact among Western states should be renegotiated. Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar responded by saying Mccain's position is "absolutely wrong and would only happen over my dead body," and that Colorado should fear losing more its water resources if negotiations are opened up again.

GOP Senate Candidate: Feds Raking In Cash On The Backs Of Oil Companies
And speaking of Colorado, the campaign of Democratic Senate nominee Mark Udall is sending around this tracker audio of Republican nominee Bob Schaffer complaining that the federal government is taking too much money from the oil companies. "But because prices are soaring, the reality is the federal government is raking in a bunch of cash right now on the backs of energy producers," Schaffer says -- perhaps not the most popular message this year:

From the Obama campaign's release:

Senator Barack Obama's campaign announced today that more than 65,000 new donors contributed to the Obama campaign during the month of July, bringing the total raised for the month to over $51 million. More than 2 million people have now contributed to the campaign.

"The 65,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to fundamentally change business as usual in Washington. We are proud of the millions of volunteers and more than two million donors to the Obama campaign who will provide the backbone of our campaign to put America back on track and reject the old politics and failed Bush policies, which is all John McCain is offering," said David Plouffe, campaign manager of Obama for America.

The Obama campaign also says they now have roughly $65 million on hand.

Obama raised $52 million last month, and with the $51 million this month we can see that Obama has kept the pace of roughly $50 million a month he needs to meet his goal of raising $300 million or more.

Obama's haul is also nearly double the $27 million raised by McCain in July. The McCain campaign and Republican National Committee have roughly $100 million on hand. The DNC's numbers are expected sometime this weekend, so we'll soon be able to see how the two sides stack up against each other.

The McCain campaign outdoes itself, releasing two "celeb" sneer ads in one day, the latest being this new spot that's going up in Ohio.

It offers a creative new twist on the "celeb" theme, with a narrator opining that "maybe the applause has gone to his head"...

McCain's ad is a response to the Obama campaign's criticism of the DHL merger, which FactCheck.org says is misleading.

Separately, it's sobering to think that the "celeb" sneer, with those shots of crowds chanting Obama's name as he supposedly basks in his own adulation, could conceivably appear in just about every single McCain attack ad between now and election day.

The McCain camp clearly thinks this slow-burn defining of Obama is working. Either that, or maybe all the applause for Obama has gotten to McCain's head...

The McCain campaign has offered a novel defense against critics who hit him for offering up his wife Cindy as a contestant at a topless biker beauty pageant: He was a POW!

This whole mess started when Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, who is heading up an independent group of pro-Obama pastors -- and, by the way, officiated at Jenna Bush's wedding -- criticized McCain's remarks at the Sturgis rally: "My personal opinion, and based on my opinion of the Christian faith, that's not the type of expression a presidential candidate or anyone following the Christian faith ought to make."

The Wall St. Journal reports that McCain spokesman Brian Rogers fired back by saying that Americans "know that John McCain's faith and character were tested and forged in ways few can fathom."

The Obama campaign, eager to make it known that it's responding forcefully to the new Swift-Boating book by Jerome Corsi, is jumping on a John McCain moment today where he appeared to sidestep an opportunity to condemn the book and its multiple falsehoods about Barack Obama.

Asked by a reporter today to comment on the book, McCain said: "Gotta keep your sense of humor," before his aides whisked him away.

That prompted Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor to launch approximately a dozen tactical nukes in McCain's direction:

"The old John McCain used to boast about honorable politics, while the new John McCain finds Roveian smears funny. Honor is not a laughing matter. What does John McCain think is funny about an intolerant smear artist who called Pope John Paul II senile and claims the government lied about 9/11? McCain has said he wants to run an honorable campaign, but his belief that these smears are funny makes people question whether he now approves of the same reprehensible politics used to smear his own character eight years ago."

The point that bears repeating here is that in 2004, McCain did condemn the Swift-Boating of John Kerry, which Corsi also had a big role in. Also, McCain has claimed he wants the current campaign to be "civil."

But McCain has looked the other way when his own surrogates have questioned Obama's patriotism and American-ness, and his campaign has even endorsed these attacks. And now the same tactics that McCain condemned in 2004 are apparently just some gag that we should all have a good laugh over.

McCain campaign advisers, too, are declining to condemn the Corsi book. This morning, we asked the McCain camp if Corsi's tactics have a place in a campaign McCain himself says he hopes will remain "civil." No answer yet.

Late Update: The Associated Press reports that a McCain spokesperson is claiming that he didn't understand the question. But AP adds that the McCain campaign has no comment on -- or condemnation of -- the Corsi book.