DENVER, Colo. -- Just now, at a panel discussion with Barack Obama's foreign policy team: Adam Smith, Tony Lake, Richard Danzig, Susan Rice, Greg Craig, Gayle Smith; hosted by the National Democratic Institute; Rice, when summarizing Obama's foreign policy ideas, made a derogatory aside about John McCain's call for a "league of democracies." Whereupon Lake, dispatched a mildly worded but unmistakable rebuke before the audience: "Senator Obama has not taken a position on a concert of democracies, and I think a campaign is not the place to work it out."

Let the ideological jockeying begin!

P.S. -- Rice's comments just now marked the sixth time (but who's counting?) this week that I've heard a speaker refer to Obama's vice-presidential pick as "Senator Obiden." The portmanteau inspired a round of guffaws from a small Irish delegation brought here by NDI. My guess is that it's only a matter of time before "Obiden" becomes conservative shorthand for the Democratic ticket. I'll keep my ears open for it in Minneapolis next week during the GOP convention.