IN THE HEADLINES
New McCain ad emphasizes independent streak to counter Obama charge he's same as Bush ... Obama says economy is in turmoil, sets goal of ending American dependence on overseas oil ... No plans yet for Vice President Dick Cheney to appear at Republican National Convention ... Obama, McCain campaigns engage in hard-hitting politics, but show differences in style, tone
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McCain ad pushes independence, distance from Bush
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Republican John McCain emphasized his independent streak and reformer credentials in a new TV commercial Tuesday as he sought to counter Democratic charges that he's the same as President Bush.
Washington's broken. John McCain knows it. We're worse off than we were four years ago, says the ad. He's the original maverick.
Although the commercial, set to run in battleground states, does not mention Democratic rival Barack Obama, it suggests the first-term Illinois senator is unprepared to be president by saying McCain is the one ready to lead.
It also tries to seize Obama's message of change and cast McCain, a four-term Arizona senator, as a change agent at a time the public is craving a direction different from the status quo.
Only McCain has taken on big tobacco, drug companies, fought corruption in both parties, the ad says. He'll reform Wall Street, battle big oil, make America prosper again.
It does not mention areas where McCain and Bush agree, like tax cuts, the Iraq war and free-market economics.
McCain aides unveiled the ad as the candidate was set to tour a nuclear power plant, the first such visit in recent history by a presidential candidate. The visit highlights the promise and peril of a technology that is a key component of his plan to help the country overcome its energy crisis.
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Obama calls for ending reliance on foreign oil
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Barack Obama sought on Tuesday to link what he called an economy in turmoil with administration energy policies that he asserted Vice President Dick Cheney helped shape. Setting things right will require all hands on deck efforts, he said.
With polls showing concern over gas prices a prime concern of Americans, Obama has been depicting energy as the nation's most pressing national security and economic issue. In that effort, he criticizes Republican rival John McCain as more concerned about oil company profits and drilling than an overall energy strategy.
McCain has taken a page out of the Cheney playbook, the Democratic presidential candidate said as he stumped in this key battleground state.
Among other things, Obama has proposed a $1,000-per family energy rebate to be paid for by a tax on excessive energy-company profits. He called for ending U.S. reliance on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela over the next 10 years, a project he said would cost the U.S. $150 billion.
Obama has also proposed borrowing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, a conditional and limited resumption of offshore drilling, and a new emphasis on alternative energy sources and hybrid vehicles.
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Cheney's role at GOP convention a question
WASHINGTON (AP) — Will he or won't he? Vice President Dick Cheney is one of the nation's most prominent Republicans, but there are doubts about whether he will attend the GOP convention.
Cheney press secretary Megan Mitchell left the question open on Tuesday, saying Cheney's schedule has not been set for September. Delegates are set to meet in St. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 1-4.
Cheney has low approval ratings and is widely regarded as a secretive, behind-the-scenes power broker. But his approach plays well to conservatives. The White House has to calculate whether Cheney would help or hurt Sen. John McCain's campaign for the presidency.
President Bush will deliver a speech on the first night of the convention and then leave, turning over the spotlight to McCain.
Democrats are working hard to link McCain to Cheney, mindful of his unpopularity with the general public and his villan-like status among their party's rank and file.
The DNC rolled out a new Web site on Tuesday called The Next Cheney. It assails McCain's potential vice presidential picks and links each to Cheney.
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Negativity the norm in presidential campaign
WASHINGTON (AP) — For all the talk about John McCain's hard-hitting politics, Barack Obama is hardly innocent.
Both candidates and their allies are fully engaged in creating unflattering caricatures of each other that they hope will stick in voters' minds for the next three months.
Obama and his Democratic allies argue that the Republican is negative and offers nothing new, while McCain and his Republicans claim the Democrat is presumptuous and ill-prepared.
They're cynical, Obama recently charged of McCain and his followers, adding: They want to distract people from talking about the real issues. One day earlier, the Democrat issued a fundraising appeal accusing McCain of taking the low road and stooping to the same old smears by launching a desperate new set of attacks each day.
McCain disputed that. This is a very respectful campaign. I don't think our campaign is negative in the slightest, he said. His comments came the same week he agreed with a top aide's charge that Obama had played the race card and rolled out a TV commercial that mocking Obama as the biggest celebrity in the world and asking: Is he ready to lead?
Brutal, certainly; effective, probably — and that's why competitive contests typically end up in the gutter.
Nevermind that at the outset of the general election Obama and McCain each expressed a desire for a courteous campaign focused on issues and free of the negative politics that have marked — and marred — presidential races.
These days, each skewers his opponent with regularity — and even zeal.
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THE DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama talks to voters about energy at two town-hall meetings in Ohio.
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THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain stops at a nuclear power plant in Newport, Mich.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
President Bush, he had an energy policy. He turned to Dick Cheney and he said, 'Cheney, go take care of this. — Democrat Barack Obama, at a town-hall meeting on energy in Youngstown, Ohio, in which he sought to tie the troubled economy with administration energy policies that he asserted Vice President Dick Cheney helped shape.
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STAT OF THE DAY:
John McCain won 70 of Michigan's 83 counties in the 2000 Republican presidential primary against President Bush.
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Compiled by Ann Sanner.
