Barack Obama's overseas trip continues. Meanwhile, here's some of the other campaign and political news making headlines this morning:
⢠USA TODAY -- "McCain's notable life strikes a chord:" In Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Wednesday "some of those attending McCain's town-hall-style meeting Wednesday said the Arizona senator's biggest asset is his own life -- a military family, a quarter-century in Congress and the five-and-a-half years spent as an oft-tortured prisoner of war in Vietnam. 'Anyone who can withstand what he did in Vietnam can certainly take the pressure of the presidency,' said Joan Hendon, 67, a businesswoman from Lake Ariel, Pa. And Obama? 'Fluff.' "

By Staff Reporter of the Sun | July 24, 2008 Senator McCain can't seem to catch a break during Senator Obama's widely watched trip abroad this week.

NEW YORK - Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign made a $5 million ad buy on NBC Universal during the Olympic coverage, which begins with opening ceremonies August 8, according to media reports.
Barack Obama
national network ad is highly unusual in politics, because of its more expensive nature and because it reaches audiences that are not necessarily targeted by a campaign.

I believe the term "flip-flop" was meant to describe a political position that does a turnabout without any change in the pertinent facts and was first applied to the political positions of Senator John Kerry in 2004.
Early in the primaries Senator Barack Obama voiced opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). While he was publicly touting this position members of his staff were privately telling Canadians that he was just posturing and nothing would come of his public positions. Thanks to the Canadian honesty this was brought to everyone's attention.
essful (no thanks to the media), he has decided that withdrawal would be determined after consulting

by Lea Radick WASHINGTON - No matter which one is elected president in November, the energy policies proposed by Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama would increase costs for the average American, but other changes may not be as readily visible, experts say.
While the candidatesâ policies are distinct, several energy policy experts agree that both want long-term changes that will not immediately address the high gas prices and energy bills seen today.
r into a new presidency would have no effect on peopleâs lives, Burnett said. âNeither (candidate) has a draft energy law to present to Congress. Theyâve got general ideas out there about what they want to do,â he conceded.

John McCain may not be the shoot from the hip maverick of old, but he hasn’t lost his sense of humor. After a long day of loading on and off buses and planes, a press wrangler tonight told reporters the campaign had a “surprise” gift, adding that it is one that campaign officials, at least, consider “pretty funny.” With that, the staffer walked down the aisle and handed out laminated press ID cards emblazoned with the words “McCain Press Corps JV Squad” underneath a photo of the Statue of Liberty. The caption? “Left behind to report in America.” The reverse side of the ID offered a French translation of the same text along with a picture of a beret wearing pseudo-Frenchman

By Josh Rogers on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. McCain rips Obama on foreign policy as Illinois Demcract travels overseas. The attacks come as UNH poll finds

(CNN) — John McCain said Wednesday that a troop withdrawal from Iraq under an Obama administration wouldn’t be a lasting one.

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ring his trip overseas. The polls might indicate that these two are in a close contest, but I have to wonder if this premonition about a possible story isn't just a reality check by the McCain camp.

I heard a quote on TV yesterday from John McCain that really got under my skin. Here's the text, from the FoxNews website:
"I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war," McCain said at his town hall meeting Tuesday, referring to his support for the troop surge. "It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."
rt as objectionable

'The media is in LOVE with Barack,' McCain's camp says in a video that mocks the reporting on the Democrat.
By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
aints about media bias have galvanized conservatives, which could help McCain as he tries to solidify the Republican base. In February, the campaign sought donations by citing a widely criticized New York Times report about McCain's ties to a female lobbyist. That appeal set a campaign record for the amount raised online in one day to that point.