Centrist Democrats gather, sans Barack Obama

It attracted attention last summer when the then-crowded field of Democratic presidential contenders stiffed the annual convention, held in Nashville, of the Democratic Leadership Council (which, we noted in a post at the time, once was "the prime incubator for fresh party approaches to politicking and governing, with an emphasis on addressing middle-class concerns)."

Today, the DLC wrapped up its 2008 gathering in, of all places, Chicago. Yet despite the convenient location for the newly crowned presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, the Windy City's own Barack Obama, the DLC still isn't feeling the love.

Obama was back in his hometown Sunday but, rather than swing by the convention, he was represented by a surrogate. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley pressed his case, explaining to the conventioneers that Obama needed some family time.

Despite the absence of the party's star attraction, DLC members were strongly urged in a closing speech by the group's head, former Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee, to marshal their efforts on Obama's behalf.

The Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog wrote about the wrapup on the conclave in an item headlined "DLC leaders embrace Obama," which can be read here.

-- Don Frederick

John McCain gets put on the linguistic spot

It wasn't the sort of issue that John McCain (or Barack Obama) needed to prepare for Saturday in Washington when each courted Latino elected officials at their annual meeting. But Monday, at a McCain town hall meeting in Pipersville, Pa., a woman had a pointed question for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, a query sparked by America's changing demographics.

"Why, as an American, do I have to push a button to speak English or hear English?"

The audience, a sea of mostly white faces, erupted in deafening applause.

"I think you struck a nerve," said McCain, for whom this is a delicate issue, given his support in recent years of efforts to reform U.S. immigration law that included a "path to citizenship" for most illegal immigrants that was derided by its foes as "amnesty."

"I tell ya," continued the woman, "I really get ticked. I really do."

"I can tell," said McCain.

"And then you go into Lowe's," she continued, referring to the home improvement store, "and it says 'Entrada.' And every utility bill you got has got a foreign language on it."

Oh, and by the way, she added, would he autograph a copy of his book, a gift to her husband for his 71st birthday?

On immigration, McCain gave his now-standard reply, acknowledging ...

John McCain the jokester -- Gawker wonders if it will it hurt him

We all remember John McCain's "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" mini-aria, and many of us have caught McCain during his late-night talk show appearances. He can be funny (though the laughs at his reworking the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" were far fewer than he may have anticipated). But can comedy kill the campaign?

Gawker has a piece (which includes some language inappropriate for this blog and which we want to warn readers about) on McCain's sense of humor and parallels to Ronald Reagan. It concludes McCain is no Gipper.

What strikes us as interesting is the issue of timing the piece raises. McCain made his "bomb Iran" joke more than a year ago -- before before his spectacular political collapse and resurrection. In many ways, McCain got a pass then. There was some backlash from people who likely wouldn't support McCain anyway, but the feeling was his campaign was moribund anyway, and the mini-flap quickly faded.

But what would happen if McCain cracked that joke now? Would that kind of stumble derail him? Or would it just further separate the pro-war from the antiwar votes?

Politics -- it's all in the timing.

-- Scott Martelle

John McCain's 'Straight Talk Express' goes to the air

Aboard the 'Straight Talk Express' -- No one cracked a bottle of Champagne on its nose. No one cut a ribbon. Perhaps that was because the maiden voyage of John McCain’s new campaign plane was missing one vital ingredient: the senator himself.

McCain's new 95-seat Boeing 737-400 left Washington this morning carrying journalists and staffers to Harrisburg, Pa., where McCain had spent the night. The plane, paid for by the campaign (media riders reimburse the campaign for their shares), had been refurbished to re-create an airborne version of the Straight Talk Express bus, McCain's signature campaign vehicle, and replaced a plane leased from Jet Blue.

As always, press rides in the back, Secret Service agents in the middle cabin, and the candidate in first class. To replicate the horseshoe shaped banquette of the bus, where the candidate engages in free-wheeling discussions with reporters, one of the forward cabins has been modified to include a captain’s chair for McCain and a straight banquette for the press. FAA regulations require clear aisles, so a curved bench was out.

The plane's outer shell was repainted, as well, with McCain’s motto "Reform, Prosperity, Peace" on the  side and the campaign's Web address -- www.johnmccain.com -- on the blue-and-gold tail. McCain got his first ride for the short hop from Harrisburg to Allentown, Pa., and apparently missed some of the most salient exterior décor.

"I thought it just says 'Straight Talk Express,' " he told reporters who asked how it felt to see his name emblazoned on the tail. "Whoops. I feel wonderful ... Maybe it’s a little added free publicity, I don’t know, at various airports."

There is one thing he’ll miss about his old Jet Blue-leased plane, though, and he’ll be feeling the loss starting Tuesday, when he is scheduled to fly from Indianapolis to Cartagena, Colombia, for a trip that will include a stop in Mexico.

"In interest of full disclosure," said McCain, "you know we used to have television sets on Jet Blue, and I miss out on my fix."

-- Robin Abcarian

How would Barack Obama and John McCain play in Turkey, Texas?

Given the scheduling motif adopted by Barack Obama's presidential campaign, we fully expect the candidate to soon deliver a speech decrying U.S. dependence on foreign oil in ... Energy, Ill.

That would be followed with an elaboration on his call for lower middle-class taxes in Bonanza, Colo. Then, he'll want to discuss national security matters in Protection, Kan.

And as the time for his vice presidential pick nears, we'll be watching to see whether he tips his hand with a stop on Richardson Bay, Calif. (or, for that matter, in Clinton, Iowa, Webb, N.Y., or Nunn, Colo.).

Our conjecture is inspired, of course, by Obama's Friday appearance in Unity, N.H., to stress his new-found harmony with Hillary Clinton and his speech on patriotism today in Independence, Mo.

It's an attention-getting schtick, though easily overdone. In fact, Obama's campaign probably would be well advised to give it a rest.

Still, as always, we invite our readers to join in and offer suggestions for future venues for Obama or John McCain where name and theme would work hand-in-glove.

This is for sure: If and when they reach an agreement on joint town hall appearances, one site certainly needs to be Truth or Consequences, N.M.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, we'll chime in with a few places for the rivals to studiously avoid.

One, in fact, would be Dead Horse, Alaska. The towns of Boring -- one in Maryland, another in Oregon -- don't figure to show up on their itineraries, either. Same with Turkey, Texas.

Enough; time for us to give it a rest.

-- Don Frederick

Bill Clinton answers Barack Obama's phone call -- finally

Well this was a little long in the coming but it finally happened -- Barack Obama and Bill Clinton shared a little quality phone time earlier today. Obama communications director Robert Gibbs said Obama made the call and the two men talked for about 20 minutes as Obama rode from Kansas City, Mo., to Independence.

Obama asked Clinton to campaign with him, and for him, and Clinton agreed, though spokesmen for the men didn't break out who spoke for how long during those 20 minutes. The Swamp has a bit of it here too.

Clinton's communications director, Matt McKenna, described the call as "a very good conversation" and said Clinton "renewed his offer to do whatever he can to ensure Sen. 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."

Added Obama spokesman 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."

So what's that you see in the rearview mirror? Looks like South Carolina.

-- Scott Martelle

Does Barack Obama really want all of Hillary Clinton's donors?

Our blogging cousins over at the Swamp have an item up raising an interesting question about the rapprochement between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton: Does he really want all her financial supporters?

Obama, of course, has made a splash by raising a boatload of money from individual donors while professing to eschew cash from the "politics as usual" crowd. Clinton was less discriminating in her cash sources. But how does Obama heal the party and move forward if he winds up telling big Clinton supporters such as Sant Chatwal that he might not want his money? As the Swamp put it:

"Obama's in an awkward spot. At the moment anyway, he doesn't need Clinton's money -- though campaign money is like good pitching in baseball: You can never, ever have enough. But Obama does need the goodwill of the Clinton faction of the Democratic Party and that means ego massages for Chatwal and company. How Obama handles this kind of, what some would regard as, compromising outreach could help voters decide if indeed he represents 'change we can believe in.' "

The delicate dance continues.

-- Scott Martelle

Photo: Associated Press

Views of whites, Latinos toward Barack Obama analyzed

In two new articles, pollsters put the attitudes of A) non-Latino white voters and B) Latino voters toward Barack Obama under a microscope.

In the Wall Street Journal today, Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute writes that he finds it "more than a little ironic that it has taken the first African-American to win a major party presidential nomination to make clear to everyone what has been the case for more than 40 years in presidential elections: Democrats have a problem with white voters."

Brown doesn't specify that the white voters to which he and other pollsters refer excludes those of Latin American descent. But we checked with him and that's the case.

In his piece, which can be read in full here, he notes that no Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson, in his 1964 landslide, has won a majority of this white vote. He argues: "For those voters, especially ones without college degrees, the fact that Sen. Obama is black may not be as much a disqualifier as his background as a Democrat from the Frost Belt with no national security or executive experience and a voting record judged by the nonpartisan National Journal as the Senate’s most liberal during 2007."

The Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog has its take on Brown's column here.

On the Huffington Post Saturday, two members of the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Democratic polling firm made their case for debunking the notion that the Latino vote is up for grabs in November's election.

Mark Feierstein and Ana Iparraguirre write that Obama's relatively weak performance among Latinos in his primary battle with Hillary Clinton (who dominated among those voters) "has helped fan the idea that he has a Latino problem or that Hispanics are disinclined to vote for black candidates."

Not so, they contend. They note that national polls have shown that Obama "is running well ahead of John McCain among Hispanics, and significantly better than John Kerry did against George Bush in 2004."

That may be how it plays out ...

Barack Obama slaps down Wesley Clark -- gently

Barack Obama just delivered a speech on patriotism in Independence, Mo., hometown of what was once America's most powerful haberdasher, and offered a mild rebuke to Wesley Clark, who took on John McCain's military record the other day in rather scorching terms.

And just to make it clear, an Obama spokesman sent out this brief statement as Obama was speaking: "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and, of course, he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark."

Obama's speech focused on his own sense of patriotism, quoting Mark Twain (it's good to quote the locals when you can) and his definition: "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." And, he argued, "no party or political philosophy has a monopoly on patriotism."

But Obama, citing the political divide still lingering from the Vietnam War, said that he will not question the patriotism of others and would "not stand idly by" when his own patriotism is questioned. A little bit later, in a comment that seemed to have Clark in its sights, Obama said:

"Beyond a loyalty to America’s ideals, beyond a willingness to dissent on behalf of those ideals, I also believe that patriotism must, if it is to mean anything, involve the willingness to sacrifice -– to give up something we value on behalf of a larger cause. Now for those who have fought under the flag of this nation -– for the young veterans ... I meet when I visit Walter Reed; for those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country –- no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary. Let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters of both sides. We must always profess our profound gratitude for the service of our men and women in uniform, period."

Patriotism is the theme of the week, leading into the Fourth of July holiday.

UPDATE: Our colleague Robin Abcarian, who is traveling with the McCain campaign, reports that he was asked about Clark's comments a little while ago during a news conference after a tour of a Harrisburg, Pa., company that manufactures aircraft turbine parts. Specifically, he was asked about Clark's assertion that getting shot down in a fighter plane is not a qualification for the presidency.

"I think that that kind of thing is unnecessary," said McCain. "I am proud of my record of service, and I have plenty of friends and leaders who will attest to that. But the important thing is if that’s the kind of campaign that Sen. Obama surrogates and supporters want to engage, I understand, but it does not reduce the price of gas by one penny...doesn’t help Americans stay in their homes...it certainly doesn’t do anything to address the challenges that Americans have in keeping their jobs, and their homes and supporting their families."

And: "Gen Clark is not an isolated incident. I don’t know how much Sen. Obama has to do with that issue. I’ll let the American people decide that."

-- Scott Martelle

Photo by Larry W. Smith/EPA 

John McCain's veep list said to be topped by Mitt Romney

So Mike Huckabee told the world the other day that if John McCain calls, he'd be happy to be his running mate, but that he doesn't expect McCain to call. Good thing Huckabee's not waiting by the phone. The folks over at Politico have a piece this morning saying the call could well go to Mitt Romney. But, of course, at this stage no one knows, as our colleague Doyle McManus points out with his own list of bandied-about names.

McCain doesn't need to rush. He doesn't need a running mate until the Republican National Convention, scheduled for Sept. 1-4, which comes after the Democratic National Convention, set for Aug. 25-28. Advantage goes to McCain, since he gets to see what the Democratic slate will look like before he makes his call. And yes, he can pick a running mate earlier to make himself look decisive and unconcerned about political ramifications (which ties into his Straight Talk theme) but, chances are, he'll keep his cards hidden until he has to play.

So why Romney? As Politico points out, he's gone through the media vetting process, has access to cash fountains through his business connections and fellow Mormons, and plays well in his birth state of Michigan, which could be crucial in picking the winner.

The downside? The chemistry between McCain and Romney isn't exactly "Let's spend the next eight years together, shall we?" It's more like: "Does he have to come to this meeting? Can't we just send him to a state funeral somewhere?"

The other top names on McCain's list, per Politico, are former Ohio congressman and White House budget director Rob Portman -- not exactly a household name -- and John Thune of South Dakota, who knocked minority leader Tom Daschle out of the Senate in 2004.

Now it's your turn. Who do you figure? And no, not Dick Cheney -- he's not in charge of the search committee. The comment section is open below.

-- Scott Martelle

Photo credit: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times