RALEIGH, North Carolina - Barack Obama won’t say yet who his running mate will be but on Tuesday he did describe the qualities he wants in a vice president.

Briefly put: “he” will be the opposite of Dick Cheney, the man who currently holds the office.

“My vice president will be a member of the executive branch, he won’t be one of these fourth branches of government where he thinks he’s above the law,” Obama told a crowd in North Carolina.

Note the choice of pronoun. An Obama spokeswoman said not to read into that word choice but Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton — two women said to be on the Illinois senator’s list — may want to take note.

Obama went on to describe what he was NOT looking for in a running mate, painting a stark contrast with Cheney, who spearheaded President George W. Bush’s energy task force, influences White House foreign policy, including the Iraq war, and has claimed to be a member of the legislative branch because of his tie-breaking role in the U.S. Senate.

“I won’t hand over my energy policy to my vice president,” Obama said. “I won’t have my vice president engineering my foreign policy for me.”

Moving on to the qualities he did want, Obama said, “I want somebody who has integrity, who’s in politics for the right reasons. I want somebody who is … independent, somebody who is able to say to me, ‘You know what, Mr. President? I think you’re wrong on this and here’s why.’”

Cheney, considered a nemeses by many Democrats, has been described as one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history.

Obama is expected to announce his choice for vice president in the next few days.

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 - Photo credit, left: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama and Clinton prepare to board a plane in June after she dropped out of the Democratic presidential race.)

 - Photo credit, right: Reuters/ Jason Reed (Obama embraces Sebelius after she endorsed him in January.)

ORLANDO, Florida - Barack Obama has a message for John McCain: Stop suggesting I don’t put my country first.

Since returning from a trip to Hawaii, the Illinois senator has spent the past few days responding to attack ads from Arizona Sen. John McCain that have helped the Republican candidate in the polls.

On Tuesday he pushed back on the issue of patriotism during remarks before a veterans group, pounding McCain — who uses the slogan “country first” — for suggesting that Obama’s positions on foreign policy and the Iraq war were formed for political gain.

“I have never suggested, and never will, that Sen. McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition,” the Illinois senator said.

“I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America’s national interest. Now, it’s time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.”

Obama has consistently fought back against suggestions that he and his wife, Michelle, are not patriotic. He said again on Tuesday that he would not allow others to challenge that.

“Let me be clear: I will let no one question my love of this country,” he said. “I love America, so do you, and so does John McCain.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama speaks at VFW conference in Florida)

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - Democrats are getting nervous — and Barack Obama seems to sense it.

The Illinois senator, fresh from a trip to Hawaii where he picked up a cold, has been rallying supporters in the past two days, urging them not to be anxious about Republican attacks that have helped lift Arizona Sen. John McCain in the polls.

“Everywhere I go people have told me, ‘Oh, I’m getting nervous. The Republicans — they’re so mean … What are we going to do?’” Obama told a town hall meeting with some 1,800 people on Monday.

Obama said Republicans didn’t know how to govern but did know how to run a negative campaign.

“It’s not going to work this time,” he said. Echoing a similar line he used at a fundraiser on Sunday, he assured the crowd he intended to win.

Meanwhile, the Illinois senator is fighting a cold, which he traced back to the time he spent last week with his young daughters while they were on vacation in Hawaii.

“The only thing about daughters is that when you hang out with them a lot and they get a cold, somehow they end up passing it off to you,” he said to laughter at an earlier event on Monday.

“Not just daughters!” a participant shouted out.

“That’s true for sons, too?” Obama joked back. “All right, I just want to be clear.”

It’s not a great time for the Illinois senator to be sick. He is expected to announce a vice presidential running mate in the coming days and will need to be in top form for the party’s convention in Denver next week, when he officially becomes the Democrats’ White House nominee.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama removes his jacket as he arrives for a town hall event in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Aug. 18, 2008)

HONOLULU - Look out, ladies. Barack Obama has taken his shirt off in public again.

The 47-year-old senator from Illinois, who created a minor sensation with a shirtless photo on his last trip to Hawaii, stripped down to his trunks on Thursday for an impromptu body surfing excursion.

Obama and a few friends waded into the water and sportily rode a few waves to the delight of other beach revelers. Earlier in the day he went snorkeling with his family.

Despite the hectic schedule of being the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Obama works out regularly and plays basketball to stay fit.
People magazine published a photo of the buff-looking senator emerging from the ocean in January 2007 on a page with other Hollywood stars.

His vacation here this week was Obama’s first return to his childhood home — his grandmother still lives in Hawaii — in nearly two years.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry (Obama welcomes the crowd at Keehi Lagoon Park in Honolulu, Hawaii)

HONOLULU - He may be on vacation, but Barack Obama still has money to raise and Hawaii — his birth place — is as good a place as any to do it.

The Democratic presidential candidate, who has been relaxing on the golf course and eating out in his sun-swept former hometown, raised $1.3 million at a fundraiser on Tuesday that was attended by 500 donors including friends and former teachers who once knew the 47-year-old as “Barry.”

“What makes this night special is the fact that there are so many friends here. Some of you I grew up with. Some of you taught me in class,” he told the crowd.

He praised the Hawaii spirit and joked that he had wanted to come to the islands during the Democratic primaries but his staff wouldn’t let him.

Now that he’s finally made it to Hawaii, most of the U.S. states have had an Obama visit. “Alaska is the last holdout — and I’ve got to get up there,” he said.

Not this week. The Illinois senator has two days left of vacationing before heading back to the mainland, the campaign trail, and the spotlight.

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Photo Credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry (Barack Obama walks out to give a statement while on vacation in Hawaii)

HONOLULU - The speakers list for the Democratic National Convention is in, and two women who will be key figures in one way or another in Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s political future have the top opening spots.

Michelle Obama, the Illinois senator’s wife, will be the keynote speaker Monday night, taking the stage in prime time on the first day of the convention, the campaign said in a joint statement with the Democratic convention committee.

On Tuesday night, New York Senator Hillary Clinton has the prime-time slot. Clinton, who failed narrowly in her bid to clinch the nomination, has endorsed Obama but will undoubtedly address a crowd filled with her own supporters, many of whom are still reeling from her defeat.

“Senator Hillary Clinton, who is a champion for working families and one of the most effective and empathetic voices in the country today, will be the headline prime-time speaker on Tuesday August 26th,” the statement said.

Wednesday is reserved for Obama’s as-yet-unnamed vice presidential running mate. In case anyone was still speculating, one can probably assume Clinton’s slot on Tuesday means she won’t be the veep.

Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was not listed as a prime-time speaker during any night of the convention, but reports have said he will get a non-prime time slot Wednesday. 

Obama will accept the nomination Thursday night and give his own speech, some four years after an address at Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 convention propelled Obama onto the national stage.

Obama told reporters he is working on that speech this week during a vacation in Hawaii.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry (Barack and Michelle Obama)

HONOLULU - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says his former rival John Edwards, who disclosed on Friday that he  had an extramarital affair in 2006, would likely not be attending the party’s convention later this month.
 
Edwards, a former vice presidential candidate who bowed out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, was said to be in the running for a high-level position in a potential Obama administration, including attorney general.
 
Probably not anymore.
 
The Illinois senator, when asked about Edwards, told reporters in Hawaii he thought the former North Carolina senator and his wife, Elizabeth, had already decided not to attend the Democratic convention in Denver in late August.
    
“If I’m not mistaken I think that … the Edwards family indicated that they probably wouldn’t be attending the convention,” Obama told reporters. 
    
Healing,  yes. But Obama no doubt also wants to avoid another distraction at an event that he hopes will emphasize his campaign message of change and party unity.
    
Edwards endorsed Obama in May while the primary contest against Hillary Clinton was still running. He told television network ABC on Friday that he didn’t think he had a political career in his future. 

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jeff Haynes (John Edwards and Barack Obama at a rally in Grand Rapids,  Michigan,  May 14, 2008)
 

SACRAMENTO - Nothing like starting your vacation with an international crisis.
 
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was Hawaii bound when it became clear he needed to make a public statement about the outbreak of violence between Georgia and Russia — as rival John McCain had already done — or risk looking out of touch.
 
Arrangements were hastily made for a quick press conference during a refueling stop in Sacramento.
 
American flags were found for a backdrop and Obama came into the small room to make his statement, still dressed in khakis, a black polo shirt and a light jacket.
 
“This is a volatile situation,” he said. “Obviously we’ll be getting updated on a regular basis. But what is clear is that Russia has invaded Georgia’s sovereignty … has encroached on Georgia’s sovereignty, and it is very important for us to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”
 
The Illinois senator still intends to duck out of the spotlight in the next week, but Friday was not the day to keep quiet.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama arriving in Paris July 25)

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.  - John McCain may not be giving any clues about who he wants as his No. 2, but the Republican presidential candidate does have a few ideas about how to choose. 

Rule one: Do no harm. 

“First, you want to make sure you have a candidate that’s not going to hurt the ticket,” the Arizona senator told a fundraising event webcast to American citizens in Bermuda.

“The second thing is, and I think it’s the key criteria, is it someone who shares your principles, your values, your philosophy and your priorities? Hardest thing for the president is to establish priorities.”

McCain said his list was full of good candidates. See if you can guess who he’s referring to here:

“There’s so many highly qualified people in our party, ranging - and I won’t mention names - ranging from people who have been stalwarts in our party for a long time, great governors and senators and businesspeople,” he said.

Fill in the blanks, folks. But don’t expect a timetable. McCain declined to identify a deadline for his decision.

“I will announce it just as soon as the process is completed, but it won’t be driven by any other factors — the Olympics or the Democratic convention or any other.  It will be strictly on when we can arrive at a conclusion,” he said on CNN.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Republican presidential candidate John McCain speaks at a campaign picnic last week outside the Maine Military Museum in South Portland)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republican John McCain  added a pledge on Thursday to his list of goals if he wins the White House: help people quit smoking. 

McCain, who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day before ceasing 29 years ago, told a summit organized by cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong that preventive measures were key to keeping people healthy. 

“So as president, I will work with business and insurance companies in support of programs to help people quit smoking,” he said. 

Armstrong pressed McCain on whether he would stop a trend seen during the Bush administration in which funding for the National Cancer Institute had decreased. 

“We will reverse that trend,” McCain said, though he declined to be specific about how much he would increase funding. 

McCain veered off of his prepared remarks to speak briefly about his own battle with melanoma. He joked later with Armstrong about whom the champion cyclist would prefer to exercise with: McCain or his Democratic rival Barack Obama. 

“I don’t have an answer for you on who I would work out with,” Armstrong told reporters. “Probably best just to do a little triathlon. You know, we could hike one day with Senator McCain and play basketball one day with Senator Obama and then the other day they have to go ride with me, and then we’ll figure it out.” 

Armstrong also hinted that he might be interested in running for office someday. 

“There might come a time when you feel like you’ve reached a wall and you need to step into public office and try to make change through that channel or those ends,” he said. “But not right now.” 

Armstrong’s foundation did not endorse McCain. The cyclist said he would also press Obama to talk about his plans and experience related to cancer issues.

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Photo credits: (top) Reuters/Mike Blake (Comic book biographies of the candidates displayed at Comic-Con in San Diego,  July 23, 2008) and (bottom) Reuters/Jim Young  (Armstrong testifies on Capitol Hill in May)