A round-up of this morning's must-read stories. 

MCCAIN-OBAMA SO FAR: POSITIVELY NEGATIVE
(Dan Balz, Washington Post)
Since Obama (D-Ill.) wrapped up the Democratic nomination a few weeks ago, he and McCain (R-Ariz.) have served up a series of indignant exchanges over foreign policy, terrorism, the economy, energy and campaign money. Their aides have gone further, with snarling put-downs in conference calls and taunting e-mails that flow constantly out of the Chicago and Crystal City headquarters. McCain has given a series of policy speeches, and Obama is beginning to do the same. Whatever substance they may contain has been buried in negative counterattacks from the opposing camp, designed to turn ideas into stereotypes and candidates into caricatures. In the hands of Obama's advisers, McCain is nothing more than the third coming of President Bush. To McCain's staff, Obama is merely a liberal, naive, arrogant extension of what Democrats have been offering for years. Gone in the early stages of this campaign is any sense of the uniqueness of the nominees. But those realities have been submerged beneath a tactical shouting match that feeds the cable culture of contemporary politics. Don't blame the media for this. The campaigns have deliberately adopted postures of hyperaggressiveness to set the early tone. The testosterone levels appear extremely high. 

DEMOCRATS IN DELICATE TALKS TO UNIFY PARTY
(Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny, New York Times)
With the help of one of Washington’s best-connected lawyers, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are negotiating a thicket of complicated issues, like how to repay Mrs. Clinton’s campaign debt and her role at the Democratic convention. The talks come as they try to leave behind their intense rivalry and work out a plan to cooperate this fall. At Mrs. Clinton’s request, the lawyer, Robert B. Barnett, who has brokered multimillion-dollar book deals for clients including Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton and Bill Clinton, is working to hash out questions large and small as the two camps work toward a political merger. Perhaps the thorniest question — what to do about Bill Clinton, who friends say continues to refight the bitter primary fight — has yet to be raised by either side, advisers said. On some levels, the melding of the two operations is moving ahead relatively smoothly. Mrs. Clinton will introduce some of her top donors to Mr. Obama on Thursday night in Washington, and on Friday the two of them will appear together at a rally in Unity, N.H. Mr. Obama is in talks to hire one of Mrs. Clinton’s most prominent advisers — Neera Tanden, her policy director — and has hired and dispatched a few of Mrs. Clinton’s field operatives to work in Missouri and Ohio. But nearly three weeks after Mrs. Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed Mr. Obama, some loyalists, especially on the Clinton side, are having trouble moving on.

A WINNING STRATEGY FOR MCCAIN
(Todd Domke, Boston Globe)
Polls show growing support for Barack Obama, for Democrats generally, and for change. And since Obama broke his public financing pledge he'll have much more money than McCain for advertising. How can McCain change the dynamic of this race? The simple answer is that he must be the maverick McCain of 2000 - a straight-talking, bipartisan-solutions reformer. The more profound answer is that he must deserve to win. Run on reform. He should base his candidacy on a platform of compelling solutions. Promise to serve only one term. McCain would change the political calculus if he pledged to devote full-time to enacting reforms and protecting the public, rather than trying to win reelection. Fire lobbyists from the campaign. McCain should make clear that he will not be indebted to any lobbyists - including those who are campaign "volunteers." Pick a presidential vice president. If McCain takes the one-term pledge, his VP choice needs to be credible as a would-be president. The running mate should have impressive experience, a sincere commitment to implementing the McCain reform platform, and a reputation for honesty. Be a leader in improving race relations.

THE OBAMACONS WHO WORRY MCCAIN
(Robert Novak, Washington Post)
What is an "Obamacon?"... All "conservative supporters" of the Democratic presidential candidate. Their ranks, though growing, feature few famous people. But looming on the horizon are two big potential Obamacons: Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel. Neither Powell, first-term secretary of state for George W. Bush, nor Hagel, retiring after two terms as a U.S. senator from Nebraska, has endorsed Obama. Hagel probably never will. Powell probably will enter Obama's camp at a time of his own choosing. The best bet is that neither of the two, both of whom supported President Bush in 2000 and 2004, will back John McCain in 2008. Powell, Hagel and lesser-known Obamacons harbor no animosity toward McCain. Nor do they show much affection for the rigidly liberal Obama. The Obamacon syndrome is based on hostility to Bush and his administration and on revulsion over today's Republican Party. The danger for McCain is that desire for a therapeutic electoral bloodbath could get out of control.

THE GREENEST SHOW ON EARTH
(Stephanie Simon, Wall Street Journal)
As the Mile High City gears up to host a Democratic bash for 50,000, organizers are discovering the perils of trying to stage a political spectacle that's also politically correct. Consider the fanny packs. The host committee for the Democratic National Convention wanted 15,000 fanny packs for volunteers. But they had to be made of organic cotton. By unionized labor. In the USA. Official merchandiser Bob DeMasse scoured the country. His weary conclusion: "That just doesn't exist." Ditto for the baseball caps. "We have a union cap or an organic cap," Mr. DeMasse says. "But we don't have a union-organic offering. Much of the hand-wringing can be blamed on Denver's Democratic mayor, John Hickenlooper, who challenged his party and his city to "make this the greenest convention in the history of the planet." Convention organizers hired the first-ever Director of Greening, longtime environmental activist Andrea Robinson. Her response to the mayor's challenge: "That terrifies me!" After all, the last time Democrats met in Denver -- to nominate William Jennings Bryan in 1908 -- they dispatched horse-drawn wagons to bring snow from the Rocky Mountains to cool the meeting hall. Ms. Robinson suspected modern-day delegates would prefer air conditioning. So she quickly modified the mayor's goal: She'd supervise "the most sustainable political convention in modern American history."

FAITHFUL IN PEWS MIGHT NOT BE VOTERS IN NOVEMBER
(Philip Elliott, Associated Press)
If Christian conservatives stay on the sidelines during the fall campaign, presidential hopeful John McCain probably stays in the Senate. Christian conservatives provided much of the on-the-ground, door-to-door activity for President Bush's 2004 re-election in Ohio and in other swing states. Without them, the less-organized and lower-profile McCain campaign is likely to struggle to replicate Bush's success. And so far, there's been scant sign that the Republican nominee-in-waiting is making inroads among these fervent believers.

WHY TV ADS ARE A WASTE OF MONEY
(Steven Stark, Boston Phoenix)
With his decision to forgo public funding, Barack Obama can raise as much as he wants, giving him a huge financial advantage in the fall campaign. If he spends that cash on organization, registration, and get-out-the-vote efforts, he will absolutely get his money's worth. But if he spends a major portion of it on television advertising, he will only be doing John McCain a favor. That's because the era of TV advertising in presidential general elections is over. It expired without anyone's really realizing it, a victim of a new media age -- and terrible implementation. In truth, TV ads have never been that important in presidential general elections (as opposed to the primary process). They're rarely very good, and voters have always had many other competing, and more credible, sources of information out there. After all, if there's one thing Americans know how to do, it's how to watch TV ads with a jaundiced eye.

JOHN MCCAIN DOESN'T WORK WEEKENDS
(Jonathan Martin, Politico)
Since effectively capturing the Republican nomination when Mitt Romney dropped out of the race on February 7, John McCain has held just one public campaign event on a weekend. Instead, after workweeks full of fundraisers, town hall meetings and interviews, McCain has been, in campaign parlance, “down” on nearly every Saturday or Sunday for 20 weeks, largely sequestered away from the news media. He’s usually spending time with family, friends and campaign advisers at residences in Arlington, Va., Phoenix or vacation homes near Sedona, Arizona, and San Diego. That isn't to say McCain is kicking back and relaxing every weekend. He’s hosted reporters and donors on separate occasions at his Arizona cabin, done a guest turn on Saturday Night Live and visited troops in both Iraq and at Walter Reed hospital. Yet aside from an April rally on the steps of the courthouse in Prescott, Arizona, McCain has done little to capture media attention on weekends for nearly five months.  McCain aides say that they made a conscious decision after it became clear that they had won the nomination to use weekends primarily to return their candidate to his preferred surroundings in Arizona and to have him rest, bone up on policy, and meet privately with aides, advisers, contributors and other prominent officials. 

TOP MCCAIN ADVISER HAS FOUND SUCCESS MIXING MONEY, POLITICS
(Matthew Mosk, Washington Post) 
As Sen. John McCain's top presidential campaign adviser, Richard H. "Rick" Davis has worked for almost a year without compensation, telling reporters that the sacrifice shows his dedication to the cash-strapped Arizona Republican. He also took a protracted leave from his Washington lobbying firm to distance himself from ethical questions. But in the eight years since Davis first managed a McCain campaign, his relationship with the senator has been a lucrative commodity. He and his lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, have earned handsome fees representing clients who need McCain's help in the Senate. He also has made money from a panoply of McCain-related entities, some of which have operated from the upscale riverfront office space that houses his lobbying shop. In all, Davis, his firm and a company he helped start have earned at least $2.2 million in part through their close association with McCain, his campaign and his causes, according to a review of federal campaign, tax and lobbyist disclosure records. Their relationship is typical of the symbiotic ties that have come to define the culture of the nation's capital. Last summer, Davis provided McCain free tactical advice that rescued his White House bid and helped him clinch the GOP nomination. In the political offseason, Davis turned the relationship into a business asset.

MORE PHONY MYTHS
(Maureen Dowd, New York Times)
This was Rove’s take on Obama to Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club Monday, according to Christianne Klein of ABC News: “Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.” Rove is trying to spin his myths, as he used to do with such devastating effect, but it won’t work this time. The absurd spectacle of rich white conservatives trying to paint Obama as a watercress sandwich with the crust cut off seems ugly and fake. Obama can be aloof and dismissive at times, and he’s certainly self-regarding, carrying the aura of the Ivy faculty club. But isn’t that better than the aura of the country clubs that tried to keep out blacks?... Unlike W., Obama doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder and he doesn’t make a lot of snarky remarks. He tries to stay on a positive keel and see things from the other person’s point of view. He’s not Richie Rich, saved time and again by Daddy’s influence and Daddy’s friends, the one who got waved into Yale and Harvard and cushy business deals, who drank too much and snickered at the intellectuals and gave them snide nicknames. Obama is the outsider who never really knew his dad and who grew up in modest circumstances, the kid who had to work hard to charm whites and build a life with blacks and step up to the smarty-pants set.