WORRIES IN GOP ABOUT MCCAIN CAMP IN DISARRAY (Adam Nagourney, New York Times) Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign is in a troubled stretch, hindered by resignations of staff members, a lagging effort to build a national campaign organization and questions over whether he has taken full advantage of Democratic turmoil to present a case for his candidacy, Republicans say. In interviews, some party leaders said they were worried about signs of disorder in his campaign, and if the focus in the last several weeks on the prominent role of lobbyists in Mr. McCain’s inner circle might undercut the heart of his general election message: that he is a reformer taking on special interests in Washington… More than that, they said, Mr. McCain organizationally still seems far behind where President Bush was in 2004. Several Republican Party leaders said they were worried the campaign was losing an opportunity as they waited for approval to open offices and set up telephone banks.
HOW SMALL STORIES BECOME BIG NEWS (John F. Harris, Politico) This weekend’s uproar over Hillary Rodham Clinton invoking the assassination of Robert Kennedy as rationale for continuing her presidential campaign is an especially vivid example of modern journalism as hyperkinetic child — overstimulated by speed and hunger for a head-turning angle that will draw an audience. The truth about what Clinton said — and any fair-minded appraisal of what she meant — was entirely beside the point. Her comment was news by any standard. But it was only big news when wrested from context and set aflame by a news media more concerned with being interesting and provocative than with being relevant or serious. Thus, the story made the front page of The New York Times, was the lead story of The Washington Post and got prominent treatment on the evening news on ABC, CBS and NBC.
NO CLEAR MAP FOR CLINTON’S POLITICAL FUTURE (Shailagh Murray and Peter Slevin, Washington Post) Many Democrats are now pointing to the Kennedy model as a path for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to reshape her own political career, assuming she is unable to wrest the nomination from Sen. Barack Obama. “I loved the Senate before I ran for the president,” Kennedy explained in an interview before his recent cancer diagnosis. Losing to Carter, he said, made him appreciate the opportunities in Congress all the more. “I think I became a better senator, with greater focus and attention,” Kennedy said. But he added: “It all depends on the attitude, what’s in the mind of the person.”… Yet Kennedy was an 18-year Senate veteran who had already risen to chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a health subcommittee. Clinton faces few options for quick advancement should she give up her presidential bid, prompting some to speculate that she may look elsewhere for a prominent political post, possibly the governorship of New York.
A GUIDE TO UNDISCIPLINED MESSAGING (Daniel Libit, Politico) The furor over Hillary Rodham Clinton’s reference to Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination is just the latest flap in a presidential campaign that has at times seemed to careen from gaffe to gaffe. Sometimes it’s a loose-lipped surrogate capturing attention with an insensitive remark, other times it’s the candidate inserting foot in mouth. Either way, the result tends to be damaging — even if the comment itself was innocently intended. Indeed, the problem has become so pronounced in both parties that Republican officials, worried about a general election campaign marked by verbal blunders that leave the party vulnerable to charges of racism or sexism, have coined a term for it — “undisciplined messaging.”
OBAMA, MCCAIN ARE DUELING OUT WEST (Maeve Reston, Noam N. Levey and Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times) The top Democratic and Republican presidential contenders, Barack Obama and John McCain, brought their campaigns to the deserts of the American West on Monday, kicking off what is shaping up to be a fierce contest for the region in November. The majestic vistas and suburban subdivisions of Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico were among the most contested territories of 2000 and 2004, although they were often overshadowed by the struggle for electoral votes in Florida and Ohio. Four years ago, President Bush defeated Democrat John F. Kerry in the three states by a combined 127,011 votes – just 8,412 votes more than his margin in Ohio. Had Kerry won the three Western battlegrounds, he would be president. This year, with political winds blowing their direction across the region, Democrats see an opportunity to pull the states into their column. That could be especially important as Obama’s prospects dim in onetime swing states in the East, such as West Virginia.
MORE: Obama Looks Westward in Electoral Map Play (Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico) The underlying goal of Obama’s trip this week through New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado is to lay claim to a region that Obama views as one of his best opportunities to pick off states in November. The states sit in Obama’s top tier of potential pickups, aides say, along with Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Iowa. It is in these states that Obama’s promise of building a broader electoral map will be put to the test. Demographics, political trendlines and economic conditions help explain why Democratic strategists see the region as favorable terrain this year. After a vigorous attempt by Bush to appeal to Hispanics, who backed him with 40 percent of their vote in 2004, the anti-immigration bills pushed by Republican congressional leaders since then have alienated many in this voting bloc. Colorado has been trending Democratic, Nevada has been hit hard by the housing foreclosure crisis and New Mexico has swung between the parties in the last two presidential elections. Obama will face a challenge from Sen. John McCain, who has represented Arizona for more than 20 years and took a lead until last year on comprehensive immigration reform, which won him a following among Hispanic voters.
DUEL ABOUT IRAQ MOVES TO N.M. (Jeff Zeleny and Michael Falcone, New York Times) If Labor Day is the traditional opener to the fall presidential race, this Memorial Day offered at least a preview into the summertime duel between McCain and Obama, who for the first time were campaigning in the same swing state on the same day. As McCain spoke about the costs and sacrifices of the Iraq War at the Veterans’ Memorial in Albuquerque, Obama praised the patriotism of America’s soldiers before taking voters’ questions—and hearing their frustrations about Iraq and a host of other concerns—at an outdoor forum here. The campaign stops provided a window into how both men, should they become the nominees of their respective parties, are shaping their candidacies, employing the power of their biographies and honing their arguments in their appeal to voters. Will the Iraq War and the nation’s security once again be the chief concerns to voters in the general election? In a 20-minute speech, McCain made 14 references to Iraq. Later he invited Obama to join him on a tour of Iraq. (Obama did not immediately say whether he would accept.)
BURDEN ON DEAN TO BRING HARMONY (Lisa Wangsness, Boston Globe) On Saturday, the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet to decide whether to seat the delegations from Florida and Michigan at the party’s August national convention in Denver. The two states were barred from representation because they moved their primaries ahead of a DNC-imposed timetable; but now their votes are crucial to Clinton’s dwindling chances at the presidential nomination. Whether Dean can broker a compromise and amicably resolve the Florida and Michigan crisis–and then stitch together his party after this year’s bruising nomination battle–could go a long way toward determining who is the next president. Some are skeptical about his ability to finesse such a delicate, high-stakes situation.
THE RUNNING MATE CHOICE (David Brooks, New York Times) Obama will need a vice president who knows the millions of ways that power is exercised and subverted in Washington. He’ll need someone who can be a senior, authoritative presence in a cabinet that may range from Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to the labor leader Andy Stern. He’ll need someone who can supervise his young reformers and build transpartisan coalitions more effectively than Obama has as senator. Sam Nunn and Tom Daschle seem to fit the bill. Nunn is one of those senior Democrats (like David Boren and Bob Kerrey) who left the Senate lamenting the dumbed-down nature of modern politics. Daschle was more partisan as majority leader, but he is still widely trusted and universally liked. As experienced legislators, both could take Obama’s lofty hopes and translate them into nitty-gritty action… McCain will need somebody who radiates calm. He’ll need somebody who can provide structure and organization. He’ll need somebody who enjoys working with budgets. With the Democrats controlling Congress, McCain will have no chance of winning big, ideological fights. He will need someone who can help him de-ideologize the climate, who can emphasize making things work rather than fighting philosophical battles. McCain seems to be looking at business leaders like Meg Whitman. But among politicos, the shining stars would seem to be Rob Portman and Tim Pawlenty.
MORE: Virginia Trio Draws Veep Notice (David Paul Kuhn, Politico) Virginia’s sudden rise to prominence as a leading “purple” state — a prime candidate for Democrats to pick up in November — has made its top politicians a hot commodity this year. No fewer than three current or former statewide elected officials are drawing serious notice as possible running mates for front-runner Barack Obama. Each of the Virginians — former Gov. Mark Warner, Gov. Tim Kaine and Sen. Jim Webb — won office by winning over constituencies that have been traditionally hostile to the Democratic Party, in a state the Republican presidential nominee has carried all but once since 1952. In 2004, Democratic nominee John F. Kerry lost Virginia by 8 percentage points. Their ballot box success in a place that might prove critical in the November general election has not gone unnoticed by Democratic strategists and the media.
MCCAIN TO MAKE A RARE APPEARANCE WITH BUSH (Laura Meckler, Wall Street Journal) President Bush and John McCain will appear together at a fund-raiser in Phoenix Tuesday, the first time in nearly three months that the Republican presidential candidate will be seen beside the man he hopes to succeed. With Mr. Bush’s popularity at a record low, the McCain campaign has made sure that television footage of the two men together will be minimal. The maneuvering is the latest example of Sen. McCain’s aggressive effort to separate himself from the White House, even as he embraces many of the policies that Mr. Bush has promoted throughout his presidency.
ON THE TRAIL, ONE AIDE LOOMS OVER OBAMA (Ashley Parker, New York Times) Young, eager campaign aides are stock characters in movies and on television, but few have quite the élan of Mr. Love, who, at 6-foot-5, is about three inches taller than the tall candidate, fitter than the fit candidate (he can bench press more than 350 pounds) and cooler than the cool candidate… Mr. Love said he had been hired with “no job description whatsoever.” “It was just like, ‘You just go out there and — Take. Care. Of. Stuff,’ " Mr. Love said, taking his time with each word. Some of the “stuff” Mr. Love takes care of: When Mr. Obama makes calls to woo superdelegates, Mr. Love is at his side with a briefing book, dialing the numbers. When an outdoor speech ended on a windy day in Noblesville, Ind., he appeared behind Mr. Obama as he shook hands on the rope line. “Jacket?” he asked, a coat draped at the ready over his arm.When Mr. Obama dropped food on his tie while eating in the car between stops, Mr. Love was ready with a Tide pen. He always carries one, along with ballpoint pens, and has turned himself into a walking dispensary of Sharpies, stationery, protein bars, throat lozenges, water, tea, Advil, Tylenol, Purell and emergency Nicorette, not to mention his ever-present iPhone, BlackBerry and Canon Rebel XT digital camera. (Mr. Love keeps a photo journal of the campaign, and has more than 10,000 pictures so far).
