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This is not a trick question.
If you had three choices regarding the laws governing same-sex marriage, what would you choose?
1. Same-sex couples should be allowed legally to marry.
2. Same-sex couples should be allowed legally to form civil unions but not marry.
3. Same-sex couples should not be allowed to obtain legal recognition of their relationships.
Well, the pollsters at Quinnipiac University posed that question, which is certain to become more prominent as the presidential general election campaign unfolds, to 1,783 Americans across the country.
And they found that:
1. 32% support same-sex marriage.
2. 33% support civil unions.
3. And 29% said no legal recognition should exist for same-sex couples.
Can't get much closer than that. But wait, there's more to this poll, and our colleague Katie Fretland over at the Swamp has the details here.
--Andrew Malcolm
No wonder everyone wants to be the candidate of change. In a new Time/Rockefeller Foundation poll, 85% of those who replied believe that the country is on the wrong track.
Among blacks and Latinos, dissatisfaction levels are even higher: the figure among blacks is 96% and among Latinos it's 88%.
The solution? As Time reports, the public seems to want big government. In the poll, 82% favor public works projects and 70% say more government programs should help people now struggling.
In the meantime, families are tightening their budgets. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed -- 64% -- said they cut entertainment or vacation expenses this year.
-–Stuart Silverstein
Ever since he nailed down the delegates he needed for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama has given the appearance of someone eager to wiggle his way closer to the political center.
From the left have come complaints about Obama’s apparently newfound centrist sympathies on, among other things, U.S. policy toward Iran, expanded government wiretapping powers, handgun bans and capital punishment.
But when Gwen Ifill pressed the Illinois senator on the point on PBS’ NewsHour, Obama offered an odd defense: that he hasn’t wiggled as much as John McCain has.
Acknowledging that his “shift in emphasis” on issues such as faith-based initiatives has “raised hackles amongst some in the blogosphere,” Obama added: “If you compare that to John McCain’s complete reversal on oil drilling, complete reversal on George Bush’s tax cuts, complete reversal on immigration where he said he wouldn’t even vote for his own bill, that, I think, is a pretty hard case to make that somehow I’ve been shifting substantially relative to John McCain.”
-- Stuart Silverstein
For some reason, we're having trouble shaking the image of a toreador, el toro and a little pas de deux.
While John McCain was focusing on businesswomen in Wisconsin today, Barack Obama made energy the theme in a talk before about 1,300 people at the Stivers School for the Arts in Dayton, Ohio, with our colleague Louise Roug in atten dance.
There wasn't much new in Obama's rhetoric on the subject, but there was one moment that jumped out, and reminded us of earlier speeches in which Obama used the same tactic. It points up a problem facing McCain, who has nurtured an image as a maverick despite spending the last quarter-century -- longer than his military service -- in Congress, first in the House and now in the Senate.
Obama's tactic is to wait for McCain to throw a rock at how Washington works, and the failed policies, and then chain McCain to his own political history. This is how it played out this morning: "Now, a few days ago, Sen. McCain said, and I'm quoting, 'Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been 30 years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long-term about the future of the country.' I couldn't agree more. John McCain is exactly right. The only problem is that out of those 30 years of inaction, John McCain was one of the most powerful [men] in Washington for twenty-six of them. And in that time he has achieved little to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. He voted against raising our fuel mileage standards when it could have made such a difference over the last decades and joined George Bush in opposing legislation twice in the last year that included tax credits for more efficient cars.'
McCain, Obama said, also "voted against alternative sources of energy. Against clean biofuels. Against solar power. Against wind power. Against an energy bill that represented the largest investment in renewable sources of energy in the history of this country."
You get the idea. Obama slides into the rhythm that sets him up for the insertion of the rhetorical blade (which may be what got us conjuring up images of a bullfight): "When John McCain talks about the failure of politicians in Washington to do anything about our energy crisis, understand that John McCain should look in the mirror because he has been a part of that failure."
As we've pointed out before, having a relatively limited voting record can be a good thing in the presidential bullring.
(UPDATE: No campaign utterance comes without pushback, in this case somewhat tangential to the point of the post, Obama's tactic of using McCain's statements to propel a counter-offensive. From McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds: "Barack Obama is the quintessential definition of what's wrong with Washington. Today Barack Obama claimed to be for change, while touting his own vote for the Bush-Cheney energy bill, that's just the type of Washington-style spin and empty rhetoric that John McCain has fought against his whole career.")
-- Scott Martelle
Photo by Cesar Rangel / AFP-Getty Images
The folks at the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released a poll Thursday tracking the "passion gap" between Barack Obama and John McCain, which we already told you about.
But there's an interesting tidbit buried deep within the poll results that should have some bells going off inside McCain headquarters. Or maybe they were already going off, and that's part of the reason Rick Davis ceded some campaign turf to Steve Schmidt.
The finding has to do with measuring how the candidates are making the sale. Obama -- doing all right. McCain -- well, let's let the Pew folks tell it: A solid majority (56%) give the Obama campaign letter grades of A or B for the job he is doing to convince the American public to vote for him, while only 32% say the same of the McCain campaign. More than a third (35%) offer a grade of C to McCain's campaign so far, and nearly as many (30%) say the campaign has earned a D or F.
The grades voters give to the Obama campaign for the job it is doing convincing them to vote for him are the highest measured for any candidate over the past four election cycles. In June 2004, for example, just 39% gave Bush's efforts an A or B; even fewer gave high grades to Kerry's campaign (31%). In contrast, McCain's middling grades are slightly lower than those awarded to Bush in both 2000 and 2004. McCain's campaign does garner higher grades than the 1996 Dole campaign, which only 22% graded highly.
In this regard, the 2008 campaign has the largest disparity in high grades for the Democratic and Republican candidates over the past four election cycles (24 points). The gap between the grades for Obama and McCain is even larger than for Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in July 1996; at that time, 37% gave Clinton an A or B, while just 22% gave top grades to Dole.
The differences in the ratings of the two presidential campaigns are reflected in the opinions of their partisans. Nearly eight-in-ten Democratic voters (79%) give the Obama campaign letter grades of A or B for the job he is doing to convince the American public to vote for him, and a smaller majority of Republican voters (54%) give high marks to the McCain campaign. More independents give A or B grades to the Obama campaign than to the McCain campaign (49% v. 31%). In addition, while more than a third of Republicans (35%) give high grades to Obama, just 16% of Democrats give high grades to McCain.
McCain was asked about the poll Thursday -- specifically the bit about voters being more excited about Obama at this stage than they are about him. His response goes a long way toward  explaining another finding from that poll: "Relatively few voters" think the candidates have been too negative. But at the same time, McCain's comment indicates that his focus is on the war in Iraq and national security when polls show most of the country is more concerned with the economy -- whining or not.
Said McCain: "I admire and respect the campaign that Sen. Obama has run. He has done
a fine job in motivating many, many people. I am confident that as we
go through this campaign that I will convince the majority of voters in
this country that I am the person to lead this nation through very
difficult times. ... Sen. Obama didn’t support the surge, wanted
us to pull out, said that it would fail. I supported it when it was the
toughest thing to do. I believe that my record on national security and
keeping this country safe is there, and the American people will
examine our records, and I believe that I will win."
-- Scott Martelle
Top photo: Democrat Barack Obama. Credit: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press
Bottom photo: Republican John McCain. Credit: Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press
Well, news on the the mortgage crisis front just keeps getting worse, but there's a bit of a silver lining -- Barack Obama and John McCain agree that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in trouble.
Of course, there's a little more space between them on what to do about it.
Reporters asked McCain about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during a Thursday avail in Belleville, Mich., west of Detroit, and he repeated his belief that "they must not fail." But a federal bailout? Not so fast: "I will be looking at all the options ... and at this time I don’t think that there is a requirement for a government bailout. So we will have to discuss the options that are available in order to keep it viable. And that’s what I would hope that we could do with various experts and people of knowledge throughout the country."
Obama, whose theme Thursday was the women's vote -- including an appearance with Hillary Clinton -- didn't get that question from his traveling press crew. That's primarily because he didn't take any questions from his traveling press crew (those pesky reporters -- they keep wanting to ask about things that aren't on the daily script).
But Obama advisor Jason Furman issued a statement that Obama believes "the challenges facing Fannie and Freddie are part of the broader weakness in our economy." He blamed President Bush, saying "willful neglect" by the White House of trouble in the housing market and other sectors of the economy let the problems fester to crisis stage. Then he pushed Obama's call for immediate congressional action to help homeowners caught in the bind, and at risk of foreclosure.
But a government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? A little closer than McCain -- maybe. "Obama believes we must maintain the flow of capital for mortgages and protect homeowners from foreclosure," Furman said.
Whatever that means. We asked the campaign if Obama thinks a bailout should be in the cards. We'll update when we hear back. And meanwhile, The Swamp takes a look at the foibles of Fannie and Freddie, too. And here are some details on exactly what Fannie and Freddie do.
UPDATE: Obama spokesman Bill Burton just released this statement, which essentially repeats Furman's comment and doesn't address the issue of federal intervention: "Sen. Obama has long believed we should take all necessary steps to ensure affordable home ownership for millions of American families, and that includes an essential role for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nearly a year ago, Sen. Obama called for a major response to the housing crisis and significant relief for struggling homeowners. It took Sen. McCain three different tries to figure out a real response to the housing crisis, and his current plan does nothing to help more than two million homeowners who are facing foreclosure."
-- Scott Martelle
This is another in a continuing series of conversations between The Ticket and those people involved in many aspects of modern American presidential politics, which explore the inner workings of this complex business.
This item is the first of a two-part conversation with Ralph Reed, a Republican political strategist who's been involved in seven presidential campaigns, including as senior advisor to both campaigns of George W. Bush. He has not endorsed or donated to any presidential campaign yet, but is on the host committee for a John McCain event next month in Atlanta.
Reed was the first executive director 15 years ago of the Christian Coalition and currently runs Century Strategies, an Atlanta public relations firm that advises major corporations. He's also the author of a new book, a novel titled "Dark Horse," published by Simon & Schuster.
In this item, Reed examines the GOP side of the 2008 presidential race and talks about his surprise at the outcome of those primaries, the difficulties for the party in 2008, what McCain needs to avoid between now and Nov. 4, and the genesis of his book.
TOTT: What most surprised you about the outcome of the Republican primaries?
Reed: John McCain winning the nomination after essentially running out of money and laying off most of his staff in the summer of 2007 was amazing. His win in New Hampshire was a real Lazarus moment.
Mike Huckabee doing so well in Iowa and then winning a string of later primaries showed the continuing strength of the evangelical vote and underscored the importance of good candidate skills.
TOTT: McCain seems to have had some trouble gaining traction in this three-month general election head start. How do you explain this and do you see the latest reorganization in his camp having any effects, positive or negative?
Reed: Steve Schmidt, Mike DuHaime, Nicole Wallace and the rest of the people playing new and important roles at the McCain campaign are extremely capable. I worked with all of them in the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign and found them to be professional, talented and smart.
They'll do a good job, but it's a tough environment for Republicans this year. If they let the election be about style, Obama will be hard to beat. The McCain campaign needs to make the election about issues and substance. If they do, McCain will win.
TOTT: Given the historical reservations toward Sen. McCain in the evangelical community, do you think most of them will or are coming around to him, given the Democratic alternative? Or is your reading that they'll likely sit this one out on Nov. 4? What should McCain do about it?
Reed: I think they're highly unlikely to sit it out because the stakes are so high. In fact, this election...
Read more Ticket Chat: Ralph Reed, author and GOP strategist, on the '08 race »
Tom Petruno, The Times' ace business reporter and editor, recently wrote: "The debate over whether we are, or aren't, actually in a recession will go on, but to some analysts there's no question anymore. Merrill Lynch & Co. economist David Rosenberg says the lesson from history is that 'you don't have six consecutive monthly declines in payrolls and not be in an outright recession.' "
John McCain, like the fellow Republican he's seeking to replace in the White House, has been reluctant to use the R-word, even as he increasingly focuses on topic No. 1 for most Americans -- the sputtering economy.
Today, McCain pretty much threw in the towel when asked on MSNBC whether these are recessionary times.
"I would imagine that, technically, there is some question amongst economists about that, but the fact is Americans are hurting, they are hurting badly,'' he said.
He continued (a bit awkwardly), "If we're technically in a recession or not, I would imagine that we are, but the major thing is that Americans are hurting and Americans don't like it and they think America is in the wrong direction.''
Mark Silva has more on McCain's appearance in this item on The Swamp.
-- Don Frederick
Power is perishable, and when politicians exit the stage, it often doesn't take long -- especially in Washington -- for their importance to be only vaguely recollected.
 So with the death today of former Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina at age 86, we offer some reminders of the central role -- for good, ill or a combination of both, depending on one's viewpoint -- he played in public policy and political discourse (The Times' obituary can be read here).
Back in the late 1990s, the Almanac of American Politics said flatly of Helms that "no American politician is more controversial, beloved in some quarters and hated in others...."
This, at a time when Bill Clinton was deep into his presidency.
First elected to his Senate seat in 1972, aided by Richard Nixon's landslide in that year's presidential election and the increasing GOP appeal to the South's conservative ethos, Helms at first was chiefly known for his staunch -- and often colorfully expressed -- opposition to abortion rights, gay rights and a raft of other liberal causes.
He truly became a figure to be reckoned with, however, through his tenure on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (he eventually became its chairman). As the political almanac put it, he used his seat "to conduct something like his own foreign policy." During Ronald Reagan's presidency and the administration of George H.W. Bush, Helms and a band of loyal aides "developed their own sources and attempted to manipulate State Department appointments to help the contras in Nicaragua and rightists in El Salvador."
Helms was revered on the right. In comments on MSNBC today, Pat Buchanan judged him "the second most important conservative of the second half of the 20th Century" (the first, of course, being Reagan).
And he was reviled on the left, perhaps never more so then during his 1990 reelection campaign when he faced a spirited challenge from an African-American, Harvey Gantt.
That race overshadowed all others in the nation that year, and it lives on due to the controversial -- many say race-baiting ads -- that Helms employed.
The best-known ad sought to tap into resentment against "quota" hiring practice by showing white hands crumpling a job rejection notice while a narrator intoned that the better qualified applicant had been bypassed for a minority hire.
Less well-known is a spot that berated Gantt for waging a "secret" campaign because he was advertising on black-owned radio stations.
Helms won the election, 53% to 47%, and then defeated Gantt by virtually the same margin in a rematch six years later.
As our friend Frank James notes in his posting on The Swamp, Helms "was more complicated on racial issues than the caricature he had with much of the public."
Still, some will see irony in the timing of Helms' passing -- just a few weeks before Barack Obama makes racial history when he becomes the Democratic presidential nominee.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Newsmakers
Part of every presidential campaign is the post-primary shuffle. That's when the Republican nominee tries to show centrist voters that he isn't really as conservative as he made himself out to be to win his party's base, and the presumptive Democratic nominee similarly tries to pull him self in from the left.
The Swamp notes this morning that the perception among some progressives that Barack Obama is leaving the left for the center has given rise to an unusual way of tethering the candidate to their issues. They're putting their money on the table, hoping to raise $1 million in an "escrow" fund that Obama can't tap until he displays "progressive leadership" on issues.
The issue that sparked the mini-revolt was Obama's support for giving wiretapping immunity to the phone companies under the recent FISA vote, something he had earlier said he would oppose. In a memo to fellow progressives, Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com, said he still backs Obama but thinks the candidate could use a little wake-up call from the folks who played a significant role in securing him the nomination. We're asking you to put some of the money you plan to give Obama "in escrow" until he demonstrates progressive leadership on the issues we care about, like warrantless wiretapping.
We are absolutely not trying to hurt Obama -- we'll give him our money at some point. We're just asking for a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T like Aretha Franklin sang about.
We can get Obama's respect because needs our money -- he turned down $85 million in taxpayer dollars because he believes small donors like us will contribute $300 million. And now is the best time to use our modest leverage, before the campaign goes all-out after the convention.
-- Scott Martelle
Photo: Francine Orr /Los Angeles Times
New job numbers out today evidence more pain -- some of it to be felt around here -- with companies cutting 62,000 payroll slots in June, the sixth consecutive month the economy has shed jobs. The cuts were slightly more than the 60,000 economists had expected, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 %.
The Labor Department announcement elicited dueling statements from John McCain and Barack Obama, pasted in full after the jump. But in a nutshell, McCain says the federal government must "enact policies to create jobs today. To get our economy back on track, we must enact a jobs-first economic plan that supports job creation, provide immediate tax relief for families, enact a plan to help those facing foreclosure, lower health care costs, invest in innovation, move toward strategic energy independence and open more foreign markets to our goods."
Obama cited the 438,000 jobs lost this year and similarly called for immediate action, but a different prescription: "I'm calling on Congress and the President to enact real, immediate relief with energy rebates for working families this summer, a fund to help families avoid foreclosure, extended benefits for the long-term jobless, and assistance to states that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn."
McCain is in Mexico today, and apparently will be unveiling a new "Jobs First" agenda in Denver on Monday, an ironic confluence the Democrats have been working hard to spotlight,including an email from the Democratic National Committee's Brad Woodhouse to reporters suggesting "maybe for his own sake [McCain] should stop going to places like Michigan and telling folks their jobs aren't coming back while going to Mexico and promoting Jobs First - just a thought."
-- Scott Martelle
Read more John McCain and Barack Obama agree: Act now on job losses »
Barack Obama got good reviews from some conservative quarters after his Tuesday speech outlining his plan for building upon the faith-based initiative established by President Bush.
But John McCain is getting better news from the right -- signs of a real push by conservative Christian leaders to coalesce on his behalf.
 First, a taste of the reaction to the Obama speech in Ohio.
During an appearance Tuesday night on MSNBC, Pat Buchanan said that although Obama wouldn't "win over the evangelicals," his embrace of the federal program that aimed to make it easier to funnel tax money to religious-based charities would "diminish some of the hostility" toward him among social conservatives.
Added Buchanan: "It looks like he's reaching out to them. ... It's a win for him."
And David Brody, senior national correspondent for the Christian Broadcast Network, said on CNN today that the reaction to Obama's speech within the community he covered was "relatively positive." Obama, he added, "has seemed to be one step ahead when it comes to this faith and politics intersection."
Brody, meanwhile, details on his website a huge step that a major figure on the religious right has taken to build support for McCain.
Phil Burress, head of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values, not so long ago said of McCain: "We don't like him and he doesn't like us." But, as Brody relates, Burress is now in McCain's corner, following a sit-down with him. Indeed, the evangelical honcho sent out a note to allies which wraps up by saying: "I was once one of those people who said 'no way' to Senator John McCain as President. No longer. The stakes are too high. And if Obama wins I need to able to get up on November 5th, look at myself in the mirror, and when I pray, say, 'Lord, I did all that I could.' "
Burress also was among about 100 conservative Christian leaders who met in Denver on Tuesday and "agreed to unite behind" McCain's candidacy, Time magazine's Michael Scherer reports.
In a comment comparable to the concluding line in Burress' missive, one of those at the get-together explained the backing for McCain partly as a reaction to Obama.
Mat Staver, head of a group called Liberty Counsel and a former Mike Huckabee supporter, told Scherer: "Collectively we feel that [McCain] will support and advance those moral values that we hold much greater than Obama, who in our view will decimate moral values."
The full story can be read here.
Noticeably absent from the meeting ...
Read more Religious right starts to consolidate for John McCain »
Our colleague Dan Morain chatted up American Values' Gary Bauer Tuesday about gay marriage and Barack Obama's letter stating his opposition to a California ballot initiative (John McCain supports it). Morain points out that two other states will have similar measures on their fall ballot -- Arizona and Florida. While polls show California pretty safe for Obama and Arizona similarly so for McCain, a gay-marriage fight in Florida could have scale-tipp ing consequences.
Bauer, founder of the conservative Campaign for Working Families political action committee, said he hasn't decided whether to donate to California's "incredibly important" measure. "If the pro-same-sex marriage forces cannot win in California and Florida, it means that the people of this country still are resistant to radical social change," Bauer said.
Bauer said he was "somewhat heartened when Barack Obama said … that it should be a state decision" but that given Obama's recent statements opposing the California measure, "the idea that he is agnostic about this question doesn’t hold up any more."
"It is a major difference between the two candidates," Bauer said. "Before it is all over, we’ll have a great debate on tax policy, on foreign policy and on this fundamental question of what is the status of marriage."
Bauer said that John McCain and Barack Obama "did not seem far apart a few months ago" on gay marriage. "Now they are quite at odds with each other. It is something that voters in other states are looking at. When you have a significant number of other states that have voted to preserve marriage, it is the sort of thing that could hurt Obama."
Most significant: Obama "has very much been making a play for evangelical voters, suggesting that there would be no reason that an evangelical should vote against him. It becomes harder to make that case."
-- Scott Martelle
Photo provided by American Values
Barack Obama frequently bemoans that the biggest downside for him about running for the world's most important job is the amount of time he's away from his two young daughters, but lately he's worked more family time into his schedule.
 He spent much of last weekend on the home front in Chicago -- foregoing, somewhat surprisingly, a nearby meeting of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. And Tuesday night, he got to watch his eldest daugther, Malia, play soccer (working it in after delivering a speech in Ohio on how he would operate the faith-based initiative started by President Bush and before traveling today to Colorado to talk about how he would run a national service program).
The Times' Peter Nicholas was near Obama as the candidate and his wife, Michelle, sauntered onto the athletic field at the University of Illinois at Chicago, well prepared with matching bags containing fold-up chairs.
Nicholas reports that when the Obamas arrived, some friends and acquaintances came over to shake hands or hug them. But after that, they were largely left alone -- there was a game to watch, after all.
Before the action began, Obama playfully kicked a ball around with a small boy. And, Nicholas relates, he showed far more dexterity than he exhibited in that Altoona, Pa., bowling alley a few months back.
During a break in Malia’s game, she wandered over to the sidelines and Obama offered some pointers on proper kicking form. And as play proceeded, his younger daughter, Sasha, sat in his lap for awhile.
Obama's night was not completely given over to recreation, however. About 9 p.m. (CDT), he arrived at his campaign headquarters for a confab that lasted a more than two hours. Presumably, the kids were in bed when he returned home.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
Well, we'll admit it, we're suckers for polls, and a recent one that our cousins at The Swamp tipped us to is interesting -- showing that Barack Obama is tapping a potentially rich vein in trying to tie John McCain to George Bush.
The Gallup/USA Today poll found that 68% of voters said they were concerned when asked whether they thought McCain would pursue "policies that are too similar to what G eorge W. Bush has pursued." Of those polled, 49% said they were "very concerned."
As the poll analysis points out: "It is clearly a delicate balancing act for McCain, as Bush remains relatively popular with the Republican base. While only 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president, a majority of Republicans (60%) still do. Bush's approval rating among current McCain supporters is slightly lower, at 55%."
Dive deeper into the poll and something else interesting emerges -- people aren't all that keen on change, either. Some 49% said they were concerned when asked whether "Obama would go too far in changing the policies that George W. Bush pursued." Of those polled, 30% said they were "very concerned."
So the advantage for the moment goes to change -- in moderation. Which might help explain Obama's embrace Tuesday of the concept behind the Bush administration's faith-based initiative program.
-- Scott Martelle
Further evidence that the economy is taking a severe beating: Starbucks is closing 600 outlets and could cut 12,000 jobs as customer visits have declined. True addicts see Starbucks coffee as their lifeblood but for most people it's a luxury, and with the economy moribund and a gallon of gas costing more than a la tte, people are deciding it's a luxury they can do without.
Now we're sure there will be snarky comments posted here about Barack Obama supporters going into withdrawals, shaking behind the wheel of their Volvos. But 12,000 cut jobs is a big hit, and judging by the staffs you see at the stores, it will put a lot of college kids, or young adults in that general age group, out of work. Add them to the already unemployed construction workers, auto workers -- just fill in the blank ________.
Yes, the Iraq war is a crucial issue for the nation, and the world. But poll after poll shows that at least for now, four months away from election day, it's the economy that has people's attention. And news like this will keep it alive until the picture improves.
The question for Obama and John McCain is who can forge the better -- or at least more convincing -- policy proposals.
-- Scott Martelle
Our colleague Noam Levey has a story today weighing John McCain's voting history and public stances on a wide range of energy issues. It's a mixed bag, Levey reports: "At times he has backed measures to ease restrictions on oil drilling off the coast and in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Other times he has voted to keep them.
"He has championed standards to require that automakers make vehicles more fuel-efficient, yet opposed standards to require that utilities use less fossil fuel by generating more power from renewable sources, such as wind and solar.
"McCain has rejected federal tax breaks for renewable energy producers, but backs billions of dollars in subsidies for the nuclear industry.
"He has criticized corn-based ethanol for doing 'nothing to increase our energy independence.' Yet while campaigning in 2006 in the Midwest corn belt, McCain called ethanol a 'vital, vital alternative energy source.'
"Senior McCain policy advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin said McCain's positions reflected a pragmatic approach to governing. 'Sen. McCain is interested in getting results,' he said."
Beyond the policy confusion this can engender (and we'll leave that for others to dissect), it points up the inherent problem any legislator faces in running for president: The longer the service, the bigger the pool for opposition researchers to swim in.
So in an odd bit of political irony, here Barack Obama's relative lack of legislative experience could be an advantage -- fewer votes, fewer points of exposure.
-- Scott Martelle
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
Don't you hate it when old Navy guys just can't get along? John McCain took a swipe at Jimmy Carter the other day in an interview, with the transcript getting posted over at the Las Vegas Sun earlier today. As the folks at CNN's Politicker point out, it's not just a gratuitous political shot, since McCain has been trying to tie Obama to Carter, generally considered by the right (and quite a few centrists) to have been an ineffectual president.
But the comments are a bit jarring. McCain was asked by interviewer Jon Ralston, a Nevada political observer and blogger, about Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste and Carter's decision to end reprocessing, which McCain held up as a possible solution to the nuke waste problem. "Q: You know why he did that then?
"A: Yes, because Carter was a lousy president .... This is the same guy who kissed Brezhnev ...."
Ralston also asked McCain whether his call for a gas tax holiday for the summer amounted to pandering. "I don’t think so. When I meet a guy who owns two trucks that run on diesel, who says he's going out of business, but may not have to if he is spared the 24-and-half-cent tax, which goes to things like a bridge to nowhere in Alaska." Ralston pointed out a Republican (actually it was two, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young) proposed that bridge. "As you know," McCain replied, "I've taken on Republicans and Democrats. Some of them dislike me intensely and some of them still won't endorse me."
Look out, Dale Carnegie.
-- Scott Martelle
Well, they did it, though it would have been quite the surprise if they hadn't after all the build up. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton shared the stage in Unity, New Hampshire, a few minutes ago and sought to put their often contentious pasts behind them and focus their supporters on the general election. (See video below.)
Given the goal of the day -- unity -- it wasn't a time to break out new policy, and Obama didn't. They essentially made nice, smiled a lot, sang each other's praises and then tried to rally the troops (The Swamp has a take on this, too).
And the coziness of the day began before they even left Washington, reports our colleague Noam Levey, who traveled with them. Obama and Clinton shared a half-embrace on the tarmac at Washingto n Reagan National airport then boarded the plane that Clinton used in her campaign. They settled in next to each other in the second row on the left side of the plane, Obama taking the window.
The chumminess continued once they arrived at Unity, with Clinton telling the crowd of more than 4,000 people, "Unity is not only a beautiful place, as we can see it's a wonderful feeling isn't it?" Obama joined the audience in applauding the sentiment, "And I know what we start here in this field in Unity will end in the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president."
Later, Clinton addressed the sometimes edgy tone of the campaign, saying "It was spirited because we both care so much." But we are one party, we are one America,” she said. We "are not going to rest until we take back out country and put it on the path to peace, prosperity and progress."
Then it was Obama's turn (his prepared comments are after the jump). He sang Clinton's praises as a rival, then made a direct play for unity citing her and Bill Clinton's lengthy presence in national politics. "We need them," Obama said.
"We need them badly... That's how we're going to bring about unity in the Democrat Party and how we're going to bring about unity in America."
After making some odd comments about Clinton campaigning in heels -- that won't do much to dispel anger among some of Clinton's female supporters -- Obama talked about the historic nature of both their campaigns. "Hillary and I may have started with separate goals in this campaign, but we have made history together.
"Together, we inspired tens of millions of Americans to participate, some to cast ballot for the very first time, others who voted for the first time in a very long time. And together, in this campaign, in 2008, we shattered barriers that have stood firm since the founding of this nation."
(UPDATE: Susan Pinkus of the L.A. Times Poll provides the following information:: In our latest Times/Bloomberg national poll, two-thirds of Clinton's supporters said they would vote for Obama, 11% said they would vote for John McCain, the Republican nominee, 12% said they were undecided and the rest went to third party candidates.)
--Scott Martelle and Michael Muskal
Photo credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
Read more Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton tie the political knot in Unity »
Let's just state right up front that if Scarlett Johansson was chattering publicly to even one person, let alone a media crowd, that we had any kind of relationship, The Ticket would in a nano-heartbeat confirm totally whatever she said. She'd be dead-on in our minds, indubitably.
That's partly why we were so down -- well, devastated really -- a couple of weeks ago when The Ticket learned and wrote that Scarlett -- we call her that because we've never actually met --  was talking publicly about her ongoing relationship with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
According to Scarlett, who's a fervent Obama supporter with phone calls and fundraisers and everything, the two of them were going at it pretty hot and heavy with the e-mails, back-and-forth and back-and-forth and back-and-forth.
And all of us, including Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett's alleged fiance, were left to guess exactly what might be in those electronic missives.
We learned of the Obama-Johansson relationship, as we learn of most important things, from our fellow LATimes.com blogger Elizabeth Snead over at the Dish Rag. Because of our nonexistent....
Read more Barack Obama dumps Scarlett Johansson! Denies e-mail relationship »
Ralph Nader isn't backing down.
Gee, what a surprise.
Controversial comments he made about Barack Obama in a newspaper interview garnered more coverage for him today than his little-noticed presidential campaign has received all year, including extended discussions on various cable news shows.
It also prompted Obama, when asked about the matter at a news conference, to dispute Nader's contention that he has been ignoring a range of issues.
Tonight, Nader responded with a statement that begins: "Sen. Obama said earlier today that I haven't been paying attention to his campaign.
"Actually, I have.
"And it's clear from Sen. Obama's campaign that he is not willing to tackle the white power structure -- whether in the form of the corporate power structure or many of the super-rich -- who are taking advantage of 100 million low-income Americans who are suffering in poverty or near poverty."
The rest of the statement can be read here.
--Don Frederick
Sen. John McCain campaigned in California Monday evening and spent much of his time at a fundraiser in Santa Barbara where, not surprisingly, the locally sensitive subject of offshore oil drilling came up.
Moments after McCain made a lengthy presentation on how Republicans cannot afford to write off California to the Democrats in the general election, which the GOP hasn't won in a presidential race in many cycles, the Arizona senator was asked about his position on offshore drilling.
According to the pool report provided to The Ticket by The Times' Maeve Reston, D an Secord made a statement to McCain and then asked his question:
"Santa Barbara has among other things a great natural beauty -- one of our great natural beauties lies before you out there to the south. We're really kind of goosey here about oil spills. And we're goosey here about federal drilling and oil lands, which are abundant offshore.
"So we ask you to look out there to the south and the southeast and remember the greatest environmental catastrophe that's hit this state and then balance that with the notion of winning California. This is a vibrating blue city and a vibrating state, and it’s gonna be a tough haul.”
“This gathering is adjourned,” McCain promptly quipped.
He noted that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disagrees with him on the offshore drilling issue, but that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist now agrees with the presumptive Republican nominee.
McCain stressed that he believes in states' rights. As he did campaigning earlier in the day, McCain cited the successful examples of Louisiana and Texas, noting they have allowed drilling and weathered two devastating hurricanes with minimal or no oil spills.
“I think the environmental situation is today -- that we could probably do that,” McCain said. “But I don’t want to override the state of California.”
Then the candidate added, "I want the states to decide."
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Chris Gardner / Getty Images
It's Friday, and we have made it our mission to find something with which you can waste valuable work time. Thank you, John McCain Web folks, for supplying it.
-- Scott Martelle
This is just funny. And apparently a lot of other people think so -- more than 2 million views since it was posted June 10 on YouTube.
-- Scott Martelle
John McCain and his main ally in Florida, Gov. Charlie Crist, on Thursday received what could prove some crucial cover from the man who dominated the state's political scene until term limits prevented him from seeking a third term as its chief executive -- Jeb Bush.
Bush, like most Florida politicians from both parties, long opposed oil drilling off the state’s tourism-friendly coastlines. But during a conference call with reporters including The Times' Peter Wallsten, he rose to the defense of McCain, who earlier this week endorsed such exploration as one answer to skyrocketing gasoline prices, and Crist, who in turn backed off his previous opposition to the proposal (and took some grief as a result).
“You can protect the natural resources and the coastline of the state and also be part of national effort to deal with a national security crisis that our country faces right now,” he said. “It’s a huge economic problem for a lot of Americans, which is four-plus dollars a gallon gasoline. It’s a burden that was never anticipated when we were discussing drilling policy 20 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago, two years ago.
“So I think you’ve got to give people in public life a little bit of room when the context changes for them to also adjust their views.”
Pundits are wondering whether McCain, who had been viewed as the favorite to win Florida's 27 electoral votes in November, damaged his chances to do so with his call for an end to the federal ban on offshore oil drilling (he would let states decide for themselves).
Bush scoffed at such speculation.
“I don’t think it's going to hurt Sen. McCain,” he said. “I think the knee-jerk reaction, just to say 'no' without an alternative, you know, it may work when times are good but when times are tough and people are hurting, they’re not going to tolerate that.”
“My guess is if you did a poll … people support drilling in a reasonable way off Florida’s coast,” said the former governor, whose brother, President Bush, also had a change of heart this week on the issue (and who recently reminded folks that Jeb should not be written off as White House material).
Funny how all that works.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
If one attribute John McCain wants in a running mate is a good soldier's mentality, it would seem Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has passed the test with flying colors.
As McCain revealed Monday that he now favored an end to the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling  -- a reversal for him -- and that he would flesh out his position in a speech today, much speculation immediately focused on the tough position in which Crist, an oft-mentioned veep prospect, would find himself.
The Washington Post wrote that the push by McCain to deep-six the ban as part of the response to raising gasoline prices and let each affected state decide the exploration issue "is sure to annoy two key Republican allies," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Crist. Both have opposed coastal drilling.
In both states, support for the moratorium has been a given for most politicians (for more on how the issue plays in Florida, see this posting on the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog).
MSNBC's First Read posting this morning noted the following: "No Republicans in Florida have gotten elected statewide without endorsing the moratorium on off-shore oil drilling, so McCain's decision is going to get its share of criticism even from VP wannabe" Crist.
But the item added that if "Crist tries to rationalize the McCain decision then we'll really find out just how much he wants on the ticket."
Apparently, very much.
A story posted by the Miami Herald a short while ago starts thusly: "Describing his position as evolving, Gov. Charlie Crist said he now supports exploratory drilling for oil and gas off Florida's coast because 'Floridians are suffering.' "
For more on Crist's change of heart, go here.
Schwarzenegger -- who, because he's a naturalized American citizen, is constitutionally prohibited from a spot on a presidential ticket -- is standing firm.
According to a statement ...
Read more Florida Gov. Crist climbs aboard the McCain oil-drilling express »
Ross Perot, the little guy with the big ears from the big state who helped ensure the 1992 reelection defeat of Pres. George  H. W. Bush, is back.
And the Texan's still got his charts, just like the ones he used to prop up on TV during his expensive vanity presidential campaigns of 1992 and 1996.
Our brother blogger Tom Petruno, over at the informative Money & Co. blog, reports that Perot has just launched a new website because he's worried about government budget deficits and, he says, time is running out.
The 77-year-old Perot (gee, that's even older than Nader or Paul!) calls himself the father of fiscal charts. Tom's got the whole story right here right now.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: AP
Ron Paul backers, do not despair. You have a new suitor: Ralph Nader.
In the wake of the decision by the 72-year-old Paul to, vi a his website, officially declare an end to his presidential quest, the 74-year-old Nader showed a political agility that has not always marked his many, many runs for the White House. Today, he released the following statement: "Ron Paul was a lightning rod for millions of Americans against the war in Iraq and for the protection of personal liberties that the two major parties have turned their back on -- by continuing to support the illegal criminal war and the PATRIOT Act.
"Now that Dr. Paul has formally withdrawn his candidacy for the G.O.P. nomination and is no longer seeking the Presidency, there is a clear choice for those who want to support a candidate who will stand up against the war and stand up for personal liberties and privacy that have been trampled by the notorious, misnamed, PATRIOT Act.
"The people want the next President to immediately withdraw our soldiers and corporate mercenaries from Iraq in the safest manner possible.
"I would veto any attempt to extend the so-called PATRIOT Act or anything else that came across my desk that was designed to circumvent the civil liberties of the American People.
The PATRIOT Act grants excessive power to the government to abuse civil liberties through wiretaps, monitoring internet usage, authorized 'sneak and peek' of our homes, and forces libraries to turn over records of the books read by their patrons -- and those abuses of power have been used repeatedly by Bush and his Justice Department.
We need more politicians, like Dr. Paul, who are not afraid to stand up for our civil liberties."
Nader isn't quite as assertive on another of Paul's prime issues, the Federal Reserve Board.
Paul, much to the delight of many of his supporters, has pushed for wiping the board off the face of the earth; Nader's focus has been on prodding it to do its job with greater vigilance and more openly.
-- Don Frederick
Photo: Nick Wass / Associated Press
* With a nod to the late Bo Diddley.
A new Diageo/The Hotline poll today again reinforces just how closely divided the national electorate is between John McCain and Barack Obama -- it has Obama up by 2 points -- but also has a couple of other nuggets to digest on a F | |
