Lynn Sweet

The Telegraph has a story about a down and out Obama half brother in Kenya.

Jewish support is vital to the Obama campaign. Jewish donors play a major role in his fund-raising efforts and Jewish voters live in key battleground states--Florida and Pennsylvania in particular--that can make a difference.

The Obama team gets hit on two Jewish voter fronts on Wednesday:

*The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) called on Obama and the Democratic Party leadership to remove former President Jimmy Carter as a Democratic National Convention speaker because of what they called his "anti-Israel" bias.

"In April 2008, despite strong protests by Israeli leaders, the U.S. State Department and several Democratic leaders, Carter met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Syria," the RJC said.

*Obama foreign policy advisor Daniel Kurtzer --on a trip to Syria unrelated to the Obama campaign--met with Syrian officials, the New York Sun reported. In reaction to this, the McCain
is holding a press conference call Wednesday afternoon with former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani and Randy Scheunemann, McCain 2008 Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to discuss Kurtzer.

*Before the call started, Obama's Tommy Vietor shot off a memo about McCain and Syria.

Over at the Obama national headquarters this morning, Illinois Clinton delegates were given a briefing on the state of the campaign at a session presided over by Illinois State Director Ken Bennet.

Here's the latest: The plan now calls for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to release her delegates next Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. That's the day after her keynote address before the Democratic National Convention. That means delegates can do what they want during the Thursday roll call. Clinton herself will cast her superdelegate vote for Obama.

Clinton's whip organization--still in place--phone conferenced Monday and Clinton hosted a delegate call Tuesday night.

from the Obama campaign....

Please see our response, below, to the latest McCain attack ad "Millions" and a fact check of the claims made in it:

"Yet again, John McCain makes another false, low-road attack while he's offering just more of the same Bush economics that have failed us for eight years. The choice is simple: Barack Obama will give a real tax cut up to $1,000 to 95% of working Americans, while John McCain will follow in Bush's footsteps, adding to the deficit with huge tax breaks for oil companies and other special interests. No matter how many false negative ads John McCain runs, Americans can't afford more of the same Bush policies that John McCain promises," said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.

Other speakers include: Schwarzenegger, Palin, Lingle, Giuliani, Fiorina, Jindal, Pawlenty, Martinez

Lynn Sweet talks about Obama's vice president pick with MSNBC's Dan Abrams Tuesday night.

Increasingly confident that framing presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an empty celebrity is working for them--the McCain campaign on Wednesday unveiled a new radio spot making the point that Obama is wealthy. But he's small change compared to the fortune that Cindy McCain inherited from her father. Obama's team made an ad playing up McCain's wealth; this in part is a reaction to that.

What a time to get sick.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) sounds hoarse and said Tuesday he has a "minor head cold," just six days before the start of the Democratic convention and as he is poised to announce his running mate.

Obama told a pool reporter, "It's what happens when you hang around children."

He added that he usually gets "like one cold a year."

From the Democratic convention committee....

THE 2008 CONVENTION:
AMERICANS COMING TOGETHER FOR CHANGE

Democrats Add New Speakers, Announce Gavel Times
For Opening Three Nights in Denver

DENVER - The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) and the Obama for America Campaign today announced new speakers and gavel times for the opening three nights of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, to take place August 25th - 28th in Denver.

Joining the program on Monday, August 25th will be Former President Jimmy Carter; Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar; Miami Mayor Manny Diaz; Illinois state leaders Alexi Giannoulis, Dan Hynes, Lisa Madigan, and Tom Balanoff from Illinois SEIU; long-time Barack Obama mentor Jerry Kellman; NEA President Reg Weaver; AFT President Randi Weingarten; and NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan. The theme of Monday's program is One Nation.

updated 2:40 p.m. central time

The Chicago Sun-Times has learned that the Obama team, in the run-up to the Democratic convention, will showcase the new Obama ticket Saturday in Springfield at the Old State Capitol, where presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) officially kicked off his campaign in February, 2007.

State of Illinois authorities have been asked permission by Obama folks to reserve the historic spot at noon. This does not mean that this is the time and place where Obama announces his running mate; that could happen any time from Wednesday morning on. Obama's time frame is shrinking, so the announcement is coming soon. The new vice presidential contender will jump on the road with Obama to showcase the new partnership. Springfield is a leg on the Obama roots tour.

UPDATE
The Obama campaign made it official on Tuesday afternoon--Obama stops at the Old State Capitol in Springfield to kick off a tour of battleground states in the run up to the Democratic convention in Denver.

One of the most complete lists of hundreds of Democratic convention activities in Denver is being compiled by Quinn Gillespie & Associates and here is the most updated version of private parties, open events, panel discussions and more items that you won't find on the "official" calendars.

Quinn Gillespie is also compiling a master matrix for the Republican convention in Minnesota.

One of the raps on presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is that he is ultra cautious and has never put his brand at risk over any issue. At the Saddleback Forum on Sunday--where Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) both appeared-- Obama, answering Pastor Rich Warren's question about going against his party, cited his work on campaign ethics reform with McCain.

That's actually one of Obama's bi-partisan fiasco's. The blow-up between Obama and McCain over an ethics measure they were working on was the subject of my very first blog posting on February, 2006.

Factcheck.org has an analysis about Obama's rewrite of history at Saddleback and how McCain overstated claims about taxes at the forum.

I've know Ruth Milgrom for years; a family friend, a diehard Evanston Democrat, she closely followed politics and always pressed me for the latest. She passed away yesterday and in her final hours, she had one question for her care giver: Who was Obama's pick for vice president. No better example of how people are passionate about this election than Ruth.

If Ruth had been able to ask me the question I'd pass on what I wrote a few days ago: that Biden, Bayh and Kaine are in the top mix and Biden's arrow is going up. And the pick will come anytime starting tomorrow morning, with a rollout to showcase the new partnership.

A surprise entry in the chatter--at this late stage--is Clinton.

WASHINGTON--A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that about one-third of likely voters are somewhat uncomfortable about putting Sen. John McCain (R-Az)--who turns 72 later this month--in the White House because of his age. This contrasts with only 8 percent who say they are uncomfortable in putting a black man in the Oval Office.

"The poll underlines Sen. Barack Obama's strengths and weaknesses. Strengths: He leads overall and he's strong with women, even stronger among young folks and astronomically strong with blacks. Weaknesses: Sen. John McCain beats him among white voters, men, older folks and white Catholics," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"Next week's Democratic Convention, a week-long political campaign commercial, should help Obama - at least until the Republican Convention, a week-long celebration of McCain the following week," Carroll added. "In dealing with Russia, even a large minority of Democrats think McCain would do better than Obama," Carroll added.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) slams rival Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) over support for the Iraqi surge in a speech before the VFW in Florida on Tuesday morning. McCain talked to the same group yesterday.

excerpts...

Senator McCain now argues that despite these costly strategic errors, his judgment has been vindicated due to the results of the surge. .........

.....But understand what the essential argument was about. Before the surge, I argued that the long-term solution in Iraq is political - the Iraqi government must reconcile its differences and take responsibility for its future. That holds true today.

WASHINGTON -- When Alexi Giannoulias was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago in the mid-1990s, one of the guys he would play pick-up basketball games with in Hyde Park was Barack Obama, who taught at the U. of C. law school.

Now Giannoulias is the Illinois state treasurer and Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee. Obama has been "like a mentor to me," Giannoulias told me. He will be one of the parade of Chicagoans who will speak at the Democratic convention Monday night, when Obama's family and friends tell the story of Obama's life.

WASHINGTON--I'm at Google's D.C. office right now getting a briefing on new tools and sites they are rolling out for the upcoming conventions. Plus they are organizing election and voting information that can be used by everyone--whether political junkie or political professional. Here is the new Google elections page.

One new tool is being able to search political videos. Here's a very fun example of a video put together using voice recognition technology----setting Obama's words and dance moves to music.

Transcript courtesy of Federal News Service

SADDLEBACK CIVIL FORUM ON THE PRESIDENCY INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR BARACK OBAMA (D-IL) AND SENATOR JOHM MCCAIN (R-AZ) INTERVIEWER: REVEREND RICK WARREN, SENIOR PASTOR, SADDLEBACK CHURCH

SADDLEBACK CHURCH, LAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA
8:00 P.M. EDT, SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama scooped up a stunning $7.8 million in just three hours of very high end fund-raising Sunday in San Francisco. A VIP dinner was $28,500-a-couple.

One $2,300-a-person event was targeting deep pockets of Asian-American voters; Obama talked about the ethnic dishes he liked to cook.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was also among those present. This is the first fund-raiser in San Francisco for Obama since April--when he got in a jam at a house party for saying people in Pennsylvania were "bitter" about their lives and that's why they turned to God and guns.

On Sunday, as San Francisco Chronicle ace political writer Carla Marinucci reports, Obama told a group, "Change is always tough, and electing me is change."

More Marinucci: "Obama campaign workers said the $7.8 million tally was a record for a political fundraiser."

And more: Obama--who attended Occidental College in southern California--said at the Asian American event that when he went to Occidental, "his first roommate was Pakistani. And in his dorm, he said with a laugh, "Indians and Pakistanis came together under one roof ... to cause havoc in the university."

"To applause, he said he became an expert at cooking dal and other ethnic dishes, though "somebody else made the naan," the trademark Indian bread."

Click below for pool reports.

In their first back-to-back appearance as presidential nominees -- at a forum aimed at evangelicals -- Barack Obama said Saturday his greatest moral failure was his selfishness, while John McCain said it was his first marriage.

The rivals were led through mostly identical questions by Pastor Rick Warren, who presides over the mammoth Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Obama went first, while McCain was sequestered so he would not know the specific question. While not a debate -- there will be three -- the Saturday session showed that Obama's penchant for nuance will face McCain's tendency for directness.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), one of the top running mate prospects for presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is visiting the Republic of Georgia over the weekend to assess the situation in the wake of the growing conflict with Russia. But he'll be back in plenty of time to make the Democratic convention in Denver.

Biden's departure comes after rival Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) sent Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-SC) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (DI-Conn.) to Tbilisi, Georgia on a mission.

(

(AP photo. Obama and Warren)

Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)--the first African American with a chance of becoming president--said Saturday he would not have appointed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas--the second black on the nation's highest court.

"I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas," Obama said in response to a question from Saddleback Church Pastor Rich Warren about which existing justice he would not have nominated. "I don't think he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation."

Obama and rival Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) are making back-to-back appearances at Saddleback, in Lake Forest, Calif. for questioning by one of the country's most famous evangelists.

Obama--who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago--also said he would not have appointed Justice Antonin Scalia "because he and I just disagree." Obama noted that Scalia also was at the U of C. Scalia was a professor of law there from 1977 to 1982.

Both 2008 contenders travel to Lake Forest, Calif. on Saturday to sit down for a talk about faith at Saddleback Church. This is the first time McCain and Obama will appear on the same stage--but this is not a debate. Questions will be posed to each--in separate one hour sessions--by Saddleback's evangelical Pastor Rich Warren. Watch it live on CNN, Fox. Obama goes first--determined by a coin toss.