World champ Giants to open NFL season vs John McCain

But since this is a political blog we don't really care about sports, except as a metaphor.

The real impact of the National Football League's newly announced decision to launch the 2008 season on Thursday night, Sept. 4 is....

That's the same night as the climax of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul when Sen. John McCain is to be the highlight with his crucial acceptance speech that traditionally sets the tone for a candidate's campaign before a national audience.

Let's see, who'd win that TV ratings scrimmage, a New York team playing the very first game of a fresh NFL football season or the second major political acceptance speech on national TV in a week?

Plus we'd miss all the colorful balloons falling from the convention center ceiling on cue.

As a reluctant concession to the process of picking the nation's next commander in chief and the leader of the free world except on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights and sometimes Thursday nights too, the league decided to start the Giants-Redskins game 90 minutes early.

But there better not be overtime or McCain'll get stomped on Sept. 4 instead of on Nov. 4.

--Andrew Malcolm

                                                                                                    Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images

Obama spends on TV ads in Pa. to force Clinton's hand

He may be lagging in Pennsylvania polls, but Sen. Barack Obama is outspending Sen. Hillary Clinton by about three-to-one in the statewide television advertising campaign, according to an independent analyst. Even if Obama can't overcome Clinton’s apparent voter advantage in that April 22 primary, Obama plans to make Clinton pay for the fight and draw down her more limited resources for the ongoing struggle elsewhere.

"He has dropped a couple million bucks in his first week on the air there," says Evan Tracey, chief operating officer for Campaign Media Analysis, a TNS company, an independent analyst of campaign media advertising. "If you judged it against Clinton’s, in a basketball game, it would be a rout."

The Obama campaign is spending about $150,000 a day now on TV advertising in Pennsylvania, Tracey said in an interview, compared to about $50,000 for the Clinton camp.

Since Obama turned on his TV campaign in the Keystone State on March 21, Tracey said, he's spent about $2 million. Since Clinton started her ads there on the 25th, she's spent about $440,000.

"Part of it is putting his fundraising advantage to work," Tracey said. “If he spends a lot there, she has to spend a lot to keep up with him…. He is buying at high levels, a strategy to bring her into a war of attrition she can’t afford.''

"Strategically there is no downside to it," Tracey added. Obama "is not going to burn through his cash… He floods the state with a couple weeks of ads… If he doesn’t see any noticeable tick in the polls he might pull back… But any dollar she spends in Pennsylvania is a dollar she can’t spend in Indiana or North Carolina…Tactically, you're forcing her to get into a fight."

With a half-dozen media markets in Pennsylvania, the biggest and costliest are Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

By one media account, Obama is purchasing close to 2,000 "gross ratings points" of advertising in these markets – enough for the typical viewer to see an an ad 20 times during a cycle of ads. But the quality of those points is also critical –- with news programs and prime-time TV costing more money. He's also bought a lot of prime-time TV, putting close to 40 percent of his money there, Tracey says. That’s a good way to "expand your coalition," he notes.

-- Mark Silva

Mark Silva writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.

Ex-Rep. Bob Barr to seek Libertarian nod, may get Ron Paul O.K.

Just when you thought we might be whittling down the number of presidential candidates, there's a new one about to jump in.

According to a political website, Fitsnews.com, former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia is about to announce his candidacy with the Libertarian Party.

The same site predicts tonight that GOP Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who has refused to endorse the presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain and continues his own vain campaign, will endorse Barr's bid.

That would indeed make for an unusual sight, an active candidate in one party endorsing a new one in another party.

Paul actually ran as the Libertarian Party's candidate for president in 1988, but has consistently rejected a third-party bid throughout this campaign.

The 72-year-old Paul's campaign -- he's the only survivor beyond McCain of 11 Republicans from last year -- surprised many political observers with its financial potency. Some 800,000 eager and energetic voters, many of them new to politics, have given him in excess of $32 million in the last year, nearly $20 million of it in the last quarter of 2007, to make him the largest GOP fundraiser then. They developed a whole range of creative ideas to arouse political support, including a pinup calendar of nearly naked Hotties4Ron Paul.

Barr, who represented Georgia's 7th District for eight years until 2003, like Paul has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with current Republican Party leadership. He's praised Paul for....

Clinton, healthcare advocate, behind in staff's health care premiums

Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who has made universal healthcare one of the centerpieces of her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, was more than a quarter-million dollars behind in payments for her own campaign staff's healthcare premiums, according to financial records.

The unpaid health insurance bills had been accumulating for months, according to Politico.com, which examined her latest campaign financial filings with the Federal Election Commission. They ended 2007 with $213,000 owed to Aetna Healthcare for "employee benefits." During January and February of this year, the debt rose another $16,000.

A Clinton campaign spokesman, Jay Carson, said at no time did employee insurance coverage lapse for campaign staff, spouses, partners and children because of the unpaid bills. He said that during March the campaign paid all outstanding healthcare bills and the balance would be zero in upcoming reports covering March.

By comparison, neither Sen. John McCain nor Sen. Barack Obama's campaign reported any substantial healthcare debts. In terms of overall debts, Obama's effort reported only $625,000 in debts. McCain's reported $3 million owed on a bank loan and only $1.3 million owned to vendors.

Clinton's overall debt on Feb. 29 was reported as $8.7 million, including $3,161 owned to her old high school, as reported in a previous item today. After its publication, Carson said the check had been written to Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Ill.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Good sign for John McCain: conservative James Dobson says he'll vote Nov. 4

James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative, nonprofit organization that wields widespread influence among Christian Republicans, has come, oh, so close to endorsing the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.

For the past year Dobson, who endorsed George W. Bush in 2004, has been mainly saying which Republican he would not endorse--Rudy Giuliani because he was pro-choice, Fred Thompson because he opposed the marriage amendment and, at one point, McCain because of restrictions that the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms put on nonprofit communications with members about political issues.

At one time Dobson even suggested he might not vote for the first time in his adult life if the candidates didn't meet his standards of being antiabortion and for family values. That could have caused millions of religious conservatives to stay home on Nov. 4.

Dobson once said Mitt Romney would qualify as a pro-family candidate. But when he dropped out of the GOP race, Dobson endorsed Mike Huckabee for his "unwavering positions on social issues."

From their mountainside headquarters in Colorado Springs, Dobson and Focus reach millions of conservative evangelicals daily through their website, newsletters and his radio broadcasts. The concern among Republican operatives has not been that conservatives with some lingering doubts about McCain's, say, initial opposition to the Bush tax cuts would vote for Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, whose Democratic party members have turned out in large numbers all election season.

The GOP concern has been instead that a lack of enthusiasm among....

50 Cent, no longer down with politics, drops Clinton for Obama

50 Cent -- he's a rapper, for you political junkies who never turn on anything but talk radio -- tells MTV that he's getting bored with the whole presidential campaign. Last fall he was backing Hillary Clinton but after the race speech he says he's now backing Barack Obama.

But 50 Cent said the whole thing had gone on too long and now he might not even vote.

"To be honest, I haven't been following that anymore. I lost my interest," the rapper told MTV (the clip is below). "I listened to some of the debate and things that they were saying, and I just got lost in everything that was going on. ... Don't look for my vote, for me to determine nothing on that. Just say, '50 Cent, he don't know, so don't ask Fiddy.'"

There's your political bumper sticker of the day: "Don't ask Fiddy." For some reason that reminds us of Alice Cooper's 1988 slogan when the shock-rocker "ran" for governor of Arizona: "A troubled man for troubled times" -- which has been resurrected here for the current presidential cycle.

And when we figure out which poll "Fiddy's" endorsement switch might influence, we'll let you know.

-- Scott Martelle

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John McCain, after a dose of politicking, takes time to listen

The potential power of John McCain's appeal to those who've directly experienced the sacrifices inherent in military service -- including the ultimate loss -- was on display today as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee kicked off his much-touted "biography tour."

After a visit to Meridian, Miss., where many of his forebears grew up and where his grandfather and namesake, John Sidney "Popeye" McCain, served at an air base, the candidate spent the 20-minute ride to the airport talking on his Straight Talk Express with Rachel Lee. Her son, Dustin Lee, 20, was killed in Iraq a year ago while attached to a Marine reconnaissance unit in Anbar province.

The Times' Maeve Reston was the designated pool reporter, and she relates that Rachel Lee told McCain that after her son's death, the military allowed the family to adopt Lex, an explosives-detecting dog that trained with his unit and was with him the day he died. The dog had been wounded and was later given an honorary Purple Heart, according to a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign.

During the ride, Lex stretched across the red faux velvet couch at the back of the campaign bus, resting against Lee’s thigh as she told McCain and his wife, Cindy, about her son’s service. Her two other children, Madyson, 16, and Camryn, 13, sat silently on the other side of Lex, petting his fur.

Lee told McCain she was "very honored" to meet him, "not because ...

Hillary Clinton campaign stiffs her high school $3,161

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been in the news several times this election season for being, shall we say, somewhat tardy in paying its bills.  New York and Des Moines companies complained to the media. And when a New Hampshire landlord went public with his Clinton debt of $500, other companies cried out. (He eventually got paid his $500 and publicly donated it right away to Barack Obama's campaign.)

Now, it looks from new Federal Election Commission filings that Clinton's campaign had $8.7 million in outstanding debt at the end of last month.  Ouch!  And that included $3,361 owed to Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Ill., for renting the Watson Auditorium and for catering.

Hillary Rodham graduated from there in 1965.

On the eve of Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, Clinton staged a big town hall meeting from the Maine South High School auditorium that was broadcast nationally on the Hallmark Channel, allowing supporters across the country to ask questions live.  Maybe you saw it.  Millions did.

But campaigns move on. And her alma mater is still awaiting its money.

The FEC form lists only a “Dr. Rose” as the school contact.  A switchboard operator at Maine South said no one was available to discuss the debt, and that the only Dr. Rose at the school was Dr. Rose Garlasco, who is assistant principal.  Voice-mail messages for her and the Clinton campaign have gone unanswered.

(UPDATE:  This just in.  What a coincidence.  According to Jay Carson, a spokesman for Clinton's campaign, the invoice from Maine South High School was paid today.)

-- Rick Pearson

Rick Pearson writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau.

Indiana and North Dakota Democrats feel the excitement

At the least, the ongoing Democratic presidential race is giving activists in states where the party usually is hopelessly outmatched in White House elections a chance to rally their forces -- and raise some cold, hard cash.

In Indiana, site of a now-crucial primary on May 6, the state Democratic chairman adroitly re-scheduled the date of the party's annual spring dinner from April 18 to May 4 -- and made a point of inviting both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to attend.

No Democratic presidential candidate has won Indiana (which now has 11 electoral votes) since Lyndon Johnson did so in his 1964 landslide. And the odds should be against either Obama or Clinton this fall. But their nomination battle almost assuredly will make the state party's banquet a much livelier, and far more lucrative, affair than in the past.

Carrying North Dakota's three electoral votes will be an even stiffer challenge for the Democratic ticket in November -- George Bush garnered 63% of the vote there in 2004 and, again, Johnson was the last Democrat to carry it. But the state party is taking advantage of Obama's appeal (he easily won the state's caucuses on Feb. 5) to build up ...

Barack Obama calls for Cesar Chavez holiday

Cesar Chavez Day.

That's what Barack Obama is endorsing: A national holiday in honor of the late, legendary activist for farmworker rights (pictured below).

Today is Chavez's birthday -- and Hillary Clinton's campaign was the first to draw attention to that this morning, issuing a statement celebrating the 81st anniversary of Chavez's birth (he died on April 23, 1993).

But Obama, who has struggled to overcome Clinton's significant advantage among Latino voters in state after state, sought to one-up his rival for the Democratic presidential nod by joining the call for creating a national holiday to commemorate the father of the United Farm Workers.

"As farmworkers and laborers across America continue to struggle for fair treatment and fair wages, we find strength in what Cesar Chavez accomplished so many years ago,'' Obama said in a statement from his campaign. "And we should honor him for what he's taught us about making America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation.

"That's why I support the call to make Cesar Chavez's birthday a national holiday. It's time to recognize the contributions of this American icon to the ongoing efforts to perfect our union."

Clinton, in her statement, said: “Today, I join millions of Americans in commemorating the life of one of our great civil rights leaders, Cesar Chavez. Driven by his strong desire to ensure better quality of life for migrant farmworkers across the country, Chavez helped found -– along with Dolores Huerta –- the United Farm Workers of America, arguably one of the first effective farmworkers unions in the United States.''

Huerta, 77, endorsed Clinton ...