NYT: Obama Donors Not Rushing To Relieve Hillary's Debts
The New York Times reports that many of Barack Obama's donors aren't joining in on the candidate's request to donate money to retire Hillary Clinton's campaign debt. "Not a penny for that woman. Or her husband. Or -- god forbid -- Mark Penn," one donor said -- an ironic reaction, when you consider how much Mark Penn did to help Obama win the nomination.

Obama With Hillary In New York City, McCain In Michigan
Barack Obama Will be coming to New York City tonight for a big-money fundraiser, featuring one other than Hillary Clinton -- a further step in forging an image of Democratic unity. John McCain will be in Michigan, a swing state that has not gone Republican since 1988, but where he's hoping to make inroads.

McCain Jokes About Killing Iranians
Oh, boy. John McCain was asked yesterday about a report that exports to Iran have increased in recent years, including such products as cigarettes. "Maybe that's a way of killing them," McCain joked.

Obama: No More Malia And Sasha Interviews
Barack Obama has had a change of heart regarding the media attention surrounding his daughters, after watching the recent Access Hollywood interview with his whole family. "I don't think it's healthy and it's something we'll be avoiding in the future," Obama told ABC's Good Morning America.

Dem Chances Go Up In New York House Seat
CQ has changed its rating for New York's 25th Congressional District from "No Clear Favorite" To "Leans Democrat," citing the strong fundraising and ad campaign from Democratic candidate Dan Maffei. The seat is currently held by Republican Jim Walsh, who just narrowly fended off Maffei in 2006, and is now retiring.

Mark Penn Teams Up With Bush Insider
Mark Penn has acquired an interesting new staffer at his public relations firm: Karen Hughes, a former top staffer in George W. Bush's White House. "Karen and I have had so many of the same experiences in the White House and campaigns," Penn said.

The Democratic unity-fest is set to continue this week, with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton teaming up for some big-money fundraising events on Wednesday and Thursday, the Obama campaign has announced.

The two will meet for a Wednesday evening fundraiser in New York City, followed by a Women For Obama breakfast Thursday morning in New York City.

These joint appearance, starting with their event last week in Unity, New Hampshire, and perhaps extending all the way to Election Day, are viewed as crucial steps in lining up Hillary's voters, especially older women, into Obama's column. So expect a lot of media coverage -- and parsing of just how glowing Hillary's praise of Obama is -- when they do these.

It looks like Barack Obama is taking the fight to John Mccain on immigration. In a speech today, Obama aggressively targeted the Arizona Senator on the issue, charging that McCain had been friendly to Latinos until the GOP primary forced him to abandon his previous principled stand.

Key quote:

Now, I know Senator McCain used to buck his party on immigration by fighting for comprehensive reform, and I admired him for it. But when he was running for his party's nomination, he abandoned his courageous stance, and said that he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote. Well, for eight long years, we've had a President who made all kinds of promises to Latinos on the campaign trail, but failed to live up to them in the White House, and we can't afford that anymore. We need a President who isn't going to walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform when it becomes politically unpopular.

The Obama campaign will spend the next four months targeting McCain on issues -- such as immigration -- where he earlier held a "maverick" position that he's now jettisoned in order to please the Republican base.

Full speech after the jump.

Read more »

Here at TPM we've been chronicling some of the more ridiculous reporting on the presidential election that's been produced by the Associated Press.

But now we think we've found the most Pulitzer-worthy AP effort yet. Gaze upon this headline and subhed -- the AP actually did a poll of pet owners and found that people with animals prefer McCain!

In poll of pet owners, McCain tops Obama

Pet owners find McCain with his house full of animals more appealing than the petless Obama

Yes, this is a real AP article. Now check this out from the body of the story...

From George Washington's foxhounds Drunkard and Tipsy to George W. Bush's terriers Barney and Miss Beazley, pets are a longtime presidential tradition for which the presumed Republican nominee seems well prepared, with more than a dozen.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama, on the other hand, doesn't have a pet, though he has promised his daughters a dog after the election, win or lose.

"From an image standpoint, nothing humanizes a candidate more than seeing him lovingly dote on his pet or toss a ball around on the White House lawn," says American Kennel Club spokeswoman Lisa Peterson.

An AP-Yahoo News poll found that pet owners favor McCain over Obama 42 percent to 37 percent, with dog owners particularly in McCain's corner.

"I think a person who owns a pet is a more compassionate person -- caring, giving, trustworthy. I like pet owners," said Janet Taylor of Plymouth, Mass.

We're not sure what our favorite thing is here. Is it that last quote? Is it the fact that the subhed called the Illinois Senator "petless Obama"? Is it the fact that the AP, which presumably knew at the outset that Obama was "petless" and was thus likely to score lower than McCain, conducted this poll at all?

A key new hire in Obamaland: His campaign announces that they've hired Dana Singiser, who was Hillary's director of women's outreach, to help win the female vote.

It's an important move, because the McCain campaign has already begun to work overtime to win over disaffected Hillary supporters, particularly blue collar women, and Singiser, who was also a top aide to Howard Dean in 2004, obviously knows this demographic as well as anyone.

There's no real evidence yet that this demographic is really at risk for Obama, of course. What will prevent this from changing is a successful effort by the Obama team to cut through the fog and persuade women what a McCain presidency would really mean for them -- and Singiser will be central to that campaign.

The Obama campaign is quickly striking back at the RNC's spot on energy policy, airing an ad of their own that goes after John McCain.

The ad will run in the same four swing states as the RNC's spot -- Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- and rebuts the GOP's accusation that Obama doesn't have an energy plan in two ways: Explaining what Obama's policies actually are, and tying John McCain to the unpopular President Bush.

Check it out:

"McCain and Bush support a drilling plan that won't produce a drop of oil for seven years," the announcer says. "McCain will give more tax breaks to big oil. He's voted with Bush 95% of the time."

John McCain himself is taking up the Republican charge that Barack Obama has flip-flopped on Iraq, an effort to change the dialogue on an issue that has done a lot to drag the GOP down in recent years.

Here's McCain appearing this morning on Fox News, where the hosts dutifully set up the talking points for him:

"Oh I think there's been definitely shifts in position," McCain said. "One of them is Iraq, and I will be -- wait and see what Senator Obama has to say after he returns after meeting for the first time seeking a face to face sit-down briefing from General Petraeus and visiting in over 900 days. And I'll be interested in seeing what he has to say when he returns."

WSJ: Clinton's Convention Role Still Being Negotiated
The Wall St. Journal reports that negotiations are still ongoing over a serious issue for the Democratic convention: Will Barack Obama be nominated unanimously, or will Hillary Clinton's name be put to a vote in order to not alienate her supporters? "There's nothing symbolically wrong to putting her name in," said Donna Brazile, but the danger is that an overly-enthusiastic reception would make Obama look like he hadn't unified the party.

Obama In Red State Of Georgia Today
Barack Obama will continue his efforts to win red states with a visit today to Powder Springs, Georgia, where he will hold a town hall on economic issues. Georgia used to be one of the Democratic-leaning states in the South, but has turned sharply Republican over the last six years with a GOP takeover of the governorship, both Senate seats and the state legislature.

McCain Courting Latino Voters Today
John McCain will be speaking today to the League of United Latin American Citizens convention in Washington, a part of his campaign's effort to improve the Republican Party's standing among Latino voters. "When you take the solemn stroll along that wall of black granite on the national Mall, it is hard not to notice the many names such as Rodriguez, Hernandez, and Lopez that so sadly adorn it," McCain will say, according to pre-released excerpts.

NYT: Obama Making Headway With Big-Money Donors, Too
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama's fundraising prowess is expanding beyond his small-donor base now that he's won the nomination. The campaign took in $5 million at a Hollywood fundraiser ten days ago, and last night the candidate was in Atlanta for a fundraiser that carried a minimum $2,300 ticket price.

Union Leader Challenges Obama To McCain's Town Halls
The New Hampshire Union Leader, the largest newspaper in this swing state, is joining in on John McCain's town-hall challenge to Barack Obama. "If Sen. Obama would meet the president of Iran without pre-conditions, he can surely find time to meet with Sen. McCain and New Hampshire voters," the Republican-friendly newspaper declares in this morning's editorial.

Former Clinton Spokesman Joins Fox News
Howard Wolfson, who served as Hillary Clinton's top campaign spokesman throughout her roller-coaster of a campaign, has joined Fox News as a contributor/commentator. "It's a huge audience, and it is important to have a strong, progressive voice on the network," Wolfson told the New York Times.

Terry McAuliffe was obviously one of Hillary's most aggressive and high-profile advocates during the primary, but now McAuliffe is really doing his part to help Obama get elected.

We hear McAuliffe will be the main attraction at a unity event for Obama this Thursday, along with Rep. Artur Davis, a top Obama supporter. A source forwards us the invite...

The event is meant to get lawyers and other young professionals who backed Hillary to swing behind Obama -- it's being organized by a bunch of pro-Hillary groups, such as Young Lawyers for Hillary and Young Professionals for Hillary.

Separately, today's Chicago Sun Times caught a glimpse of McAuliffe in Aspen, where he went out of his way to reassure a table-full of Obama supporters: ''We're all on the same team now! This election is too important.''

Just think: Terry McAuliffe, transformed into a lean, mean, unity machine...

This appearance by McCain at a town-hall today is just weird. Check out our highlight reel...

What's up with that giggle?

One thing that hasn't really entered the media narrative of this race is that McCain just isn't a very good candidate. We've seen a bit of this, but despite the fact that this time around the guy with the candidate skills is the Democrat, and the stiff one is the Republican, there's just no way McCain's stump struggles will ever get nearly the level of attention that Al Gore and John Kerry's deficiencies got.

Woah -- we think we're not alone in saying we didn't see this one coming.

Jim Webb -- the perfect on-paper Vice President for Obama and a target of much Veep-oriented speculation -- just put out a statement removing himself as a candidate entirely. From Webb...

"Last week I communicated to Senator Obama and his presidential campaign my firm intention to remain in the United States Senate, where I believe I am best equipped to serve the people of Virginia and this country. Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for Vice President."

We're not sure what the back-story is here, but we're def going to try to find out. Webb's full statement after the jump.

Read more »

Two of Barack Obama's top surrogates just offered a pretty strong response to the RNC's new round of ads attacking Obama on energy policy: This only encourages his supporters to donate more.

On a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio said that they were not worried about Obama's decision to ask donors not to help out with independent expenditure efforts, noting that he has enough supporters to fight back on his own.

"Because Barack Obama has so many small donors," Brown said, "these kinds of ads are just gonna make them want to participate that much more and send another $25 a week, instead of just the $25 a week they were sending."

The McCain campaign continues to push an outright falsehood: That Obama flip-flopped on Iraq.

On a conference call with reporters a few moments ago, a senior McCain surrogate, Steve Forbes, recited a litany of things that Obama has supposedly flip-flopped on, and said that Obama had "changed his mind" on troop withdrawals from Iraq.

This, of course, is false. All Obama said on Friday was that he would "continue to refine" his Iraq policies -- and what's more, he reiterated at a second presser that day that his 16-month withdrawal timetable was not subject to refinement.

The McCain campaign's efforts to work the flip-flop narrative into the dialog got a big assist from the truly awful reporting we already saw on Obama's comments. Nor are there any signs that the press will challenge the McCain camp's latest misrepresentation of what he said.

Will Obama ultimately shift his position on the timing of withdrawal? Anything is possible. But it just isn't true to say that Obama has "changed his mind" on Iraq.

Not that facts matter, of course.

Late Update: Here's the audio from the call:

Click To Play

Yet another basis for comparing Obama with John F. Kennedy?

This morning it was announced that Obama would be moving his convention acceptance to Invesco Field, a football stadium that holds 76,000 people. The last person to do this was -- you guessed it -- the nation's 35th president, who delivered his 1960 acceptance speech as the Dem nominee at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum:

At about one minute and twenty seconds in, the camera pulls out to a wide shot that gives you a sense of just how grandiose the setting for JFK's speech was -- and how grandiose Obama's chosen venue may prove, too.

It's official: The Democratic convention's organizing committee has just sent out a press release confirming that Barack Obama will be giving his acceptance speech in Denver at Invesco Field, a football stadium that holds 76,000 people, instead of the official convention hall at the Pepsi Center.

Obama previously spoke to a rally of about this size in the run-up to the Oregon primary, so there's no doubt he could fill the stadium for his acceptance speech. The size of the event will also spotlight just how wide his support is, with a crowd size that is nearly unheard of in American politics.

But what if it rains? We're checking to see whether the stadium has a dome -- more on this in a sec.

Full press release after the jump.

Read more »

Obama Will Deliver Acceptance Speech At Football Stadium
The Obama campaign is expected to announce this week that the candidate will deliver his acceptance speech outside of the Democratic convention itself, a plan first floated late last week. The speech will be given at Denver's Invesco Field, which holds 76,000 people -- a stunning audience size for an American political gathering. (Late Update: The convention's organizing committee has just put out a press release officially announcing Invesco Field as the site of Obama's speech.)

Candidates To Discuss The Economy Today
The economy will dominate today's campaigning, with Barack Obama visiting North Carolina to propose a second economic stimulus package. John McCain will be in Denver to pitch his own jobs plan, hoping to hold on to a state that has historically voted Republican but is trending Democratic very quickly.

McCain Camp Hires New Political Director
John McCain's campaign reorganization has resulted in the hiring of a new political director -- a role that was previously absent entirely from the campaign. The campaign has hired Mike DuHaime, who previously worked as Rudy Giuliani's campaign manager.

McCain Could Have Convention Problems With Conservative Activists
John McCain could face some friction with hard-line conservative activists at the St. Paul convention, as the party sets about rewriting the largely-symbolic party platform in order to remove references to President Bush and reshape it as McCain's official agenda. "Our job is to make sure that the grass roots continue to have a say," said Eagle Forum executive director Jessica Echard.

CQ: Most Vulnerable House Seats Are All GOP
In a further sign of just how bad things are for the House Republicans, CQ says that the top five seats most likely to switch control are all open Republican-held seats. The seats are currently held by: Vito Fossella of New York, Jerry Weller of Illinois, Rick Renzi of Arizona, Tom Davis of Virginia, and Jim Walsh of New York.

Senate Dem Incumbents Flush With Cash
Roll Call reports that Senate Democrats have found themselves in an interesting quandary: Nearly all their incumbents up for election this year are considered safe, and collectively they have more than $50 million on hand. Much of that money can be transferred to the DSCC or to other candidates, thus adding to the party' overall infrastructure -- but for now, many of them are sitting on it.

New RNC Ad: McCain For "Balance" On Energy, Obama "The Party Line"
Here's the Republican National Committee's new ad on energy policy, which is airing in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The ad pitches John McCain as a moderate who has a balanced approach to energy, while Barack Obama is depicted as a hardline Democrat who doesn't have a plan:

Pro-War Ad: Victory In Iraq Is "Change We Can Believe In"
Here's the new ad from Vets For Freedom, a pro-Iraq War group, declaring that gains in Iraq brought on by the surge are "change we can believe in," an obvious hit against Barack Obama's calls for withdrawal. The spot will air in Ohio, New Mexico and Virginia, with an initial ad buy of $1 million:

Neither Candidate On The Trail Today
Both presumptive nominees are taking the day off from the campaign trail. After a busy July 4 and more events on Saturday, Barack Obama is spending the day in Chicago with no public events. John McCain has been taking his Independence Day weekend off.

Obama: I'm "Puzzled" By Reaction To Iraq Comments
Barack Obama told reporters yesterday that his statement about refining his policy of withdrawing from Iraq was not in any way inconsistent with his previous statements. "I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off with what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement," Obama said on a plane flight.

NYT: Dem Convention Planning Beset By Delays And Rising Costs
The New York Times has an interesting article on the planning of the Democratic convention -- profiling an organizational wreck that has gone over-budget and under-performed its fundraising goals. The DNC has since blasted out a statement from Howard Dean and convention CEO Leah Daughtry, disputing the article's characterizations: "In fact we are ahead of the game."

Hewitt Pushing Use Of Obama's Audiobook
Right-wing talker Hugh Hewitt has been promoting a new method of going after Barack Obama, which could find its way into third-party ads: Using clips from the audiobook of Dreams From My Father, in which the candidate himself narrates his youthful indiscretions and identity crises. "It turns out to be very jarring to many ears to hear Obama talking about his youthful adventures, his attitudes on race," Hewitt said.

Obama And Hillary Teaming Up For Fundraising
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are set to work together this coming week to bring in a lot of money for the Obama campaign and the DNC. First up is a D.C. fundraiser with a $33,100 ticket price, followed by New York fundraiser ranging from $250 to $23,000 per head.

Obama Addressing NEA, Then Goes To Missouri
Barack Obama started his morning in Butte, Montana, speaking via satellite feed to the National Education Association's annual conference in Washington. He then headed off to St. Louis, where he will address the African Methodist Episcopal Church's conference. John McCain is taking time off from the trail for his Independence Day weekend.

GOP Struggling With Bush's Role
The New York Times reports this morning that the Republican Party is trying to reconcile the need to have President Bush rally the party grassroots at their convention, against the need to not have his unpopularity rub off on John McCain. Bush will speak at the convention on opening night, but a source said a joint appearance with McCain is "highly unlikely."

GOP Is Still Okay With Bush Fundraising
Meanwhile, the Washington Post notes that Bush is as strong as ever in the less public area of fundraising for down-ticket Republicans. Bush has done 31 events this year, bringing in $70 million for GOP candidates and state parties.

Pro-War Group Gearing Up For Big Ad Buy
Vets For Freedom, a pro-Iraq War political action committee, is poised to launch major ad campaign for this general election season starting this coming week. The group will open with a $1 million TV ad buy targeting Virginia, Ohio and New Mexico, and will then branch out to other states from there.

Philly Radio Station Won't Run Dem Ad With Bush Impersonator
A Philadelphia radio station has refused to run the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's latest radio ad, which features a Bush impersonator praising incumbent Republican Congressman Jim Gerlach. The station's general manager said they were "concerned that our listeners would have been misled by usage of an impersonator in the creative delivery."

Barack Obama is spending today in an unlikely place for a Democratic candidate for president: Montana, a state that has only voted Dem twice in the last 50 years but where a recent poll has put him ahead. It's a further indication of just how the wide the playing field could be this year.

The Associated Press notes that Obama has hired staff and targeted the state with his ad campaign, while John McCain has zero paid staff here and has yet to visit.

In a sign that he wants to reach out to pro-life voters, Barack Obama has told a Christian magazine that he would be against overly-broad exceptions to the prohibition on late-term abortions.

"Now, I don't think that 'mental distress' qualifies as the health of the mother," Obama told Relevant Magazine. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions."

During the primaries, Obama was critical of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the federal ban on late-term abortions, saying that the court had disregarded "a woman's medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient."

Republicans struggling to "define" Obama
Leading Republicans are beginning to complain that the McCain campaign hasn't yet settled on a way of "defining" -- a.k.a. "sliming" -- Barack Obama, prompting some to worry that Obama may prove as elusive a target for them as he did for Hillary. It's worth noting that the multiple GOP lines of attack floating around right now clearly contradict each other: One moment Obama's an elitist at a country club; the next he's a "street" organizer; and so on.

Candidates celebrating July 4th
Barack Obama will honor Independence Day with his family by attending a parade and a picnic in Montana. Meanwhile, McCain will be taking it easy in his home state of Arizona.

Poll: Slightly more see McCain as a flip-flopper
New numbers from CNN suggest that a substantial majority doesn't buy the McCain-as-straight-talker narrative. The poll finds that 61% say McCain shifts positions for political reasons, though nearly as many (59%) say the same about Obama.

Six-term GOP Congressman in Virginia suddenly facing competitive challenger
The emergence of a tough and well-funded Democratic challenger to GOP Rep. Virgil H. Goode, Jr., who represents south-central Virginia's fifth district, has prompted CQ Politics to shift its rating of the race from Safe Republican to Republican Favored, essentially declaring the contest a competitive one. Goode's challenger, lawyer Tom Perriello, is expected to run well in and near Charlottesville, especially among liberal academics around the University of Virginia, and will also benefit from Obama's vigorous efforts in the state.

McCain to talk about the economy in key battleground states next week
McCain plans to spend the week following July 4th weekend talking about the economy in important battleground states, beginning on Monday with the release of a jobs plan in Colorado. McCain, who will also visit Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, trails Obama in polls by a substantial margin among voters citing the economy as a top concern.

Obama's national lead over McCain edges up
CNN's latest poll of polls finds Obama leading McCain by six points in the national match-up, up very slightly from his five-point lead last week. A cautionary note: On July 4th, 2004, John Kerry led George W. Bush by four points in CNN's poll of polls, and in the summer of 2000, Bush led Al Gore by six points before going on to lose the popular vote (and becoming president anyway).

Conservative pundits begin lying about Obama's Iraq remarks
Right-wing opinion-makers have begun falsifying Obama's Iraq remarks yesterday, starting with Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post, who has a remarkably dishonest column this morning asserting as fact that Obama has "already begun" his "shift" in the direction of erasing "all meaningful differences with McCain on withdrawal from Iraq." Curiously, there's no mention in Krauthammer's column of the subsequent presser Obama held yesterday firmly reiterating his commitment to a 16-month withdrawal timetable.

Happy fourth, everyone!

The Associated Press is reporting tonight that the Obama campaign is considering a novel idea for staging his acceptance speech at the convention: Don't actually give it at the convention, but at a much larger venue in Denver.

Instead of speaking at the Pepsi Center, which seats 21,000 people, in this scenario Obama would speak at Invesco Field, the site of the Denver Broncos games that holds 76,000 -- an astonishing number for a political gathering. Obama previously spoke to a similar-sized crowd in the run-up to the Oregon primary, and could almost certainly fill the stadium for his acceptance speech.

Franklin Roosevelt began the tradition of nominees directly addressing their conventions back in 1932, and it's been taken for granted ever since then. But the Obama camp's idea, if put into practice, would seriously outdo FDR.

Late Update: As commenters have noted, Invesco Field is not across town from the Pepsi Center, but is in fact right nearby.

Barack Obama held a second presser today to respond to the suggestion that because he said he would "continue to refine" his Iraq policies that this somehow heralded a change in his position on withdrawal from Iraq...

The key line: Obama said that he would "not refine the 16-month timetable."