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You can tell a lot about any political campaign by how it invests its most precious resource: the 1,440 minutes in each candidate's day.
UPDATE: An earlier version of this item had an hour-by-hour schedule that was provided to the media for planning purposes and not intended for publication. But even if you examine the broad current schedule for John McCain's campaign, you'll still notice something very revealing:
Yesterday morning the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party flew from Omaha to Kansas City, Mo., for a town hall meeting at Union Station in late morning, and a series of local media interviews, of course, and he left Kansas City right after lunch for -- where else? -- Muskegon, Mich.
No, really. Muskegon, Mich.
At dinnertime he arrived near there in Ferrysburg, Mich., for a 105-minute fundraiser before flying to Detroit to sleep.
Today, he'll visit a General Motors technical center there for a tour and another town hall meeting with employees to be captured for eternity on camera, more local media interviews, of course, and a lunchtime fundraiser before flying out to New York to do another media interview.
And then comes the day's publicity moment, the Big Event, the taping of a priceless national TV interview for "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," the next Jay Leno, if there can be such a thing. An opportunity to be good-natured for a lot of younger voters.
Tomorrow, in New York City, McCain will do more media interviews before ...
Read more The secret hidden within John McCain's campaign schedule »
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
Sen. Barack Obama's campaign raised $52 million in June, his campaign manager said this morning -- not quite a campaign record. The Illinois Democrat's White House bid raised $55 million in February, during the party primaries.
But it's still more than twice the $22 million that Republican rival Sen. John McCain raised during June.
However, the Republican National Committee, which is backing the party's presidential candidate with its own resources, also had nearly $68 million in the bank -- a combined treasury that the Obama campaign was mindful about today in reporting its own June haul -- and immediately asking for more from its 1.5 million-plus donors.
Our colleague Mark Silva has more details in the Swamp.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Former Gov. Mitt Romney, who's increasingly visible on the campaign trail on behalf of the man who beat him for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain, is about to forgive the $45 million he loaned himself for the primary struggles.
The legal move of filing papers with the Federal Election Commission re-declaring Romney's loans as contributions is imminent, according to a report by Michael Kranish on the Boston Globe's website, Boston.com. It would clear the legal deck for Romney to become a candidate again as, oh, say, the vice presidential Republican running mate of McCain.
Romney, whose personal fortune is estimated north of $190 million, is already marshalling on McCain's behalf his vast national donor network, which supplied another $65 million to Romney's unsuccessful campaign.
Although there appeared to be some personal frictions between the two men during primary debates, especially over campaign finance reform, which the senator has championed, McCain has more recently been openly appreciative of Romney's vigorous campaign grunt work in the months since the Arizonan clinched the GOP nomination.
"I'm appreciative every time I see Mitt on television on my behalf," McCain said earlier this week. "He does a better job for me than he did for himself, as a matter of fact."
Romney's successful career in business and resuscitating the troubled Salt Lake City Olympics plus his economic expertise and non-Washington executive experience as Massachusetts governor could help a McCain ticket.
The 61-year-old father of five boys has been married to Ann for 38 years. He's also already well-known and heavily vetted, lessening the chance of any embarrassing revelations. And Romney's family connections to Michigan, where he won the GOP primary, and his Mormon links in the West could help in both places on Nov. 4.
The Boston.com article quoted legal experts who said it appears that if McCain, like the Democratic candidate Barack Obama, reversed his position and opted out of federal campaign financing, Romney as a running mate could donate or loan the campaign an unlimited amount of his own fortune.
The Obama campaign this morning announced that it had collected $52 million during the month of June.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press
Just six weeks after reluctantly surrendering to Barack Obama in the brutal 2008 Democratic primary race, Sen. Hillary Clinton has begun raising money for what she says is her 2012 New York Senate reelection campaign.
Clinton still faces about $20 million in debts from her unsuccessful presidential effort this year. As part of a so-called "unity drive," Obama has appealed to his supporters in recent weeks to give to Clinton to cover the costs that she incurred while raking him over the coals in a bare-knuckled bid to return to the White House. Some Obama backers have balked.
Clinton has also asked her donors to contribute to the massive general election fundraising effort of Obama, who changed his mind and has rejected federal funding. Some Clinton backers have balked.
Now, the New York Observer is reporting early this morning that the former first lady has sent out a special message to supporters who donated up to $2,300 to her anticipated 2008 general election campaign. Since there won't be one, she must return that money to the donors by Aug. 28, unless she gets their permission not to.
Her new appeal includes a photocopy of a handwritten note from Clinton that says: "Dear friend, your commitment has meant so much to me over the course of my presidential campaign. You were there for me when I needed you the most and I'll never forget it. I hope you'll help me continue to fight for the issues and causes we believe in by filling out the enclosed form in support of Friends of Hillary."
The form, once signed, allows Clinton staff to transfer the money from the 2008 general election fund into the 2012 senate reelection treasury, where it can earn four years' of interest. The report comes from Jason Horowitz of the Observer's Politiker blog.
If successful, this early fundraising, while unusual, can have the effect of scaring off any serious Republican challengers in New York. And help keep Clinton supporters in her camp and full of hope after the close call this primary season.
And, if memory serves, when Clinton had about $10 million left over from her successful 2006 Senate reelection campaign, she shifted those funds as starter cash over to her nascent presidential effort last year.
Hmmm. Not that any ambitious politician would think this far ahead. But if Obama was to, say, lose a close election in November to Clinton's close friend, John McCain, the new president would be 72 on Inauguration Day next Jan. 20.
That would make him really pretty old for anything other than maybe perhaps one term, which would leave things wide open in 2012 for, say, a former Arkansas first lady who happens to be only 60 right now. And might have an ample senate campaign fund suitable for transferring into a presidential fund.
But that's absolutely ridiculous to think about now. As is, of course, having three major Democratic fundraising campaigns underway at the same time.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Associated Press
Perhaps inadvertently, Sen. Barack Obama tonight lifted a bit of the secrecy surrounding his upcoming trip overseas, telling reporters aboard his campaign plane that Sen. Jack Reed might accompany him to Iraq along with sometimes Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel.
When a reporter asked what might make Sen. Joe Biden and Hagel good traveling companions to Iraq, Obama made a very revealing correction:“It’s actually Sen. Hagel and Sen. Reed who may be coming with us.”
Well, now! So Biden, who says he doesn't work for anybody else, is not going with Obama? What's that do to the guessing game about the freshman Illinois senator's vice presidential pick, which had previously focused on Biden's foreign policy experience and his reported upcoming travels with Obama?
And does this put Reed of Rhode Island, a three-term ex-House member, two-term senator and ex-Army Ranger, into the VP mix?
Obama's comments came during an infrequent 20-minute exchange with reporters at the back of his plane en route from Chicago to San Diego, a late-night media availability which will help keep him in the news on an otherwise quiet news weekend when his opponent, Republican John McCain, is inactive.
Obama is scheduled to speak to Latino voters in San Diego on Sunday. He also was asked about recent fundraising figures and a crude comment made about him.
Obama went on to say that both Reed and Hagel are foreign affairs experts who “reflect a traditional bipartisan wisdom when it comes to foreign policy.”
“Neither are ideologues," he added, "but try to get the facts right and make a determination of what is best for U.S. interests.”
Then he added: “And they are good guys.”
Obama didn’t want to confirm a trip to Afghanistan, where....
Read more Obama reveals Biden not going overseas with him; it's Hagel, Reed »
Barack Obama's presidential campaign hasn't said much about it, but this whole unity thing with the die-hard supporters of Hillary Clinton is proving more difficult to accomplish than envisioned.
She's urged her donors to support Obama and he's urged his supporters to help erase her campaign debt, except when he forgets.
But in between public engagements Obama is apparently reaching out to some recalcitrant Clinton backers with sympathetic phone calls during which he at least mentions that the New York senator he defeated is actually on his list of running mates.
This is one of those political claims that really can't be verified and may be aimed more at soothing ruffled feathers for now. In a few weeks it could disappear in a political puff, leaving no trace but having accomplished its calming summertime purpose.
A top former Clinton aide, Howard Wolfson, said on Fox News yesterday that he knew of no VP vetting process underway concerning his ex-boss.
But The Times' Peter Nicholas is reporting on this website tonight that Obama has told at least one unhappy Hillary supporter that his former opponent is indeed on his VP list.
Jill Iscol, a loyal Democratic donor and ardent Clinton backer, said Obama made that statement when she raised the Clinton VP issue in a recent phone call by saying Hillary was his best choice.
But, Iscol said, Obama added that he was also pondering a "complication" to that scenario.
You'll never guess what that complication is. Or, rather, who it is. Yup, Bill Clinton. Once a president, always a president, Iscol quoted Obama as saying, even when the word "former" comes before the word "president."
Many political observers and a lot of Clinton supporters think adding Hillary to the ticket would be the sure-fire best way to unify the party for the Nov. 4 general election. But, given the headstrong ex-president who's not really seemed all that publicly pleased about the Obama nomination, it could also be the sure-fire best way to divide an Obama administration.
The White House might seem a little crowded with one new president, one former president and one thought-she-oughta-be-president. Peter's detailed story on the unfolding confidential vice presidential discussions is here.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
The Ron Paul revolution marches on this weekend, literally, but the latest manifestation of the movement no doubt will be tinged with sadness for the erstwhile presidential candidate due to the death of one of his top aides.
Kent Snyder, 49, who worked for Paul's 1988 White House campaign (when he ran as a Libertarian) and chaired his surprisingly fiesty bid for the 2008 Republican nomination, died in late June of viral pneumonia in a Virginia hospital.
An obituary in today's Washington Post noted that without Snyder, the Paul phenomenon might never have occurred -- the Kansas native and martial arts enthusiast helped presuade the Texas congressman to enter the fray last year.
At a website soliciting donations to pay for Snyder's extensive medical bills (he was not insured), Paul says in a prominently displayed statement: Kent poured every ounce of his being into our fight for Freedom. He will always hold a place in my heart and in the hearts of my family. ... Without Kent Snyder, the fight for liberty would not be where it is today. We all owe him a great debt.
Paul is scheduled to speak at a rally of his adherents that follows a Saturday morning march in downtown Washington. As spelled out on the revolutionmarch.com website, the aim of the event is to express support for "restoring constitutional government as the founding fathers set forth."
For some in attendance, the gathering will be a prelude to the much-publicized get-together Paul plans at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 2 -- not too far away from where the GOP will be convening the second day of its national convention.
That rally -- and other efforts by Paul and his crew during the convention week -- will be tracked by the media for clues about the potential long-range influence of his backers within his party. But evidence of such clout already has surfaced in some states -- perhaps most vividly in Idaho.
When the state GOP met last month, its head did his best to hang onto his job. As reported by the Idaho Statesman, Kirk Sullivan handed out Rice Krispies treats as part of his wooing of party activists. But he got bounced anyway. Replacing him was Norm Semanko who, the paper wrote, "was pushed to victory largely by an eclectic group consisting of supporters of [Paul] and social conservatives who want to shift the party to the right."
Paul and his forces also grabbed attention recently when they teamed with liberal groups to raise money to express their opposition to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that cleared Congress this week.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Nick Wass / AP
From time to time, instead of excerpts with comments and background, The Ticket publishes the full text of a statement or speech so readers can get the full flavor of the remarks for themselves.
Here we're publishing Sen. Hillary Clinton's introduction today of Sen. Barack Obama before about 2,000 "Women for Obama" assembled in New York City's Hilton Towers. We're all indebted to the tired fingers of The Times' Louise Roug, who transcribed the lengthy remarks. Also, there's a video excerpt down below the Read More line.
The text begins here:
Good morning, New York. Thank you all. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here with all of us this morning. That's such a great way to start a day…I am grateful to all of you who have come together on behalf of Sen. Obama's campaign, on behalf of unity in the Democratic party. [loud applause]
One of the challenges of being in such a packed ballroom is that they have these bright lights which are in our eyes. I can't see anybody who is out there. But I know you're there. And I know you'll be there in November. [She then thanked local politicians in the crowd.]
Barack and I were talking before we came out about the rigors of the campaign trail, which are many. But it is such an extraordinary privilege to have done what we both of us had the honor of doing over the last many months. To travel this country on behalf of the values and ideals that we share and to see, day after day, the resilience and resourcefulness, the goodness and greatness, of the American people.
There are some differences. For example, Barack said, 'you look kind of rested.' I said, well, 'kind of' is the right descriptor. But I'm actually -– don't tell anybody –- trying to exercise a little bit, which I'm told does wonders for a person.
Because during the campaign, I'm sure you've read, Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. And I would get up, and get my hair done. It's one of those Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire things that are part of our lives.
But we share this remarkable journey. And I could not be prouder to have this opportunity in front of so many of my friends and supporters to express my confidence in his candidacy and my commitment in ensuring that he will take the oath of office come next January.
I have had countless conversations with many people since the end of my campaign and I know how difficult it is for people who have invested their time, their energy, their money, their emotion, their entire being into any campaign, into any campaign, into any cause, that it really is an extraordinarily personal experience and I think it's one of the great opportunities that we offer to ourselves because of our political system, that really does depend upon thousands, hundred of thousands, millions of people coming together to support someone like Barack or me who decides to step into the public arena.
When it is over, I know how difficult that is. I have been in winning and losing campaigns for a very long time. And I have been in primary campaigns here in our Democratic party and I understand how challenging it is to turn on a dime, to say, O.K., close that chapter, now we're onto next chapter.
It is a process and it does take time for people to take a deep breath and go forward. But, of course, those who supported me, for who I am forever grateful, knew that we were on this journey together because we believed so strongly in the kind of country we want to see again and anyone who voted for me have so much in common with those who voted for Barack and it is critical that we join forces, because the Democratic party is a family –- sometimes a dysfunctional family –- but it is a family and we care about what is going to happen to the economy and health care and education, what is going to happen in Iraq and Afghanistan and to our young men and women in uniform, what is going to happen to energy policy and whether we ever take on climate change in a meaningful way.
We know that all of these concerns are ones that we get up in the morning with, we worry about and go to bed at night, still, wondering will we ever start acting like Americans again, will we roll up our sleeves collectively and start tackling those problems. There's nothing beyond us, once we make up our minds that this is the work we will do and that work cannot be done if we do not have a Democratic president in the White House.
The stakes in this election are high for everyone. Not just in this country but around the world. We have seen in a very painful way what happens when an American president leads us in the wrong direction, making decisions not premised on our values and who we really are.
We have seen the impact and many of us have witnessed it first-hand, traveling around the world: the quizzical, even angry, looks and words that come from those who just can't understand what has happened to America.
So the stakes are high for everyone, literally around the world. But I would argue they are particularly high for women. It matters....
Read more In her own words: Hillary Clinton on Barack Obama (and herself) »
No, of course he didn't write it himself. But you can bet he read it before it went out.
George is calling for money.
President Bush's public approval ratings may be gathering mold in the Gallup Poll's basement. But the soon-retiring Republican president still has pull on the purse strings of his part y members.
And, in a fundraising e-appeal to Republicans, the president is citing both the GOP's unflinching "ideals'' and the "focus-group''-free determination of the party's presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain. Bush is optimistic in a general election campaign in which Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has gained an early advantage by seemingly printing his own money, nearly $300 million worth.
Not to mention those "Liberal'' Democrats not standing up for national security and freedom from taxation. And despite what those unhappy conservatives within the Republican Party say about the Arizona senator and former POW, the compassionate conservative-in-chief maintains that McCain "is running on a clear, consistent and conservative agenda."
"There is no question in my mind, with your help," Bush writes in a new fundraising message, "the Republican Party can win this election if our candidates are true to our principles, boldly share the GOP agenda with the American people and are confident in contrasting our hopeful and optimistic philosophy with the Liberal vision of the other party."
Our colleague Mark Silva has the rest of this story over at the Swamp. And the complete text of the president's appeal is available by clicking on the Read more line below.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Fox News
Read more George Bush signs a letter to GOP faithful about you-know-what »
The unity thing is proving something of a stubborn problem for the no longer officially dueling camps of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. There've been reports in recent days of some die-hard Clinton supporters being less than supportive of the fellow who crunched her.
But confirmed Clintonite Terry McAuliffe says it's only one or two people. So that can't mean much. And there's probably hardly any Obama folks saying, "Remind me again why I should help pay the bills for the travel and events when she was always attacking Obama?"
But what happened Wednesday night was a little embarrassing.
After the two Democrats voted differently on the Senate's FISA retroactive surveillance O.K. bill, Obama flew Clinton from Washington to New York City on his plane for two fundraisers where they'd both appear together and she'd graciously introduce him and there'd be that cheek peck.
And Obama would repeat his eloquent thing about change and how George W. Bush is really the first two terms of John McCain or something and ask the folks for money and kinda push them toward retiring Clinton's campaign debt. Depending on the numbers you hear, her debts could be as large as $23 million or maybe "only" $10 million, which is like -- what? -- 20 speeches or something for her husband.
So The Times' Louise Roug was at the Hyatt in the crowd of 1,000 who'd each paid $1,000 (what a coincidence!) so they could also pay cash at the bar. She dutifully listened to his familiar, 30-minute talk about promise. The crowd applauded. "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" blasted out of the sound system and Obama bounced off the stage to work the rope line and shake hands, not looking nearly as weary as The Times story says he is.
But about two minutes later Obama bounces back onto the stage. (See the video below.) Waves his hands. Had he forgotten to mention about the jobs program?
The music stopped. Or maybe he neglected to praise his distant cousin Dick Cheney?
"Hold on a second," he shouted. "I got one more thing." Oops! It seems Obama had forgotten to mention the part about giving money to Hillary Clinton in the spirit of unity, the whole reason they were gathered there in the first place.
"Sen. Clinton still has some debt. And I could have had some debt -- if I hadn't won -- so I know the drill. There are many supporters of mine here who have not yet given something to help her retire that debt. I would be very grateful if you looked under your chair. I think there should be an envelope or a pledge sheet or something.
"If people would take the time not only to pick it up but put something in it and mail it back...that is part of the process of making sure that we're unified...Allright, turn on the music again. Let's keep on partying."
And so they did. In perfect unity, no doubt.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: CNN
Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon, a potentially endangered Republican in November's election, raised many an eyebrow recently with an ad that included an unexpected cameo.
"Who says Gordon Smith helped lead the fight for better gas mileage and a cleaner environment?" asks a narrator. "Barack Obama."
TV viewers in the Beaver state then saw a flash of Obama's face and his campaign Web site as the ad went on to say the two lawmakers had teamed up "and broke through a 20-year deadlock to pass new laws that increase gas mileage for automobiles."
 Despite Smith's effort to scramble the partisan divide, it's comforting to know that in some cases, the old rules still apply -- such as a conservative Republican from Texas invoking a tried and true symbol of California liberalism, Sen. Barbara Boxer, as a way to raise money.
Boxer did her part to rate such a mention. On the Web site for a political action committee she set up, she recently conducted an online "Choose a Challenger" contest. Participants were given a list of various Democrats challengers trying to win GOP-held Senate seats this year and asked to vote on which one should be singled out for fundraising help by the PAC.
Down in the Lone Star State, Democrat Rick Noriega launched an effort to stack the deck. As part of his longshot bid to topple GOP Sen. John Cornyn, he urged backers to cast ballots for him in Boxer's tourney; a win, he said in an e-mail, could funnel "tens of thousands of dollars" into his coffers.
Not surprisingly, the Cornyn camp got wind of this and sought, in turn, to use it for its own financial advantage.
A solicitation to potential donors notified them that Noriega "is enlisting California Liberal (sic) Barbara Boxer’s help to raise money. The note continued: "Barbara Boxer, the one who opposed Chief Justice Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court and verbally assaulted Justice Alito during his confirmation process."
"But it gets worse. You know what Senator Boxer is up to now? To quote her own website: 'I want you to know that I won't give up in our fight to stop the drilling…'
"Gas is approaching $4.10 a gallon with no end in sight and Rick Noriega is asking for help from Barbara Boxer, who is leading the charge to stop domestic drilling making us even more dependent on foreign oil?"
"While Rick Noriega is counting on Californians to help his campaign, John Cornyn is counting on Texans just like you."
Sounds like Cornyn would be loathe to get caught in the same elevator with Boxer.
But here's another side of Washington. Cornyn is the vice chair of the Senate Ethics Committee that Boxer heads. And about a week after the missive excoriating her, Cornyn's Capitol Hill office issued a release touting an amendment they were jointly offering to require members of Congress to publicly disclose their residential mortgages (a touchy topic these days in the Senate).
The release included both of their names in its headline, provided quotes from each promoting their mutual cause and offered nary a hint of discord between the two.
Noriega, by the way, triumphed in Boxer's contest (for the results, go here).
--Don Frederick
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
The Republican National Committee has spun off its own independent expenditure committee and plans an initial $3 million ad buy targeting Barack Obama in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Politico reports.
Why the separate group?
Brad Todd, who will run the effort, blamed Obama in a statement to Politico: "Following Barack Obama's decision to become the only major party presidential candidate in history to not adhere to campaign spending caps, the Republican National Committee has begun an independent expenditure campaign in accordance with FEC regulations."
Under federal law there are no limits on how much the group can spend, though it cannot coordinate efforts with John McCain's campaign or the RNC. Still, both have helped to raise some of the funds that will launch the new effort.
So now we know where the RNC will be funneling some of its cash advantage over the Democratic National Committee to try to compensate for the record-breaking fundraising Obama has enjoyed. And the decision to target those Rust-Belt states underscores the GOP view that Obama is vulnerable in that part of the nation. Three of the four -- Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- went Democratic in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Lot of white working-class men and women in those states, which account for 68 electoral votes.
-- Scott Martelle
Nearly five months after John McCain effectively locked down the Republican presidential nomination, many leaders of the religious right remain underwhelmed. A new Newsweek article asserts that McCain's candidacy has "tamped down" enthusiasm among these conservatives, "exposing fractures that make a rallying of the troops in the pews unlikely."
The recent L.A. Times/Bloomberg national poll spotlighted a pronounced "passion gap" in the presidential race, with fully 81% of Barack Obama supporters declaring themselves fired up about his candidacy and only 45% of the McCain backers feeling likewise about their man.
And here's an even more concrete sign of the difficulty McCain has been having rallying core Republicans, courtesy of a Gannett News Service story published Monday: "Of the more than 900 Hoosiers who contributed at least $2,000 to President Bush's re-election campaign, only about 50 had contributed to the Arizona senator by the end of [May], according to a review of campaign disclosure reports...."
McCain headlines a fundraiser in Indiana today, so he'll no doubt reel in some of those heretofore reticent givers. He then heads off on a short jaunt to Colombia and Mexico (a trip that The Times' Mark Barabak, in a Sunday story, termed part of the "unusual path" McCain is pursuing in his White House bid).
-- Don Frederick
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
David Plouffe is no household name, which is fine with him.
He is, in fact, Barack Obama's campaign manager. You won't see him on the news talk shows. He is, by his own design, a back-room manager.
But with a new e-mailed video for supporters of the Democratic presidential candidate -- and, of course, that always comes with a fundraising appeal -- Plouffe is walking people through th e outlines of an Electoral College strategy for an Obama victory in November.
A couple of weeks ago we pointed out the 15-minute PowerPoint demonstration of Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, on their website. Now, Obama's crowd has its own version and you can compare the two.
Neither contains trade secrets. Obama's starts with the states which Sen. John Kerry claimed in 2004, and it adds some -- including some unlikely candidates such as Montana and Alaska. And it looks with some confidence toward Iowa, which gave Obama his launch in the Democratic primaries so long ago last winter. And even Georgia.
The McCain video is slick with moving screens. Obama's video is filmed without lights or staging at the Chicago desk of the campaign manager to give it that, you know, laptop look.
It also has some Perot-like charts, maps of the perceived path to victory. It's worth a watch -- you know McCain's campaign is -- and a listen. It's viewable at the campaign website.
You can read the whole story on the Obama tape by our colleague Mark Silva over at the Swamp with a link to the website video. There's a link to the McCain video here.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: BarackObama.com
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain traveled around California in recent days, campaigning for votes and money.
The Times' Dan Morain checked recent campaign finance reports filed as required with the Federal Election Commission. And he found that McCain in May swept up $881,362 from the Golden State, usually the largest donating state for many candidates.
And McCain raked in another $1,763,826 from Californians back in April.
The Republican National Committee, whose spending this fall will also benefit McCain, has raised $6.9 million in California since January until the end of May.
--Andrew Malcolm
Jason Burnett has made a lot of news lately, criticizing the Bush administration for rejecting California’s request for a federal waiver that would allow the state to enforce greenhouse gas restrictions.
Burnett, until recently the associate deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, last month testified before a congressional panel about the possible White House role in overruling the EPA staff’s recommendation of the waiver. Since then, Burnett has given numerous interviews on the issue.
Now Burnett is using his checkbook to do his talking. After quitting the administration last month, he donated $3,600 to Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. That came on top of a $1,000 contribution he made to Obama before joining the EPA.
A Stanford-trained economist and a Democrat, Burnett, 31, said in an interview that he is moving back to Northern California to campaign for Obama and Democratic Rep. Sam Farr of Carmel. He's counting on them to support more efforts to curb greenhouse gases.
“Climate change endangers health and welfare," Burnett said. "The EPA is required to use existing law to reduce greenhouse gases. The sooner we begin addressing it in earnest, the better off we’ll be.”
Burnett predicted that California will get its waiver, either by court order or after the next president--Obama or his Republican opponent, John McCain--takes office.
--Dan Morain
Funny how things go around and come around.
In his initial run for the U.S. Senate in 2004, this fellow Barack Obama, who we seem to be hearing a lot about these days, was on e of the very first beneficiaries of the so-called millionaire’s amendment that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Thursday.
Obama’s main Democratic primary foe that year was Blair Hull, a wealthy investor who poured $28 million of his own money into the campaign.
But under that same national campaign finance law, Hull’s immense personal spending on himself released Obama from the $2,100 per donor cap then in effect.
And it allowed him to raise his own campaign money in increments up to $12,000 per donor.
That national campaign finance law was co-written by another now familiar name, John McCain, the senator from Arizona.
Now, McCain is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who will face Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, on Nov. 4 to become president of these United States. Talk about unintended consequences.
Some analysts believe that Obama might well have lost that crucial first step onto the national political stage without the financial boost he received from McCain's law allowing him to gather....
Read more Sen. Obama might be just Obama without law written by Sen. McCain »
Well, the first of two Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama unity fests went off pretty well tonight in Washington. 
Except for Terry McAuliffe's story about the checks in his pocket. "We will do whatever it takes to win back the White House," clinton told her people.
About 200 of Clinton's top "bundlers," each of them responsible for having collected at least $100Gs for her 17-month-long unsuccessful campaign, gathered at the Mayflower Hotel.
McAuliffe, who talked with The Times' Peter Nicholas outside the closed session, said the goal was: "Get all of our top people together and let him talk to them. Gets them fired up for the general election."
According to Tom McMillen, a former congressman in attendance, the mood inside the ballroom was warm and receptive, especially when Obama pledged to help pay off Clinton's $10+million campaign debt. He said that prompted a standing ovation from the Clinton donors.
McMillen quoted the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee as saying, "Look, I'll enlist my supporters (to pay off the debt). We need to be unified, not distracted."
Obama told the crowd he'd personally given a check to Clinton. And McAuliffe said later he'd received $4,600 in checks, the maximum allowed, from Obama's finance chairman, Penny Pritzker, and her husband.
"I've got two checks in my pocket," McAuliffe said. But when reporters asked to see them,....
Read more Hillary Clinton hands off her top bundler$ to Obama the victor »
Bob Zaltsberg is the editor of the Bloomington Herald-Times and back in April he got the idea to send one of his 12 reporters out on a big story, the passing through southern Indiana of the Barack Obama whirlwind.
They routinely cover campaigns when they're local, but this assignment involved traveling an hour away to Columbus, Ind.
James Boyd was the lucky fellow assigned to get himself over to Columbus, where he boarded the Obama campaign bus on April 11 for the 39-mile ride across to Bloomington and Obama's two quick stops there before Boyd jumped off the campaign to write his story.
The other day a bill arrived from the Obama campaign. It was expected. "We didn't want or expect a free ride," says the good-natured Zaltsberg.
What wasn't expected was the amount -- $438.74, which is about $11.25 a mile. No small sum for a smaller newspaper. (Or a larger one either these days!) For instance, Boyd had a turkey sandwich and cup of soup; cost for that $116.62. (He must have used the pepper to account for the extra 62 cents.)
The bus transportation -- $226.17 -- seemed a little large for less than an hour but it was chartered. Then, the paper got nailed for another $91.41 for something labeled "Files."
The facts are that the increasing costs of covering political campaigns in recent years and declining revenues for many news operations have seen the traveling news media contingents dwindle considerably, even from 2000. This, of course, reduces the independent coverage of candidates seeking the nation's highest elected office and the means of spreading the candidate's message.
With prorated airfares added in, it can cost thousands of dollars a day to maintain a full-time reporter with a major political campaign.
"This was a rare primary," says Zaltsberg, "and thus a rare opportunity for an H-T reporter to travel with a campaign, even for such a short distance."
The editor, who provides an itemized copy of the campaign's bill here, notes that Obama claims he will make Indiana a battleground state come fall.
But if that traveling circus does come back through his newspaper's area, Zaltsberg says, "We'll probably skip the all-inclusive bus package and drive along behind."
-- Andrew Malcolm
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer today defended a California Democrat facing ethics questions over her personal finances, while appearing to downplay his involvement in a fundraiser for her this week.
Rep. Laura Richardson's Sacramento house was sold in a foreclosure last month, according to news reports, and she has gon e into default on properties in San Pedro and Long Beach. She still owed $9,000 in county taxes on the Sacramento house.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram reports that in 1995 Richardson stiffed a local mechanic on a $735 bill to repair her heavily damaged BMW, and then had it towed to another body shop and abandoned it. Then a member of the Long Beach City Council, she began using a city-owned car, according to the Press-Telegram, which she continued to drive for five days after joining the California State Assembly.
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has called on the House Ethics Committee to investigate.
Hoyer, known in political circles as a prodigious fundraiser, is hosting a Capitol Hill event on Wednesday to help Richardson retire her campaign debt. Matthew Hay Brown has the rest of the story over at the Swamp.
-- Andrew Malcolm
That Friday get-together in previously obscure Unity, N.H., featuring Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may well be oozing with goodwill.
First came word earlier today that Bill Clinton, the former president who stumped incessantly for his wife and seemed to take none-too-kindly to her defeat at Obama's hands, soon will be doing his part on behalf of the presumptive Democratic White House nominee.
Tonight came word that Obama would be doing his part to help the Clintons deal with a pressing concern: retire her multimillion-dollar campaign debt.
Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog, in a posting headlined, "Obama: Clearing Clinton's credit cards?", has more of the details.
-- Don Frederick
As the first African American to secure a major-party presidential nomination, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has understandably been the subject of much analysis across the country that focuses on race.
But overlooked is another potential political first: Americans have never sent a Chicagoan to the White House.
And one intriguing question posed by the freshman Illino is senator's candidacy is whether they are ready now.
For all his talk elsewhere about change and his national image as a fervent reformer, Obama on the contrary remains fundamentally a product of a Chicago and Illinois political culture renowned for corruption and filled with curious characters who range from felonious to just outrageous.
Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, Obama's political mentor in the state capital of Springfield, is about as old-school as they come. Just last month, the Chicago Democrat publicly ridiculed an attempt to block another pay raise for state legislators by sarcastically declaring: "I've got to get me some food stamps."
Obama's stable of political friends is broadly populated with others like Jones and the recently convicted Tony Rezko. Revealingly, whenever the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has dabbled in Windy City and Cook County politics in recent years, he has frequently failed to come down on the side of political progressives and reformers.
This little-known side of Obama's political life may well surprise many across the country who see in the well-spoken candidate an entirely different person. Bob Secter and John McCormick have the full story at the Swamp.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Associated Press
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
Former Bear Stearns fund manager Ralph R. Cioffi, who made news in a big way in recent days by being one of the first two investors charged in the latest Wall Street scandal, regularly took time out from his busy schedule to make campaign donations to politicians, most of them Republicans.
But with a few exceptions, Cioffi's political calls weren't particularly shrewd, according to campaign financial data unearthed by The Times' chief money digger, Dan Morain.
In the presidential campaign, he gave $2,300 not to John McCain, Mitt Romney or even to Sam Brownback.
In May 2007, at a time the indictment says he was actively misleading investors, Cioffi donated $2,300 to James Gilmore, the former Virginia governor who didn't even make it through last summer as a GOP presidential candidate and is trailing in the Virginia Senate race these days.
Over the years, Cioffi gave to two Democrats -- $2,000 to former Gen. Wesley Clark in 2003, and $500 to Sen. Bill Bradley in 1999. Those worked out well.
The rest appears to have gone to Republicans, including $4,000 to President George W. Bush's reelection in 2003; $1,000 to former New York Rep. Rick Lazio in 2000 for his run to once and for all stop the emerging political career of someone named Hillary Clinton.
Cioffi also gave $1,000 to Steve Forbes in 1999; and $4,100 to Vermont congressional candidate Martha Rainville in 2006. In 1998, he gave $1,000 to Rudolph Giuliani's mayoral campaign, according to New York City records.
Then on Dec. 4, 2007, Cioffi became interested in much smaller government and turned sort of libertarian, giving $500 to the GOP presidential campaign of Rep. Ron Paul, who calls himself a Republican but ran on the Libertarian presidential ticket in 1988.
Paul is a free market advocate with little use for government regulators. That appears to be Cioffi's final campaign donation, at least according to Federal Election Commission records.
Cioffi's co-defendant, Matthew M. Tannin, evidently did not play politics. And look what it got him.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: AP
Led by chairman Mike Duncan, the Republican National Committee ended May with 13 times more money in the bank than its Democratic counterpart and raised five times as much money in the same time frame.
As The Times' campaign finance guru Dan Morain points out, the sums are significant as presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain squares off against the far more richly funded Sen. Bara ck Obama for the last 136 days of the general election campaign.
Based on the numbers so far, the Republican Party appears poised to act as the financial equalizer in the fall campaign. The RNC disclosed that it ended May with $53.5 million in the bank, compared to $3.9 million for the Democratic National Committee, which is headed by Howard Dean.
Thanks to the continuing GOP popularity and fundraising attraction of President Bush, the RNC continued to vastly out-raise the Democratic Party, amassing $24.4 million just in May.
Of that, it raised $7.1 million in small donations of $200 or less, the so-called unitemized receipts. The RNC raised more in small increments than the DNC’s total take in May of $4.8 million.
McCain himself reported raising slightly more than $21 million on his own, roughly the same as Obama, whose monthly money haul fell by $11 million in May.
Now that Obama has rescinded his signed promise to accept public funds, he's hoping for a substantial dollar boost from onetime supporters of his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Republican National Committee
OK, she doesn't really matter anymore in this throwaway society. But we've got some news on Hillary Clinton's political money matters.
First, although she's no longer running, her campaign debt has grown LARGER.
According to finance numbers submitted by her campaign to the Federal Election Commission late last night, at the end of May the New York senator had a total debt of $22.5 million.
That includes $12.175 million she loaned to herself, according to The Times' Dan Morain.
Altogether, Clinton spent $207 million on her losing 17-month effort. She raised $219 million, including the $10 million she had left over from her 2006 U.S. Senate race.
On Thursday she'll meet in Washington's Mayflower Hotel jointly with Sen. Barack Obama and some of her top donors and attempt to encourage them to start bundling general election campaign donations for her onetime foe, now that he's rescinded his pledge to accept public money.
The next day the two say they will campaign jointly somewhere.
In other political finance news that makes yesterday's welcome paycheck seem suddenly insignificant, Republican Mitt Romney reported giving himself yet another loan -- $2.3 million on May 15, pushing his total personal loans to his unsuccessful Republican campaign to $44.6 million.
Much more of that and we'd be talking serious money.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Associated Press
According to the latest campaign finance reports filed Friday, Rep. Ron Paul, the 72-year-old libertarian-like Republican congressman from Texas who ended his hopeless presidential race recently to focus on a long-shot, long-term revolution, still managed to spend $321,983 on his White House campaign in its last month.
Paul, a Republican who refuses to acknowledge Ariz ona Sen. John McCain as the winner of the GOP nomination, ended May with $4.5 million in the bank after all expenses, according to The Times' diligent Dan Morain, who combs through all these political numbers each month.
Paul's fund-raising slowed significantly in May, at least into his presidential account. He reported receipts of only $133,215, a sharp drop from the nearly $20 million he raised in the fourth quarter of 2007 to lead all GOP presidential candidates.
Altogether, Paul has reported net contributions of $34.34 million since early 2007 and campaign expenditures of $29.97 million. He ended the effort with about 1.1 million primary votes, perhaps 24 delegates, no debt and refused to accept federal matching funds for his primary campaign.
If the 10-term congressman holds on to those delegates for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in early November, that works out to about $1.24 million per delegate, more than moneybags Mitt or New York Rudy spent per delegate won in their losing causes.
Click on the Read more line below to see a detailed accounting of Paul's May spending, which includes $236 for a security hotel room, $14,305.74 for an unidentified credit card payment and $60 for a consultant, which means he wasn't employing Mark Penn.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Eric Thayer / Getty Images
Read more Ron Paul reports spending $322,000 on deceased campaign in May »
Already wallowing in money, and thus having decided he can afford to break his promise to take public funds for this fall's presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama's aides were huddled in Chicago today with some of the top fundraisers for what's-her-name, the New York senator who came oh-so-close to winning the Democratic nod herself.
Obama made the announcement this morning in a video sent to supporters. It makes him the first major party candidate in some 30 years to forgo public funds for the campaig n period between his convention (in late August) and the November election (Nov. 4).
A half-dozen of Hillary Clinton's major contributors, each of them a convert to Obama's cause at her urging, met in the Palmer House in Chicago's Loop today, carefully tracked by The Times' campaign finance guru, Dan Morain. As a bonus gift, the candidate himself showed up for some brief remarks.
Some of those in attendance were John B. Emerson of Capital Guardian Trust Company in Los Angeles, Thomas F. Steyer of Farallon Capital Management in San Francisco and Gary Gensler, who was Treasury undersecretary under President Clinton.
Also attendance were Maureen White, formerly the top fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee, and Michael Coles, who ran for the U.S. Senate from Georgia and is chief executive officer of Caribou Coffee.
Sen. Clinton, meanwhile, has called on 100 of her top bundlers of campaign contributions to meet with her and Obama on June 26 next week at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
It’s part of a precise political minuet, in which Clinton seeks to demonstrate to Obama and the party faithful that she is working on behalf of the Illinois senator's campaign to help Democrats, and Obama is simultaneously trying to woo Clinton’s core backers, some of whom still hold hard feelings about the loss by the first serious female candidate for the White House.
In fact, as Morain found out, not all of her supporters are going along with the Obama campaign.
"I have talked to Hillary three times since the Montana election," said Texas attorney Garry Mauro, a long-time friend of the Clintons, who will be attending the capital gathering. "She is totally upbeat. She says our No. 1 objective is to beat John McCain. There is no feeling sorry. There is no second-guessing."
But Morain has discovered not all Clinton donors have found it so easy to change political allegiances this quickly or easily. And they intend to skip the event, the first time the new Democratic champion and the woman he vanquished will appear together in public since Clinton surrendered in a speech to her supporters nearly two weeks ago.
In an e-mail exchange, Hollywood billionaire investor Haim Saban, who heads the Spanish language Univision network and has been a long-time, big-time supporter of Clinton's (see photo), was asked if he would be traveling to Washington for the event next week.
His terse reply: "No."
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo Credit: Newsday
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current schedule for John McCain's campaign, you'll still notice something very revealing:
