Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

Here's the latest dispatch from my NEWSWEEK colleague Richard Wolffe, who's reporting from Barack Obama's globetrotting roadshow:

One of the tests for Barack Obama on this week's foreign trip is how well he navigates the crosscurrents of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So on a day when he traveled from the Palestinian president's office in Ramallah to the rocket-shelled Israeli town of Sderot, how did he do?

First, the day was not gaffe-free. Answering an Israeli reporter's question in Sderot, he was confused about which Senate committee he served on. "Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee—which is my committee—a bill to call for divestment from Iran as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon," he said. Just one problem: he actually sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
 
It wasn't Obama's only mistake of the press conference, held in front of a pile of spent rocket shells that were launched from Gaza into Sderot. When pressed about his pledge, in an earlier Democratic debate, to talk directly to the leaders of rogue states without preconditions, Obama recalled a different response. "I think that what I said in response was that I would at my time and choosing be willing to meet with any leader if I thought it would promote the national-security interests of the United States of America," he explained. "And that continues to be my position." While Obama did indeed explain his pledge in those terms, that nuanced response came much later than the initial debate, held a year ago.

Knowing he'd be under a microscope, Obama had clearly prepared carefully for the trip—so why did he trip up? He gave a clue to the Likud Party's Benjamin Netanyahu, at the start of the day's meetings with Israeli leaders. After an intense five days of travel to Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq and Jordan, Obama—like the rest of his staff and press corps—is exhausted. When Netanyahu asked how he was feeling, Obama said, "I could fall asleep standing up."

Still, those were the only blemishes on an otherwise robust day of repeated commitments to Israel's security and the close alliance between the United States and Israel. In Sderot, he turned an expression of support for the terrorized town into something more personal. "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep every night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that," he said. "I would expect Israel to do the same thing."

READ THE REST HERE. 
 

Suzanne Smalley files onscene with McCain in Pennsylvania:

When John McCain descended on a Bethlehem, Penn. grocery store late yesterday afternoon, the unscheduled campaign stop, meant to highlight McCain's concern over skyrocketing food prices, instead quickly became a theater for the absurd. First, a cameraman knocked over several glass jars of Mott's applesauce, which rolled near McCain's feet as he posed for a bevy of cameras while strolling the grocery aisles. Then, the senator's hastily assembled press conference, held in front of a perishable food case labeled "Dairy Delights," was interrupted by the scream of the store's P.A. system announcing a staffer had a phone call. Finally, there was the fact that Renee Gould, the young mother McCain had an extended chat with about the high price of tomatoes and milk, was not a random shopper, but an area resident funneled to the campaign by the local Republican Party.  Gould's admission (a reporter cornered her and asked how she came to be there) was ultimately not all that surprising. Even with the amusing mishaps, the entire event came off as canned, and McCain—whose discomfort with the phoniness required by politics has always been evident—spent most of his time shifting uncomfortably.

Still, McCain did what he could to stick to his message, reading from a note card in his hand as he told reporters gathered for the dairy aisle press conference that, "Among other challenges that American families face: The price of a gallon of milk just went over $4 a gallon." McCain, who has tried to focus more on domestic issues recently, also lamented that high oil prices are trickling down to other sectors of the economy and driving up the cost of food. But the senator's effort to set a tone for the press conference was ignored by members of the press, who were not interested in discussing food prices. Instead, reporters hammered McCain on recent foreign policy gaffes; his feelings about the intense attention being paid to Barack Obama's foreign trip; policy toward Israel; and his vice presidential search. (When pressed on the last point, McCain allowed that top contenders Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, are "the future of the Republican party, the next generation of leadership").

After the press conference, McCain made his way back to the front of the store, where Gould was unloading her groceries with the help of her husband and two young daughters. The senator stood awkwardly next to her and again tried to make stilted small talk about the high price of food. Gould coyly asked, "You're going to be my bagger?" McCain didn't, in fact, bag and seemed to be searching for conversation topics, even as he looked into a field of cameras. Gould's bill came to $105, which she noted is more than she used to pay.

McCain was a hit with the crowd, but the stampeding media was not. Most in the crowd seemed to take the side of the stern campaign staffers demanding reporters stay at least six feet from the senator. "They're rude," one woman could be heard saying about the reporters, who were camped out with boom mikes and note pads fighting for prime real estate with a view of McCain. Other shoppers were merely dumbfounded to show up for groceries mid-afternoon and find a presidential candidate on the stump with a full entourage of cameras. "It's kind of weird with all this media here," said Amber Huff, 23, looking around in a daze. But Huff had a camera of her own and documented the moment by taking a photo of McCain with her hot pink cell phone. Shoppers in Kalamazoo, Toledo and Reno take note—campaign staffers say they plan to start making many more such stops in the near future.
 

Suzanne Smalley files this report from the McCain roadshow:

John McCain may not be the shoot from the hip maverick of old, but he hasn’t lost his sense of humor. After a long day of loading on and off buses and planes, a press wrangler tonight told reporters the campaign had a “surprise” gift, adding that it is one that campaign officials, at least, consider “pretty funny.” With that, the staffer walked down the aisle and handed out laminated press ID cards emblazoned with the words “McCain Press Corps JV Squad” underneath a photo of the Statue of Liberty. The caption? “Left behind to report in America.” The reverse side of the ID offered a French translation of the same text along with a picture of a beret wearing pseudo-Frenchman pouring a glass of wine. Mon Dieu!

The “gift” was the latest in a succession of not so subtle hints that the McCain camp is displeased with the coverage of Barack Obama’s foreign trip. With Obama earning largely positive reviews abroad, McCain spent today fighting back. The Arizona senator slammed his rival for opposing the surge in troops that McCain famously backed when it wasn’t politically popular to do so.  He ridiculed Obama for never having met David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, before this trip. And he suggested that Obama must not understand what is happening in Iraq since he is refusing to acknowledge recent success there. But even with his campaign’s increasingly well-honed message, the Arizona senator has faced difficulty waging the debate on his terms. As the situation in Iraq improves, most Americans are focused on their desire for the war to end, a discussion that favors Obama. That reality, however, hasn’t stopped McCain from trying to redefine the conversation.

“This is a clear choice the American people have,” McCain told a crowd of about 400 gathered at a town hall meeting in Rochester, New Hampshire yesterday afternoon. “I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign then lose a war. It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.” The inclusion of the phrase “in order to” sparked much chatter amongst the press corps traveling with McCain, who sit in town hall meeting after town hall meeting, often without hearing anything discernibly different. McCain’s words yesterday in New Hampshire—the state is in many ways a second home to the Arizona senator, having twice brought McCain’s political fortunes back from the dead—clearly represented a ratcheting up of his rhetoric. Add to the mix newly leaked reports of a McCain veep pick this week and it’s hard not to conclude that the McCain camp has an aggressive strategy for staking its claim to this news cycle. (Conservative columnist Bob Novak is on record saying he feels “used” by what he now thinks was a deliberate ruse by the McCain camp to gin up buzz for their candidate by leaking him bad information about McCain announcing his vice president this week. The alleged tactic comes as McCain’s team openly gripes about what they view as a media juggernaut bolstering Obama’s prospects with fawning coverage of his foreign trip).

You can’t blame the McCain camp for battling hard on many fronts. McCain can’t afford to cede any ground to Obama this week. According to recent polls, McCain is well ahead of Obama when it comes to voters’ perception of who is a stronger commander in chief. But McCain’s advanced age, lack of speaking polish and admitted weakness on the economy make it especially critical for him to maintain his edge on national security issues. To that end, McCain spoke extensively about Obama’s opposition to the surge yesterday. “My opponent said the surge would not succeed, that he wanted us out. If he had had his way we would have been out last March, we would have never done the surge, we would never have succeeded, and we would have had defeat,” McCain said at the town hall meeting, which was held inside a small opera house in downtown Rochester. Expect McCain to continue flogging the same message today when he takes advantage of Obama’s absence by barnstorming through the key swing state of Pennsylvania, with stops scheduled in Wilkes-Barre, Allentown, and Bethlehem.

For reporters on McCain’s plane the message discipline has its downside. McCain’s schedule has been tightly controlled with little of the freewheeling access that was once the norm. A small group of national reporters rotate covering press availabilities that are largely dedicated to answering questions from local reporters. Much of the senator’s time is also spent raising money. Yesterday a plane full of reporters flew to Baltimore solely so the senator could attend a fundraiser. Except for a small group of pool reporters, the press corps whiled away the evening at Mo’s Fisherman’s Seafood Factory, where the jumbo lump crab cakes were as big as baseballs. Some days may be slow, but at least they know how to feed us.
 

My NEWSWEEK colleague Richard Wolffe reports from Obama's overseas entourage (watch for additional dispatches throughout the week): 

Standing opposite the Roman ruins of a Temple to Hercules, Barack Obama did a public high-wire act on Tuesday: undertaking to answer a week's worth of complex foreign policy questions without making any campaign-threatening stumbles.

The press conference atop the ancient Citadel in Amman, Jordan, was Obama's first session with the press since he flew to Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq last week. In the last four days, he has enjoyed at least two measures of good fortune that have helped him stay on course.

First, the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, effectively endorsed Obama's 16-month timeframe for withdrawing from Iraq, suggesting the end of 2010 as an end-date for U.S. troops to leave. Maliki's office half-heartedly tried to backtrack on that support for a similar timeline, under pressure from the White House, but then wound up talking anew about a date certain. His interjection makes it much harder for McCain to argue that Obama's withdrawal plan is reckless.

Second, Obama got some priceless photo ops-alongside Gen. David Petraeus on a helicopter tour of Iraq, and eating alongside the troops in the Middle East. Those images give Obama ammunition to use in combating one of John McCain's major criticisms of the Democratic contender-that he lacks the foreign policy experience necessary for success in the White House.

But those advantages didn't prevent Obama from looking wobbly once in awhile. He was pressed repeatedly by Jordanian reporters about his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ahead of his travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah on Wednesday. When asked about U.S. support for Israel, Obama intended to send a strong message that the United States would remain supportive of its ally. Instead his response came out this way. "Well let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's," he declared. "It will be a strong friend of Israel's under a McCain administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under an Obama administration. So that policy isn't going to change."

Obama's most challenging question, asked in several different formulations, was about his approach to the commanders on the ground in Iraq. If the commanders, especially Gen. Petraeus, told him this wasn't the right time to leave Iraq, would he ignore them?

"In his role as commander on the ground, not surprisingly, he wants to retain as much flexibility as possible in terms of accomplishing that goal," Obama began. "What I emphasized to him was, you know, if I were in his shoes, I'd probably feel the same way. But my job as a candidate for president and a potential commander in chief extends beyond Iraq."

Obama repeatedly dodged the question. Instead of a choice between listening to Petraeus and taking his own advice, Obama spoke about the competing demands on a commander-in-chief: whether it would be more pressing to send more troops to Afghanistan or spend more money at home.

Seated beside him in the searing heat and dust were his two travel buddies, Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.). The two will not be traveling on to Israel and Europe; going forward, Obama exits the military aircraft (used as part of a congressional fact-finding tour) and takes a seat aboard his newly-repainted campaign plane.

But the bipartisan duo's presence in the battle zone helped to underscore Obama's call for the U.S. to move beyond political conflict-especially where national security is concerned. "Regardless of who becomes the next president, Democrat or Republican, I think we're all going to have to strip away the ideology, we're going to have to strip away the politics," Obama said. "The issues are too serious, and reality is reasserting itself."

Obama's balancing act won't get any easier as he heads to Israel Tuesday night. McCain has done his best to try to step on Obama's publicity; the Republican, mindful of the fact that a sizable chunk of the campaign press corps is paying special attention to his rival this week, has been pounding Obama for saying that if he had it to do over again, he would still oppose the Bush administration-backed surge. And McCain's camp has even let flower rumors that he may be on the verge of picking a vice-presidential candidate this week-a move that would certainly spin the spotlight back McCain's way.

READ THE REST HERE.
 

 
Thaier al-Sudani / Getty Images-pool

Here's a dispatch from Larry Kaplow and Lennox Samuels in Baghdad: 

Sen. Barack Obama got a red-carpet greeting in the Green Zone. The Democratic presidential contender, who was in Baghdad Monday, was seated one-on-one with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at the end of his marble-lined salon, while Obama's senate colleagues sat at the side with the aides. But the greatest gesture of Iraqi hospitality came just after Obama and the Americans had zipped off in their convoy of armored SUVs. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told a scrum of the assembled press that the Iraqi government hopes U.S. combat troops can go home by the end of 2010 – perhaps leaving advisers and trainers behind. It puts the Iraqis' schedule – or at least in their publicly-stated preference—close to the mid-2010 date that Obama has proposed. And it is a timeline–something the Bush administration has opposed until just last Friday, when it allowed that a "time horizon" might be plausible.

Maliki aides brushed off questions about whether the date was discussed by the prime minister and the presidential contender during their talks. Also sitting in the meeting were key administration figures on IraqU.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and top adviser for Iraq David Satterfield, as well as Republican Senator Chuck Hagel and Democratic Senator Jack Reed, D-RI. But the 2010 timeline seemed to catch embassy staff off guard later as they called back to verify the comment when NEWSWEEK requested an American response. They could be expected to be a little frustrated. Maliki's office had spent much of the weekend trying to clarify his stand on troop withdrawals after a German magazine reported that he endorsed Obama's timeframe – an apparent break with President George W. Bush, who has been a staunch Maliki supporter.

There's growing support within Maliki's Shiite Muslim constituency for a timetable on a U.S. departure as the government seeks to consolidate power without interference from outside. But Maliki surely also realizes that, for now, he relies on American backing—most recently seen in March with the crucial support U.S. troops gave his forces when they faced tough fighting the southern city of Basra. Maliki could also be hedging his bets in case Obama is the next president.

Either way, perhaps it's no surprise that Obama strode out of the hour-long meeting with Maliki calling it "a very constructive discussion." The candidate made no other comment at the time but was expected to do a television interview later tonight—perhaps the only in-depth exchange he will have with media while on the Iraq leg of this week's Middle East and European tour.

READ THE REST HERE.  
 

SPC Jeff Cole, 21, takes a break at a small outpost in eastern Baghdad / Photo: David Botti

Over at Checkpoint Baghdad and Soldier's Home, my fellow NEWSWEEK bloggers Larry Kaplow (our Baghdad bureau chief) and David Botti (a Marine-turned-embedded-reporter) just filed dispatches on what the soldiers and citizens in Iraq think of Barack Obama, who arrived in the country this morning and will spend the day meeting with commanders on the ground. Both reports are fascinating. I've included excerpts below, but I encourage you to click through and check out the blogs in their entirety.

1. WHEN OBAMA COMES MARCHING OVER
(David Botti, Soldier's Home)
For U.S. Army soldiers at a small outpost in the Beladiat section of eastern Baghdad, hardly anyone even knew he was coming.  Until three weeks ago they were without Internet access.  Two months ago, back at their main base, a deadly rocket attack knocked all of the flat screen TVs off the mess hall walls, leaving them with no television.  And even if they do have a moment to check on the status of the presidential campaigns, no one here gives it much of a thought. "When I'm not doing anything for the Army, I'm trying to sleep," said twenty-year-old PFC Cory Kenfield, who pointed out he's been deployed in Iraq for most of the campaign season.  

In fact, by the time these soldiers return home (the newest rumor is January or February), the United States may already have a new president – and a new policy on Iraq. Until then it’s business as usual. Over the past few nights the soldiers have been involved in two raids on suspected militia members.  They’ve installed a new air conditioner for their spartan living quarters.  They’ve found themselves disciplined by their platoon sergeant, and made plans for an upcoming re-supply. The biggest news on this particular day seemed to be that a coffee shop opened back at their main base to replace the one damaged by a deadly rocket attack in April.

After hearing of Obama's intended arrival, some said they simply didn't care about politics.  Others, like 21-year-old Specialist Jeff Cole, didn't see how it would affect their day-to-day lives as a platoon of infantryman partnered with a unit of Iraqi National Police. "It's good for his campaign, but it doesn't really matter for us," he said. Cole, like most of his other comrades, followed up his answer with a question of his own: “where’s Obama going to be in Iraq?”  If Obama's visit were to have any impact on the troops, the soldiers all agreed, it would depend on where in Iraq he goes.   "He'll probably go to the Green Zone and say he hung out with the troops.  When really all he'd be doing is hanging out with mechanics and colonels," PFC Cory Kenfield said of the general absence of infantry troops in the Green Zone. "If he actually comes out here with us, I'll just laugh," chimed in eighteen-year-old PFC Daniel Mullineaux, as he grabbed a water bottle from a refrigerator that barely cools.

Sergeant Eric Chan joked that the only reason he’d go see Obama speak was if the speech were actually given in the comparatively posh and safe Green Zone, far away from the garbage-strewn lots, half-built houses, and perpetually barking packs of stray dogs that comprise the platoon’s area of operations.  Chan, a wiry 25-year-old veteran of Afghanistan on his first tour in Iraq, saw Obama’s visit as being more meaningful for the folks back home.  “To the people in the States I think it's a good thing to see a possible future president come out here,” Chan said.  “It's good for future leaders to see what's going on – to see what they're not used to.  It's like, being a leader you’ve got to step up, and he's stepping up.”

Further up Charlie Company’s chain of command, First Sergeant Brian Disque also saw Obama’s visit as being primarily a opportunity for the candidate to educate himself. “When I hear certain peoples’ interpretations of what’s going on in Iraq, it concerns me,” Disque said. The first sergeant figured once Obama gets to Iraq, and sees the types of progress being made here, the senator may have to take back some of his criticisms of the war – a move Disque thinks could make him look like a flip-flopper.

No matter where Obama ends up in Iraq, or what he actually says, none of the soldiers saw the visit as something to give more than a passing thought.  Sergeant Mario Garcia, who was born and raised in Ecuador, said because of that country’s own political problems he’s developed a mistrust of all politicians. Then the 25-year-old paused for a moment. “I guess it's good for Obama to see how much progress is in Iraq right now,” Garcia said quietly.  “Maybe he'll say: 'alright it's time to get these guys outta here.'”

Botti served as a Marine in Iraq in 2003. He returned last week as an embedded reporter and is blogging about the changes in the country at NEWSWEEK's Soldier's Home.

AFTER THE JUMP: Larry Kaplow on what Iraqis think of Obama...

What follows is the pool report--a dispatch circulated among reporters who can't attend an event--from Obama's overnight trip to Afghanistan. It's written by John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune. The most newsworthy part is when Obama--clearly aware that Republicans want to portray him as presumptuous--makes sure to remind us that he's "going over there as a U.S. senator" and is "more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking." These reports should be coming in all week, and I'm considering posting as many as possible. I think they'll provide a nice, factual, behind-the-scenes look at the trip. Let me know if you're interested in reading more.

The motorcade left Sen. Obama’s home in Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood at 11:11 a.m. There was one Chicago Police Department patrol car, followed by two SUVs, a sedan and a press van. Riding in the press van were agent Jill, Sam, John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune and Glen Johnson of The Associated Press. The motorcade headed north on Lake Shore Drive to I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) and toward MDW. The CPD blocked traffic for our turn onto the western perimeter of the airfield, where we arrived at 11:31 a.m. Waiting on the tarmac was a Gulfstream III (G3) executive jet (tail number N366JA). We exited our respective vehicles at 11:34 a.m.
 
The crew was waiting outside for the senator’s arrival and a few photos with him near a wing. He was wearing tan slacks and a short black jacket. After fishing around in the back of one of the SUVs for his luggage (he seemed especially to be checking his suits inside a garment bag), he was on the bird by 11:36 a.m. Also getting on the plane were eight Secret Service agents and the two reporters. The senator briefly greeted us as we walked past his seat in the forward section. Seated near him was senior spokeswoman Linda Douglass, the only staff member on the flight.
 
After everyone found a seat on the crowded plane, the pilot announced that the flying time would be between 80 and 85 minutes. All seemed eager for him to start the engines, since the plane had been sitting under a hot sun and the cabin temperature was likely somewhere in the 90s. Sweat had begun to roll down the faces of some of the agents.“We’re just easing you into it,” Obama told his bodyguards, referring to the heat and the desert weather they would all be traveling to in the coming days.

CONTINUED AFTER THE JUMP...

 
Spotted by NEWSWEEK's own Holly Bailey in John McCain's seat on board his campaign plane Thursday afternoon: "The Return of History and the End of Dreams" by Robert Kagan, neoconservative thinker and informal McCain adviser. 

In case you're curious, Kagan is "a hate figure for large sections of the left... [who] has been blamed for many things, prominent among them being one of the intellectual authors and cheerleaders for the US-led war in Iraq." His slim volume is essentially an extended essay on how "autocracy is making a comeback" and how "the new era, rather than being a time of 'universal values,' will be one of growing tensions and sometimes confrontation between the forces of democracy and the forces of autocracy." Here's how New York Times chief Washington correspondent David E. Sanger summarized Kagan's argument in his recent review: "The cold war may be over, but anyone who thinks the result was really 'the end of history' — a consensus that liberal democracy is the future — should take another look." Like his fellow neocons, Kagan boasts "an untrammeled faith in democracy as an engine of peace," so his prescription for dealing with resurgent autocracies in "a world where the United Nations Security Council is 'hopelessly paralyzed' and NATO is happiest parachuting into territory where there is little chance of hearing gunfire," as Sanger puts it, is a something called a "league of democracies."

If you've been following the campaign at all, this should sound familiar. On March 26, McCain gave a speech on foreign policy in Los Angeles that was billed as his most comprehensive statement on the subject. The centerpiece? A league of democracies. In his address, McCain proposed that the United States expel Russia and exclude China from the G8, the group of advanced industrial countries, and take in both India and Brazil, creating a group that would, in the words of my NEWSWEEK colleague Fareed Zakaria, "presumably play the role that the United Nations now does, except that all nondemocracies would be cast outside the pale." Fareed, for one, is not a fan. Calling the McCain/Kagan proposal "the most radical idea put forward by a major candidate for the presidency in 25 years," he questioned how the League of Democracies would fight terrorism while excluding countries like Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and Singapore; secure loose nukes without Russia's cooperation; and coordinate problems of the emerging global economy by putting China on the sidelines.

Maybe you disagree. That's fine. The point is, Kagan is "one of the few foreign policy intellectuals that [McCain] seems to respect." So much so, in fact, that the senator now seems to be rereading "The Return of History." (Judging by his effusive blurb on the book's back flap--"important, timely, superbly-written"--he has already read it at least once.) As the political press spends its newsless summer obsessing over cartoons and "nuts" and Obama's excessive exercising, it'd probably benefit every serious voter--that is, every voter serious enough to wonder how a President McCain would alter American foreign policy--to crack its cover as well.
 

 

By Holly Bailey

For a candidate trying hard to stay on message, it’s always the unscripted moments tell you most about John McCain. The presumptive GOP nominee was in San Diego Monday, where he spoke before the National Council of La Raza. The group, which heard from Barack Obama on Sunday, is considered one of the most influential Latino groups in the country and has been heavily courted by both Democrats and Republicans hoping to make inroads with Hispanic voters this fall. There was no big news in McCain’s speech. As he does before most Latino audiences, McCain talked up his experience as a border state senator and his support for immigration reform—noting that he did so even when it wasn’t the best move for him politically. And he dinged Obama for not doing the same. “Senator Obama declined to cast some of those tough votes,” McCain told the group, even as he insisted he wasn’t there to “criticize” his opponent but that he felt the need to “correct the record.” (Here’s McCain’s full remarks, as released by the campaign.)

But it was what happened after the speech that was the most notable moment of the day. McCain, who continues to talk up his idea of joint town halls with Obama, decided to take questions from the audience after his remarks. After fielding several questions, many not so friendly, McCain was about to take another when he was interrupted by one of the organizers, who announced over the PA system they were out of time. As he often does when his own staff tries to wrap up an event, McCain shook off the intrusion like a pitcher defying his catcher and took the next question. But NCLR reps, trying to keep the event on time, just wouldn’t be stopped. While McCain was answering the question, one of the organizers took away the microphone audience members had been using to talk to McCain. When the senator finished his answer and saw the microphone was gone, a look of annoyance flashed on his face. And then, McCain simply threw his own microphone into the audience, calling for one last question. It’s a move that’s trademark McCain. In the run up to Super Tuesday, the senator often rebelled against his staff, who packed his schedule with quick airport rallies rather than his preferred town halls.

At one rally, McCain decided to have his own impromptu town hall, handing his microphone into the audience. “We just have time for a couple,” McCain said, as his staff exchanged glances. Then, as now, it’s almost always those unscripted McCain moments that produce the most newsworthy moments on the trail, which is a challenge for a campaign that’s been criticized lately for lacking a coherent message. But what do you do when you have a candidate whose natural tendency—and, frankly, his reputation—is all about going off script? It’s a balance that Team McCain is still trying to find.
 

NEW YORK--"Signed, sealed and delivered"? Not quite.

Wrapping up a 25-minute speech last night before an audience of 1,000 loyal Big Apple donors at the Grand Hyatt Hotel--a speech in which he praised former rival and local favorite Sen. Hillary Clinton as an "extraordinary," "tough" woman who "wore [him] out"--Barack Obama appeared to think his work was done. After all, he'd finished his signature remarks, delivered his signature sign-off ("We will change the world!") and slipped offstage to the sound of his signature exit song (the aforementioned Stevie Wonder soul classic). He was mistaken--which is why, a moment after it began, the music screeched to a halt and the candidate reappeared at the mic. “Hold on a second guys," he said as the crowd filed out. "I was getting all carried away. I’ve got one more thing that is important.“

Obama, it seems, had completely forgotten to mention the main reason for the soiree, which he was supposed to do, according to aides, right after he lavished praise on the former first lady--that is, helping Hillary pay off some of the $23 million debt she racked up during the Democratic primaries. "Senator Clinton still has some debt," he said, asking his supporters to contribute in the name of party unity. "And I could have had some debt if I hadn’t won, so I know the drill.” Aha. So that's why there were "Hillary Clinton for President: 2008 Primary Election Debt Retirement" forms under every single seat. Go figure.

Obama's forgetfulness was, of course, unfortunate. What it actually exposed--a subconscious resentment? a disinterested passivity? absolutely nothing?--is ultimately unknowable. But that didn't stop the political press from seizing on the slip as a reflection of the larger (and largely irrelevant) "Democratic conflict" it loves hyperventilating over--and obscuring the actual story of Obama's swing through New York. When the Illinois senator initially left the stage, reporters swarmed his aides to ask why he hadn't raised the issue of debt relief; when he finally returned, I watched one furiously revise her dispatch by BlackBerry. "Forget everything you said tonight," she whispered to herself, smiling as her thumbs thumbed away. "The only interesting thing is what you forgot to say." The result? A flurry of overheated stories with headlines like "Obama Almost Forgets Clinton" that quote ordinary Obamans saying they're "unlikely to send [Clinton] a check" and Clintonites like James Carville calling these holdouts "children" and  "amateurs" who are "playing with matches." In New York, Obama's "afterthought" led the news.

There are two problems with reports that cast any lingering antipathy between Team Obama and Team Clinton as the stuff of some sort of operatic drama. First, even without the "Nobamas" of the world on his side--I counted grand total of two members of the much-hyped PUMA group (Party Unity, My Ass!) outside last night's Hyatt event--Obama has enough money and enough Democratic support to keep John McCain choking on his dust (or at least five points behind) for the foreseeable future. (Even if he didn't, Clinton couldn't afford to look like she's anything less than completely committed, lest she be seen as undermining his campaign.) Second, the most interesting thing about Obama's Manhattan visit wasn't old conflicts with Clinton. It was how well their new partnership is actually working.

After leaving the Hyatt last night, Obama joined the New York senator for an even ritzier fundraiser--chocolates, martinis, votive candles--that had been moved from the Park Avenue apartment of Barbaralee Diamonstein and Carl Spielvogel to the Loews Regency to accommodate unexpected demand. Clinton kissed Obama on the cheek. Obama told the crowd that "with just half a wing, this bird can’t fly." And, at $33,100 a plate, the pair raised a stunning $4.1 million for the campaign and the DNC. This morning, they reunited for a woman-centric funder at the Hilton Towers hotel--price tag: between $250 and $2,300, with hosts raising as much as $23,000 apiece--where a loose, lighthearted Clinton called their partnership "one of those Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire things" and delivered her most enthusiastic endorsement yet. "I understand how challenging it is to turn on a dime, to say, 'Okay, close that chapter,'" Clinton said. "But anyone who voted for me has so much in common with those who voted for Barack. And it is critical that we join forces." Obama, meanwhile, warned that McCain's Supreme court picks would undermine equal-pay and pro-choice efforts. By the time he left the city around 10:00 a.m., Obama (with Clinton's assistance) had expanded his war chest by $8 million to $15 million--in less than 16 hours.

When veep vetter Caroline Kennedy joined Obama and Clinton on their flight yesterday from Washington, D.C. to New York, the chattering classes immediately began chattering (yet again) about a "dream ticket." Neither Clinton nor Obama addressed the matter directly during their time in town, but the final line of Obama's speech this morning--which wasn't, for the record, included in his prepared text--certainly raised some eyebrows. "We will change the country and change the world," he said to hearty applause. "And you will give Sen. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama a chance to transform America once again." A veepstakes hint? Who knows. But at the very least it suggests that the Obama-Clinton partnership is only beginning--and that her help last night and this morning is one thing the nominee won't soon forget. 

Courtesy Colleen King
A rainbow appeared as Washington bid farewell to Tim Russert

By Tammy Haddad

The first "Russert miracle," as attendees called it, happened at the private funeral service held at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown; the family of the late Meet the Press host Tim Russert had requested that Senators Obama and McCain to sit together, and the two presidential combatants obliged. CNN Washington Bureau chief David Bohrman, a former NBC producer, describes the scene to NEWSWEEK: "They sat side-by-side and spoke for twenty minutes. The body language was total friendship. They were warm and friendly and truly engaged in a conversation.... I kept thinking here we are at the funeral at the son of a sanitation worker and the presidential candidates are having their first one on one conversation here."

The second "miracle" took place at the end of the memorial service at the Kennedy Center that began with Tom Brokaw and ended with Luke Russert's tribute to his dad. At the end of the 65-minute-long televised service, a surprise guest appeared: Russert favorite Bruce Springsteen, on a giant screen playing "Thunder Road." "This is for your pop," Springsteen told Luke.

The third "miracle" took place as the crowd moved to the rooftop for a reception.  The sun returned after a light, fast summer rainstorm and the sky opened to a rainbow extending from one end of the Kennedy Center to the other. Colleen King of MSNBC's "Hardball" captured it on her cell phone camera.

"After the magical experience of this service, to come out and see the rainbow and Luke at the bottom of it made the last dry eye weep," said NBC News executive Phil Griffin. The last song in the memorial service was, fittingly, "Somewhere over the Rainbow."

When asked his reaction to explain the sudden appearance of the rainbow at the exact moment, Luke Russert, his sparkly smile so reminiscent of his father's, said: "Is anyone still an atheist now?"
 

NEW YORK--Be careful what you wish for, Senator.

Last night at Manhattan's storied Federal Hall--site, in 1789, of George Washington's inauguration and the ratification of the Bill of Rights--John McCain held the first of what would've been 10 joint town hall meetings with Democratic opponent Barack Obama. Except that Obama, citing logistical conflicts, wasn't there. According to McCain, flying solo was a shame. "This town hall meeting tonight would have been a little bit more interesting if Senator Obama had accepted my request,” he said. But "interesting" or not, I can't help but think that the Obamaless event was a blessing in disguise for the presumptive Republican nominee.

The reason? A pair of brief but telling exchanges near the end of evening. The first came when a young, blond woman in the back row, maybe 25, stood up and asked McCain how he would appeal to her peers--many of them registered Republicans voting for Obama, she said, because his campaign "speaks their language." In and of itself, McCain's answer was good--he didn't seem particularly old, or out-of-touch, or any of the other things that a septuagenarian's staff might worry about him seeming. He assured the woman that "there will be a real competition for young people's votes." He mentioned that he'd appeared on "Saturday Night Live, and Jon Stewart, and MTV Town Hall." And he delivered a winning, self-deprecating joke--"The primary qualification to be president of the United States is to be very, very, very, very old"--before pivoting to his real reply: I'll treat them like the adults they are. "I've got to communicate that I'll give them a more prosperous, safer world than the one that I had," he said--refusing, wisely, to condescend.

But the thing is, it's easy to dismiss the age issue when you're the only candidate on stage. Not so easy: dismissing it when you're standing alongside a rival who leads by as much as 30 points among young voters and represents, as conservative columnist Peggy Noonan puts it, "the New America." In that scenario, there's a direct comparison between older and younger, past and future, 71 and 46--in other words, "the kind of direct comparison that most campaigns strive to avoid." Alone, he's fine. But side by side with Obama, McCain--whom 30 percent of voters consider too old to be president--can't help but suffer, at least a little, when the conversation turns to age.

McCain's other challenge: observers tend to see every slip, blip or gaffe through the prism of his senior citizenship. In late May, for example, the abrupt, cold-related cancellation of a McCain event in Pennsylvania spurred frenzied speculation about the senator's health--speculation that wouldn't have attended a similar announcement from Obama. Likewise, there's little doubt that Democrats keep describing McCain as "confused" for a reason. So even though it received no coverage in today's reports, the exchange that immediately followed the "youth vote" moment last night might have seemed significant to the chattering classes had it happened in Obama's presence.

Taking the microphone, an "Hispanic-American" lawyer posed a simple, direct question: "What character traits are you looking for in the people who will serve [on the Supreme Court] for many, many years and help shape your legacy?"

McCain's response was odd--to put it mildly. "I thank you," he said. "As we were talking about the youth vote, we're also going to have to compete strongly for the Hispanic, Latino vote as well, and I believe I can do that." With that, he trailed off. Of course, the man hadn't asked about McCain's Hispanic outreach efforts. But what had he asked? Attempting to answer, McCain, it seemed, was at a loss for words. There were a few awkward "um's" as he tried to start a sentence. "I believe that, um..." But when the senator realized it wasn't going anywhere, he did what any competent conversationalist does in a similar situation: turn the question back on the questioner. "Could you tell me a little bit more about your background that indicates this concern?" he said, vaguely. "Just a bit more."

On the trail, McCain often requests more information from a voter who's asked about a personal issue like, say, health care. But in this case it was unclear what bearing the man's background had on the topic at hand--that is, Supreme Court appointees. It was hard to avoid the conclusion that McCain couldn't quite recall what was being asked. Luckily, the man--who also informed the senator that he was a father, a Catholic and a New York native--quickly rephrased the question, and all was well. "Now I understand your question better," said McCain, as if it were incomprehensible until situated in the proper biographical context.

The point here is not that McCain is, you know, senile. He's not. Everybody loses their train of thought from time to time--I've done it on national television--and everybody fumbles a few words. But everybody catches colds, as well. Whether you think this particular exchange is relevant, revealing, or completely pointless, it's impossible to imagine the punditocracy--Chris Matthews, Wolf Blitzer, Charlie Gibson, et al--comparing a head-to-head Obama-McCain cagematch without making a big deal about it. And that, for McCain, is the danger of these duels--which, unlike last night's event, will include some non-Republicans in the audience (see video above), and thus much more contentious questions.

In the end, however, none of this may matter. After receiving a counterproposal from Obama offering just one town hall and one extra debate in response to McCain's suggestion of 10, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis confessed today that talks seem to have broken down. "We fear that our negotiations over joint town hall meetings are turning into a debate about process," he said. "That is exactly what we have always hoped to avoid." Unfortunately, it's exactly what Team Obama--which has apparently concluded that the costs of joint appearances outweigh the benefits--wanted to happen. In the end, no town halls is probably good news, in some respects, for both candidates--even if it's bad news for the rest of us.
 

PHILADELPHIA, Penn.--And you will be the leader of a big old band. Or not.

It has played over the soundsystem at the beginning or end of nearly every John McCain event since I started covering the campaign last October: Chuck Berry's autobiographical rock classic "Johnny B. Goode." McCain played it on primary night in New Hampshire. He played it when he arrived two weeks later in South Carolina. And he played it when he clinched the nomination in Texas on March 4. I'd always thought that it was a fitting choice; besides chronicling the adventures of someone named "John," the song is old enough that McCain, who was already in his 30s when Beatlemania broke out, could plausibly be expected to like it, while also sounding vibrant enough not to immediately connote oldness (unlike, say, a song by the great Burt Bacharach, one of McCain's only musical supporters).

But it turns out that the track's longevity may have had less to do with its aptness than with the sad fact that the rest of McCain's theme songs have, um, crashed and burned. As we've written before, ABBA nixed McCain's attempt to use "Take a Chance on Me"--"We played it a couple times and it's my understanding they went berserk," the candidate has said. And when hard-line Dem John Mellencamp got word that McCain was blasting "Pink Houses" at rallies, he also requested that the Republican cease and desist. Asked recently why he chose "Johnny B. Goode," McCain pretty much summed up the problem: "It might be because it is the only one [the artist] hasn't complained about us using."

Not, it seems, anymore. According to Britain's "The Independent" newspaper, Berry, 81, has now made it clear that he would prefer Barack Obama in the White House. "America has finally come to this point where you can pick a man of color and that not be a drawback," he says. "It's no question, myself being a man of color. I mean, you have to feel good about it." No word yet on whether Berry wants McCain to yank his tune from the soundtrack, or whether the McCain camp plans to pull the plug voluntarily. For now, it seems, Johnny (Still) B. Goode; the ditty closed out the show today in Philadelphia, a few minutes after news of Chuck's Obamania hit my Blackberry. That said, I can only assume McCain's aides are now on the hunt for a new and improved theme song.

May we suggest "Another One Bites the Dust"?
 

PHILADELPHIA, Penn.--My, how things have changed.

The last time Stumper visited Philadelphia's Independence Mall--an expansive, grassy park in Old City bracketed by Independence Hall on one end and the National Constitution Center on the other--it was filled with 35,000 adoring Barack Obama supporters thrilling to the sounds of Will.i.am and, a little later, one of the candidate's patented perorations. That was three days before the Pennsylvania primary. Today, I returned the Constitution Center for a John McCain town hall--and found only a few hundred McCainiacs stationed before a sign that read "Citizen's Cafe" in a repurposed corner of the building's second floor.

McCain, however, couldn't have cared less. "I want to assure you," he told the cheering crowd. "I will compete and win in the state of Pennsylvania."

Much has been made of Obama's audaciously hopeful efforts to swing classically red states like Virginia and Colorado. But with his moderate brand and military cred, McCain has the potential to flip a few properties himself--and Pennsylvania, say experts and associates, is perhaps the best pick-off possibility of the bunch. On paper, it's easy to see why. In 2000, Al Gore beat George W. Bush by five percent, and four years later, only two points separated the incumbent president from challenger John Kerry. What's more, recent surveys show Obama leading, on average, by a mere 5.8 percent, with that slim margin sinking to two points in the latest poll. And finally, lest we forget, Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary by nearly 10 percent--despite Obama's massive rally on the eve of the election. So it's no wonder McCain chose Keystone country for his first blue-state stop of the general-election season. Black Eyed Peas do not a president make.

That said, McCain has his work cut out for him. At today's event, he was constantly oscillating between thoughtful moderation and thundering conservatism, as if he plans to win by being in two places at once--to Obama's right and his left. At the start of his speech, for example, McCain announced that, like Clinton, he would not shy away from painting the Illinois senator as an out-of-touch, unpatriotic elitist, reviving the dormant gaffe that had doomed Obama's chances with white, working-class Pennsylvanians back in April. (If it ain't broke, the saying goes, why fix it?) "We’re going to go to the small towns in Pennsylvania and I’m gonna to tell them I don’t agree with Senator Obama that they cling to their religion and the Constitution because they’re bitter," he said. "That's the reason why we're going to win the state of Pennsylvania next Nov. 4." Point taken. Seconds later, however, McCain seemingly decried the cheap-shot political culture that had blown Obama's slip entirely out of proportion, saying that "the American people are sick and tired of soundbites and spin rooms and 'gotcha' questions," and so is he.

Throughout his appearance, McCain made similarly jarring shifts every few seconds. First, he said, "I have always put my country first and his party second"; then he claimed (falsely), that Obama advocates "for a government takeover of health care." One moment, he was decrying policies that "give people who are very wealthy additional dollars when we have Americans struggling to keep their homes and find a job"; the next, he was accusing Obama of being a "typical tax-and-spend liberal." And so on. Still, while McCain has yet to find his voice on domestic issues--his response to a question about crime among teen girls veered from a Little Rock mentoring program to Nicaraguan drug lords to securing the Mexican border to the rural meth epidemic, then ended with the not-so-confident words, "I intend to enlist the help of the people who k