After comparing Barack Obama's rock-star status to that of Hollywood celebutante Paris Hilton (consequently irritating the Hilton family, McCain donors), John McCain continues to mock the junior senator from Illinois and Democratic presidential candidate with his newest web ad, "The One."
The ad begins with a biblical tone, announcing: "It should be known that in 2008, the world will be blessed. They will call him The One."
Playing on Obama's perceived self-righteousness, the ad shows a confident Barack Obama affirming his message through a series of recent speech clips.
"The light will shine down from somewhere. There will be a light upon you. You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, you have to vote for Barack."
The ad ends with a clip of Moses parting the Red Sea from the film "The 10 Commandments" alongside a faux presidential seal reading "Obama for America." It concludes by questioning his experience once more - "he may be the one, but is he ready to lead?"
Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) is broadcasting text and video updates to the web of House Republicans' efforts--launched from a a darkened House chamber--to continue the debate over comprehensive energy legislation.
Republican leaders stayed in the House chamber today after a resolution passed at approximately 11:30 a.m. adjourning the House for the August recess. They continued to blast Democratic leadership for not scheduling a vote on allowing offshore drilling, remaining on the floor even after the lights, microphones, and C-Span cameras were cut.
Since Republicans refused to adjourn Friday, Culberson has been posting sentence-long updates to his Twitter page more or less constantly.
One entry, dated at approximately noon on Friday, encourages readers to
Among bloggers, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine's (D) VP stock has been purportedly on the rise this week, but that speculation has been mirrored by something tangible--a spike in money being placed on Kaine online.
The price of a bet on Kaine shot from $13 to $35 this week at Intrade.com, signifying that odds on Kaine had nearly doubled. Kaine's price leveled off at at $30.10 this morning, indicating that bettors think he has a 30 percent chance at becoming Barack Obama's running mate, as prices fluctuate between $0 and $100, and express averages of individual bet offers.
That upswing marked a 17.7 percent probability shift in Kaine's favor in the eyes of Intrade's bettors.
Kaine trades at the highest price of any supposed Democratic VP candidate listed on Intrade. Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh ranks second at $26; Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius ranks third at $18; and Sen. Joe Biden (Del.), another name floated this week, is fourth at $10.
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday he will give an address on energy issues later this month at the Democratic National Convention.
The Senate majority leader told reporters that he would attend events with the Nevada delegation at the convention and will speak on Aug. 27.
"I'm going to talk about energy, which I've practiced up a lot the last few weeks," Reid quipped, referring to the stalemate over energy that has brought the Senate to a near standstill.
He said it would be "easier" getting around in Denver than previous conventions.
"I'm looking forward to it, I think it will be fun," said Reid, who was in a light mood right before the Senate recessed for the month of August.
The teetotaler Reid also joked that he would do "heavy drinking" over the month-long recess.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) has already run one ad featuring the Democrats' 2008 standard bearer, Barack Obama. Facing a tough re-election race against Democrat Jeff Merkley in a blue state, Smith has just released another ad that features both Obama and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
Rep. Ron Paul's (R-Texas) own convention during his party's national convention has already booked some big names.
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I), anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson have all committed to Paul's event, Rally for the Republic, in Minneapolis. The event runs from August 31 to Sept. 1. It ends with a speech by Paul at the 18-000 seat Target Center.
The GOP convention, to be held in St. Paul, Minn., will be held from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4.
Watch video of Paul announcing the scheduled appearances of Ventura and country music artist Rockie Lynne below.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) pressed the argument that John McCain's latest attacks on Barack Obama reveal that the Republican is "obsessed" with his opponent.
"John McCain is putting down Barack Obama in unfair negative character assassinations," said McCaskill on MSNBC Friday.
She said that McCain is unfairly attacking Obama by saying that the Democrat "doesn't care about our troops, he is OK with losing a war because it's all about him, this is a guy who is just selfish and self-centered.'"
"[T]he bottom line is, the only person who's obsessed with Barack Obama appears to be John McCain," she added.
The Obama campaign has been pushing back against McCain's ad calling Obama a celebrity and comparing him to pop stars Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
"You know, what Barack Obama is obsessed with is figuring out why in the world, when ExxonMobil is making $12 billion a quarter, John McCain wants to give them another $1.2 billion in tax breaks," McCaskill said.
She also denied that Obama's campaign had injected race into the campaign when he said Tuesday, "They're going to try to say, 'Well, you know, he's got a funny name, and he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the $5 bills.'"
"I think when Barack was using that phraseology, he was talking about the larger issue of the challenges he has in this election," McCaskill said. "I think [NBC News's] Chuck Todd said it very well. You know, it is harder to get elected president of the United States if you are black."
Barack Obama reached into his political playbook Friday and pulled out one of Ronald Reagan's old moves asking voters in Florida "are you are better off now than you were four years ago?"
"So the first thing I want to do, Florida, is just ask you a very simple question," Obama said in St. Petersburg.
"Do you think that you are better off now than you were four years ago or eight years ago? And if you don't think you're better off, do you think you can afford another four years of the same failed economic policies that we've had under George W. Bush?"
During a 1980 presidential debate Ronald Reagan asked voters the same question, though he was running against an incumbent who happened to be next to him on stage.
With one week left before the election, during the closing statement of the last debate, Reagan asked, "Are you better off than you were four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment...than there was four years ago?"
So while Obama's statement lacks the drama of Reagan's, as well as an actual incumbent, the attempt to make his opponent culpable for the previous administration's actions is the same.
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