Republican presidential hopeful John McCain apparently feels just a little jilted by the media lately given all the attention being paid to the trip by Democratic White House rival Barack Obama to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe.

All three broadcast networks sent their anchors overseas to interview Obama during his travels. McCain has been maintaining his domestic campaign schedule, raising money and attending rallies in Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
 
McCain this week also tussled with the New York Times over an opinion piece he penned to respond to an op-ed Obama wrote about the Iraq war that ran in the newspaper. The Times sought revisions to his proposed piece, a request that McCain’s campaign rejected.

“The media is in love with Barack Obama,” the McCain campaign said in an e-mail to his supporters. “If it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny.”
 
To generate a little of his own buzz, the Arizona senator’s campaign pieced together clips of television news talking heads (lots of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews) professing how enamored they were of Obama and discussing the media’s purported love affair with the Democratic candidate.
 
They put the video to the music of two different love songs — Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “My Eyes Adored You.” They asked supporters to vote for their favorite, and the campaign said the winning one would be aired.
 
Is the media infatuated with Obama or covering a legitimate news story?

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Photo credit: Top: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain in Maine July 21); Bottom: Reuters/Ali Jarekji (Obama in Amman, Jordan, July 22)

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine - Former President George H.W. Bush doesn’t advise his son, won’t criticize Barack Obama and wants John McCain to be the next occupant of the White House.

That was the gist on Monday after he hosted the presumptive Republican presidential candidate at the lush Bush family compound in Maine.

Bush, the 41st president of the United States, had nothing but praise for McCain, the man he hopes will succeed his son, George W. Bush.

“My respect for him knows no bounds. He will be a great president. I’m confident of that,” Bush said of McCain.

Bush let the Arizona senator take questions about Iraq and other hot topics of the day, which McCain did. Asked to comment about the appropriateness of Obama’s high profile trip to Europe, Bush demurred.

“A little jealous is all,” he said, noting he expected Germany to give the Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidadte a warm reception. “He’ll figure it out.”

And that was that. McCain had to leave for his next event but Bush appeared to enjoy the interaction with reporters, some of whom had covered him during his own White House years.

Some journalists poked around his property for a tour, which he was happy to let them do, while others stood and visited for a few affable minutes.

Topics:
    1) the Cold War and former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev (”When are we gonna see Gorby?” he asked an aide.)
    2) Renewable energy. He pointed out a windmill on his property and bragged about the new Smart car belonging to his wife Barbara.
    3) And his son, the 43rd U.S. president, who is close to ending an unpopular term in office. Bush said he hoped George W. would spend more time in Maine once he left Washington and admitted he would miss the access he has had to his former residence and White House staff.

But does Bush advise his son? Nope. At 84, he said the current president didn’t need advice from an old guy like him.

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– Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Republican presidential candidate John McCain and former President George Bush answer questions from reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine on July 21)

ALBUQUERQUE - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Tuesday his search for a vice presidential running mate is proving difficult because he has many qualified candidates.

A host of high-profile names have been circulating for weeks who McCain might be considering for vice president, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

At a town hall meeting in Albuquerque, McCain specifically took a question from a youngster described as a reporter, and the youth asked him about his vice presidential search.

McCain said the search “is somewhat difficult because we have so many highly qualified individuals” to consider.

He gave no names. But he said he was operating under a specific timeline that he hopes to meet “well before.”

McCain has said he wants to announce his choice before the Republican nominating convention in St. Paul in early September.

He has given few clues as to who he might pick, but McCain told a fund-raising event in Albuquerque on Monday night that he and Romney, who McCain defeated in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, have become good friends.

It was only a few months ago when the two were at each other’s throat in the often-acrimonious campaign.

“Mitt and Ann Romney and Cindy and I have become good friends,” he said in describing how he feels the Republican Party is united now for the battle against Barack Obama for the Nov. 4 election.

In fact, he said, based on Romney’s television appearances on McCain’s behalf, “He does a better job for me than he did for himself, as a matter of fact.”

He also praised other Republican one-time rivals Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani.

Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking (McCain, Romney at a meeting March 27)

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PHOENIX - Part of the drill when running for the highest office in the United States is simply looking  and sounding  presidential.

Cue John McCain. The Arizona senator and Republican presidential candidate started a weekly radio address on Saturday, modeled after President George W. Bush’s regular broadcast ritual.

“Good morning. I’m John McCain, and this week I’ve been on the road in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin,” the candidate said in his first address, according to a copy of the remarks.

“I’ve been holding town hall meetings to talk over the subject on most everyone’s minds these days – our slowing economy.”

McCain went on to review his week, speaking about the economy and his proposals to wean the nation from its dependence on foreign oil.

No mention was made of comments by a top economic adviser, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, who described the United States as “a nation of whiners” in a mental recession.

McCain did get a few jabs in at his opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, though.

“In an economic downturn, the worst of all ideas is to raise taxes. And Senator Obama will do just that,” McCain said.

He ended by saying the country had beat longer odds during challenging circumstances in the past. “Very soon, we’re going to get this economy running again at full strength,” he said.

“Thanks for listening.”   

 Photo credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst; McCain addresses League of United Latin American Citizens in Washington, D.C., July 7, 2008.

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NEW YORK - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire — that’s how Sen. Clinton put it on Thursday at a women’s breakfast where she joined the Democratic White House hopeful to campaign for him in New York.

She said Obama had noted that she looked rested since she ended her campaign against him for the Democratic nomination, and she told him she’d been exercising for a change.

“During the campaign …  Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. I would get up and have my hair done,” she said as she introduced him.

“It’s one of those Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire things.”

Obama’s comment on Clinton when he took the stage: “She rocks.”

Clinton said the hard fought Democratic primary had been good for politics, boosting turnout and motivating more people than ever to vote.

“Anyone who voted for me has so much in common with those who voted for Barack, and it’s critical that we join forces,” Clinton said.

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Photo credit: Reuters/ Jim Young (Obama greets Clinton in Washington June 27)

MONTREAT, N.C. - Billy Graham is as close to a religious icon in American politics as anyone, so it’s no surprise that a U.S. presidential candidate would seek his blessing.

On Sunday Republican John McCain did just that, essentially, traveling to the ailing evangelist’s mountaintop home to meet and pray with him and son Franklin, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

“They’re great leaders in this nation and I appreciate the opportunity to visit with them and I am very grateful for the time they spent with me,” McCain said after their meeting.

The Arizona senator had requested the appointment.

“They’ve known my family, they’ve known of me for many years,” he said, adding the elder Graham recalled meeting and praying with McCain’s parents while their son was held captive in Vietnam.

Franklin Graham issued a statement that highlighted what he had in common with McCain: sons serving in the military and a shared interest in aviation.

But he did not offer an endorsement.

“I was impressed by his personal faith and his moral clarity on important social issues facing America today,” Graham said of McCain.

“I encourage people to vote for the candidate at every level who best represents their values and convictions, and then to pray for those in authority over us as required in Scripture.”

McCain, who attends a Baptist church in Phoenix but is often circumspect about his faith when asked about it on the campaign trail, said he had not sought the pair’s political backing.

“Oh, I didn’t ask for their vote,” he said.  

Photo: Reuters/Chris Keane -   Evangelist Billy Graham (L) walks with his son Franklin Graham before the Billy Graham Library Dedication in Charlotte, North Carolina, May 31, 2007.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Can people trust what Barack Obama says?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Saturday that, at least in some instances, they shouldn’t.

Campaign finance was the issue at hand. McCain, speaking at a Republican fundraiser that netted some $2 million, slammed the Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic nominee for going back on a promise to take public funds during the general election if his Republican counterpart did the same.

“This election is about trust and trusting people’s word,” McCain said. “Unfortunately, apparently on several items, Senator Obama’s word cannot be trusted.”

Harsh stuff. Obama, who broke fundraising records during his victorious primary fight against New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, said he made the decision to forego public funds because the Republicans had become masters at gaming the “broken” public finance system.

Sticking to his original promise would have limited Obama to spending $84 million in the two months between the Democratic convention and the Nov. 4 election and barred him from taking additional donations.

McCain does not expect to match Obama’s fundraising success.

A spokesman for Obama said the Republican candidate had a history of his own when it came to changing stances. “Senator McCain’s path to the nomination required repeatedly changing his positions to appeal to the Republican base,” Tommy Vietor said.

“From supporting Bush tax breaks for the rich that he once voted against, to saying he’d now vote against his own immigration reform legislation, the John McCain of 2008 is completely different from the man we knew just a few years ago.”

Photo credit: Reuters/Steve Marcus - Republican presidential candidate John McCain speaks at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on June 25.

LOS ANGELES - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Tuesday criticized a John McCain adviser who was quoted as saying a Sept. 11-type attack before the November election would benefit the Republican White House hopeful.
 
But Obama stopped short of calling for the firing of Charlie Black, McCain’s top political adviser.
 
“There are certain things that should transcend politics and the prospect of a terrorist attack on American soil is one of them,” Obama told reporters on his campaign plane while traveling to Los Angeles.
 
“I think, factually, he’s wrong,” Obama said. He called the foreign policy under Republicans in the last few years disastrous and cited the failure to catch al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and renewed violence in Afghanistan as examples.
 
“So I’m happy to have that debate about who is actually going to be stronger on terrorism,” Obama said.
 
Fortune magazine said Black, in discussing how national security was McCain’s strong suit, had said when asked about another terrorist attack on U.S. soil that “certainly it would be a big advantage to him.”
 
Black apologized for the remarks and McCain disavowed the comment. “I cannot imagine why he would say it. It’s not true,” McCain said, adding he had worked hard since the Sept. 11 attack to prevent another such attack.
 
Obama, pressed on whether Black should step down from his role advising McCain, said, “I leave it up to John McCain.”

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Picture credit: Reuters/Steve Marcus. Obama speaks during a campaign visit to the Las Vegas Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 24, 2008.

TOKYO - Mike Huckabee is not running — or maybe he is.

The marathon man, who lost 110 pounds (50 kg) by hitting the road and advocating healthy living after he was diagnosed with diabetes in 2003, has a painful inflammation of the heel known as plantar fasciitis, and he is walking around the Imperial Palace in the Japanese capital gingerly.
    
Whether he will take a walk with presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, as vice presidential nominee is another question requiring equally careful footwork.
  
Speaking with Reuters less than five months before the U.S. presidential election and three months ahead of the Republican convention, the former Arkansas governor was interested but self-deprecating when asked if he would be the party’s No. 2.
    
“I don’t truly believe that’s probably going to happen and I’ve moved on to doing other things.”
    
Those projects include the trip to Japan and lectures at Tohoku University in northern Miyagi Prefecture, as well as Fox News, which hired the former Republican presidential hopeful as a political commentator leading up to the national election.
    
But Huckabee quickly noted that did not preclude being on the other side of the camera in November.
     
“I’m very happy and proud to be able to do some commentary and develop a programme with the Fox News Channel,” he said.
    
“But that doesn’t mean if there was an opportunity to run somewhere out in the future, if not this year some other time — I’m not going to take myself completely off the stage.”

Huckabee has called the vice presidential spot an offer no one could refuse, but says he doesn’t expect to be running to the phone anytime soon.
    
“It would be a real surprise if I got that call.”

- Reporting by Dan Sloan    

- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Huckabee pauses during a news conference in Appleton, Wisconsin in February, 2008)

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NEW YORK - One thing seems certain in the race for the White House — the debate that the campaigns have sparked on sexism, racism and ageism in the United States is nowhere near resolved.

The media’s handling of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain – each running a groundbreaking campaign — has drawn attention to the way women, blacks and older people are seen in America, according to a panel of experts that met on Tuesday at the Paley Center for Media.

 ”I think it’s time for journalists to stop and look back at what they did and not say, ‘Well, we’re not covering Hillary Clinton any more so gender is no longer an issue,’” said panelist Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I’d say to reporters, ‘Let’s think about all of those kinds of questions about gender and then let’s ask the same kinds of questions about race,’” she said. She also added age to the list.

If elected, Obama would be the nation’s first black president and McCain would be the oldest to take office. Clinton would have been the first woman. Discussion about bias and stereotyping has been extensive, especially since Clinton dropped out of the race and her loss disappointed many female supporters.

The panel on “Bias, Punditry and the Press in the 2008 Election,” which also included political columnists Courtney Martin of The American Prospect Online, Patricia Williams of The Nation and Juan Gonzalez of New York’s Daily News, noted what panelists saw as sexism toward Clinton.

Examples included the extensive coverage of her laugh, praise for certain of her speeches as “charming” and criticism that she was “strident” — none of which would have been leveled against a male candidate, they said.  That doesn’t even include rude and insulting remarks that can be found on the Internet, where people are more free to be harsh in their tone thanks to the Web’s anonymity, they said.

“It is so insulting, it is so unacceptable and, to think that in this country which claims to be the bastion of democracy and freedom and tries to take this around the world, that there is no accountablity for dissing a woman, I find that really appalling,” said panelist Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent. 
      
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Photo credit: Reuters/Rebecca Cook (Obama)

Photo credit: Reuters/Lee Celano (McCain)

Photo credit: Reuters/Ana Martinez (Clinton)