Some on left target McCain's war record

Ben Smith
Mon Jun 30, 5:54 AM ET

The highest-voltage third rail of this presidential campaign may not be race, sex or age, but John McCain's military service.

McCain's campaign on Sunday issued a pair of outraged statements after retired general and Barack Obama supporter Wesley Clark said he didn't think that McCain’s service as a fighter pilot and prisoner of war was relevant to running the country. Obama has consistently praised McCain's service, and called him "a genuine American hero."

But farther to the left — and among some of McCain's conservative enemies as well — harsher attacks are circulating. Critics have accused McCain of war crimes for bombing targets in Hanoi in the 1960s. A widely read liberal blog on Sunday accused McCain of "disloyalty" during his captivity in Vietnam for his coerced participation in propaganda films and interviews after he’d been tortured.

"A lot of people don't know ... that McCain made a propaganda video for the enemy while he was in captivity," wrote Americablog.com's John Aravosis. "Putting that bit of disloyalty aside, what exactly is McCain's military experience that prepares him for being commander in chief?"

"Getting shot down, tortured and then doing propaganda for the enemy is not command experience," Aravosis wrote in the blog post, titled "Honestly, besides being tortured, what did McCain do to excel in the military?"

McCain's camp responded sharply to the Americablog posting Sunday night.

"The American people know that John McCain's record of service and sacrifice is not a matter of debate. He has written about and discussed his service as a POW extensively — often in excruciating and painful detail," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers. "The American people will judge harshly anyone who demeans or attacks that service."

McCain has written repeatedly of his service, including a long 1973 magazine article and in his memoir, "Faith of My Fathers." A Navy aviator from a military family, he was shot down on his 23rd sortie over Vietnam on Oct. 26, 1967. His mission was to bomb a power plant in the North Vietnamese capital. Already suffering from broken limbs, he was beaten by a crowd before being taken to a POW camp. After being tortured there, he participated in some Vietnamese propaganda efforts.

"I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine," he later wrote.

But he later defied his captors by refusing to meet with anti-war delegations from abroad, he wrote, and also refused the most valuable special treatment he was offered: early release.

"I did not want to go out of order," he later wrote. He was finally released on March 14, 1973.

Obama and the Democratic establishment haven't challenged McCain's record. Indeed, even Clark's words came in response to a direct question from CBS's Bob Schieffer on the specific relevance of McCain's service to the presidency.

Democratic West Virginia Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV in April cut a bit closer, suggesting that McCain's days as a fighter pilot were themselves a critique of his character.

"What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground?" he asked. "He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues."

Rockefeller promptly abjectly apologized, praising McCain's "honorable and noble service to our country" and deploring his own "inaccurate and wrong analogy." His apology reflected a conventional political wisdom that McCain's heroism is too well established, and a climate of respect for soldiers too strong, for attacks on his service to do anything but backfire.

But Aravosis, who reiterated his criticism in an interview with Politico on Sunday night, isn't the only one to test this line of attack.

The newsletter CounterPunch published this April an article by Doug Valentine headed "Meet the Real John McCain: North Vietnam's Go-To Collaborator."

Valentine suggested McCain contemplated suicide — something the candidate has written about, and attributed in part to his guilt at not withstanding torture — because he was a "war criminal" whose bombs fell on civilians.

McCain, who sought — along with Sen. John F. Kerry — to debunk claims that Vietnam still held American prisoners into the 1990s, has been attacked in similar terms by leaders of POW/MIA movement, whom he and Kerry cast as charlatans.

That movement has produced the most outlandish attacks on McCain, including widely dismissed and unsubstantiated claims that McCain was not tortured and a smear casting him as a "Manchurian candidate."

But most of the attacks on McCain's war record are now coming from the left. In a HuffingtonPost.com blog, a former editor of Mother Jones magazine, Jeffrey Klein, called — in tones reminiscent of right-wing attacks on Kerry in 2004 — on McCain to release elements of his Navy record that the candidate has not made available to the public or the press.

"Some of the unreleased pages in McCain's Navy file may not reflect well upon his qualifications for the presidency," he wrote. As to why, Klein speculated that "from Day One in the Navy, McCain screwed up again and again, only to be forgiven because his father and grandfather were four-star admirals."

David Fenton, a prominent progressive public relations executive who works for MoveOn.org and other groups, also inquired to old anti-Vietnam war circles about details of McCain's Navy sorties, a source familiar with the inquiries told Politico. Fenton declined to comment on the inquiries, and a person familiar with them said they were unconnected to his work for MoveOn.

Some anti-war activists link McCain's current position on Iraq to his time in Vietnam.

"I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero," said Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the theatrical anti-war group Code Pink. "In 23 bombing sorties, there must have been civilians that were killed and there's no heroism to that."

"Anyone who can't look back and admit how wrong it was to be in Vietnam and be killing civilians deserves to be challenged," she said, though she stressed that her group is more focused on McCain's present support for the war in Iraq than on his past.

Benjamin said she had her doubts about whether criticism of McCain's record could catch on, and she's not the only skeptic. Even Valentine, the CounterPunch author, said McCain's wartime experience could only be questioned "off-Broadway."

Others disagree, however, and the increasing buzz of e-mails and blog posts — the new equivalent on the left of what, in the 1990s, would have been stirrings on conservative talk radio — suggest that this line of attack won't go away, at least not from elements of the energized pro-Obama grass roots and from parts of the anti-war left.

A search of Obama’s community website, my.BarackObama.com, finds two posts calling McCain a “war criminal.”

Noam Chomsky, the linguist and activist, said in an e-mail that he thought Americans should question the relevance of McCain's torture in an unjust war to his campaign.

"The questions could scarcely even be understood within the reigning intellectual and moral culture — though I don't doubt that much of the population would understand," Chomsky said.

And Aravosis was unapologetic about his charge of "disloyalty," citing the similar charges levied at Kerry from the right in 2004.

"McCain is running for president of the United States, not the student council. He should stop feigning shock and outrage and start answering some very legitimate questions about his character and his experience," he said. "Well, the Republicans sported Band-Aids to mock John Kerry's medals from Vietnam. They mocked his injuries in war."

"McCain isn't being mocked, he's being questioned," he said.

For now, that is a minority view on the left. Democrats took from the Vietnam era the lesson that they should not attack soldiers' service, and McCain's Senate colleagues of both parties — including Obama — have expressed deep respect for his service and his suffering. He also worked after the war to heal some of its open wounds, winning the unexpected appreciation of some anti-Vietnam war stalwarts, who are now damping down the attempts to attack his war record.

"I know and like McCain," said Tom Hayden, a former California state senator and prominent anti-war activist. "From my own perspective and that of many anti-war activists of that era, the fact that he bombed North Vietnam some 25 times, probably killing civilians, gets blurred with the facts that he suffered through that long prison ordeal, then also went on to promote diplomatic relations between the two countries."

"It's like asking a guy that served his jail term here — you'd say he's done his time so that's behind him," Hayden said.

Now Disembarking: Presidential Enthusiasm

Marine One in Raleigh, North Carolina.

No waves for a president with the lowest approval rating (26%) in US history.

6-20-2008

Obama beats McCain in three swing states: poll

WASHINGTON (AFP) - For the first time, White House hopeful Barack Obama leads his Republican rival John McCain in three of the biggest battlegrounds of November's election, according to a new poll Wednesday.

The surveys by Quinnipiac University also found independent voters are opposed to defeated primary contender Hillary Clinton running as Obama's running mate on the Democratic ticket.

Another poll out Wednesday by Zogby had Obama leading McCain by 47 percent to 42 nationally, with a 22-point lead among all-important independents.

The Quinnipiac polls had Obama besting McCain 52-40 percent in Pennsylvania, 48-42 percent in Ohio, and 47-43 in Florida. All three states are crucial building blocks to an election triumph for either candidate in November.

In all three states, Obama leads McCain among female voters by 10 to 23 percentage points, but among men the two contenders are "too close to call," Quinnipiac University Polling Institute assistant director Peter Brown said.

"Finally getting Senator Hillary Clinton out of the race has been a big boost for Senator Barack Obama," he said.

Clinton beat Obama in the three states' Democratic primaries, although neither campaigned in Florida because of a scheduling row. Obama lagged particularly among working-class voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

"Senator Obama is certainly not out of the woods, but these results are a good indication that he enters the summer slightly ahead in the race to be the next president," Brown said.

The Quinnipiac surveys found that while most Democrats back Clinton to join Obama's ticket, clear pluralities of independent voters in all three states were against seeing the former first lady run as his vice president.

"If Senator Obama seriously is thinking about picking Senator Clinton as his running mate, these numbers might cause him to reconsider," Brown said.

"The people who really matter come November -- independent voters -- turn thumbs down on the idea. And, many say they are less likely to vote for him if he puts her on the ticket," he said.

The Quinnipiac polls also suggested that one in five voters see McCain's age as a reason to vote against him. At 72 in January, the Republican would be the oldest president sworn in to a first term.

"But overwhelmingly they don't see Obama's race as a factor at all -- indicating that Americans are either much less concerned with race, or just don't want to tell callers what they really think on the subject," Brown said.

Obama and Clinton Seek to Unite Donors in Joint Appearance

By JEFF ZELENY
Published: June 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are set to appear together here next week at a fund-raiser, their first side-by-side appearance since the long Democratic primary battle ended.

The event, scheduled for June 26 at the Mayflower Hotel, is intended to encourage Mrs. Clinton’s contributors to become part of Mr. Obama’s financial team. An invitation was sent on Tuesday to some of her biggest donors, asking them to unify behind Mr. Obama, the party’s presumptive nominee.

Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton met privately in Washington on June 5, two days before Mrs. Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed Mr. Obama. Aides said the two had not spoken or met since, but their respective campaign strategists are sharing information and cooperating as Mr. Obama expands his organization for the general election.

As Mr. Obama returned here late Tuesday afternoon from a campaign trip to Michigan, he was asked whether he intended to meet with Mrs. Clinton this week. “I think she’s still on vacation or she deserves to be,” he said.

There are several indications that tensions remain between supporters of the two candidates. At an Obama rally in Detroit on Monday evening, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, a former Clinton supporter, drew loud and sustained boos from Mr. Obama’s supporters when she mentioned Mrs. Clinton. Asked about that moment on Tuesday, Mr. Obama said: “I shut that down and made very clear that Senator Clinton deserves respect. She ran a great race, and we are moving forward because we want to win in November.”

When the Obama campaign announced Monday that it had hired Patti Solis Doyle, the Clinton campaign manager who was ousted in February, several Clinton supporters expressed outrage.

The fund-raiser next week in Washington will benefit Mr. Obama’s campaign, but aides to both senators said it would probably be the first of several events, including some to help Mrs. Clinton retire her debt through new contributions from Mr. Obama’s supporters.

Can McCain deliver his home state?

Phoenix - For a senator who consistently gets 80 percent approval ratings from Arizonans, it seems strange, bizarre even, that John McCain would not be a shoo-in to win his home state in November's presidential election. Some in-state analysts say chances are fair, in fact, that Arizona will end up in the Democratic column.

A big part of the uncertainty may be that the Republican Party's presumptive nominee has not distanced himself enough from the Bush administration to satisfy the one-third of state voters who are independents. But Senator McCain has also seen his support erode among Arizona's avid Bush supporters and social conservatives, for not backing the president on issues dear to their hearts. Toss in the resources and clout of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, who will be pulling hard for her party's nominee, and anything can happen.

"The simple conclusion for Arizona is that this could be a competitive state," says Earl de Berge, director of the Behavior Research Center, which conducts the Rocky Mountain Poll. "As presidential material, with him so closely aligned to the mainstream right-wing politics of the White House, he doesn't have the types of numbers we would expect to see."

The latest Rocky Mountain Poll, conducted before Democrats settled on Sen. Barack Obama as their candidate, shows McCain winning Arizona over the Illinois senator by 11 percentage points. But in the same poll released May 24, fewer than 4 in 10 Arizonans said they see McCain as the best candidate to deal with two top issues: exiting Iraq and reviving the US economy.

Rugged individualism and a "can-do" spirit are embedded in the DNA of the American Southwest, including Arizona � and they are characteristics that seem a match for McCain's own.

But the state, among the fastest growing in the US, has changed with the influx of newcomers who hold views that are not as grounded in the rock-ribbed conservatism of Arizona's Barry Goldwater days. That makes politics here less predictable than in the past: In 1996, Arizonans voted for Bill Clinton, the first time they'd chosen a Democrat for president since Harry Truman won here in 1948. They swung back to the Republican side in 2000 and 2004, but in 2006's congressional elections they handed two GOP seats to the Democrats.

Moreover, there's some residual disaffection for McCain within the Republican Party here, say political observers.

The religious right, in particular, doesn't like that he voted against President Bush's tax cuts, pressed hard for campaign-finance reform that they see as curtailing political free speech, and backed an immigration measure that included a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and a guest-worker program. Some say he's a "show horse" in the Senate, not a "workhorse," especially since his first presidential run, citing a low vote-casting record. (He's skipped almost 61 percent of floor votes in the current 110th Congress, a time when he's been on the campaign trail. In the previous three sessions, he missed on average 5.3 percent of floor votes, according to a Washington Post online database.) Others point to his temper and a stubborn streak.

"He's got a real problem with the social conservatives and die-hard Bush supporters," says David Berman, a senior research fellow with Arizona State University's Morrison Institute. "Contrary to his claims that he doesn't have a bad temper, he's blown up at quite a few people here. He doesn't tolerate fools easily."

"On the other hand," Dr. Berman adds, "he has so much appeal with moderate Republicans, Democrats, and even independents that he doesn't need that base for a statewide vote."

McCain's hard push for office
McCain is like a lot of people who live in Arizona: They were not born here but moved to the state for the climate, work, affordable homes, or Western values.

After his second marriage, to a well-connected heiress to a beer distributorship here, McCain in 1980 moved to Arizona and set out to win a seat in Congress. He and his wife, Cindy, purchased a house in Mesa in 1982, within the First Congressional District, where incumbent Rep. John Rhodes (R) was unexpectedly retiring.

McCain's first campaign, engineered by top Rhodes consultant Jay Smith, is legendary here. The novice politician boned up on Arizona issues � mainly water, mining, and native American rights � and took to the streets. For six hours a day, six days a week, McCain knocked on doors, introduced himself to thousands of people, and wore out three pairs of shoes in the process � maintaining a blistering pace even as the mercury soared above 100 degrees F. His father-in-law's company and connections, too, provided McCain an entree to the state's corporate and political leaders.

"He's quite simply the hardest-working candidate that I ever encountered in 35 years of being involved in political campaigns," says Mr. Smith, CEO of Smith & Harroff Inc., a political consulting firm in Alexandria, Va., who worked with McCain for a decade. "No one comes close to the energy level and enthusiasm that he displayed obviously in his first campaign, but [also] in all his subsequent campaigns.... He is just indefatigable."

During that first Republican primary, some rivals tried to tag McCain a carpetbagger and an opportunist. That not only didn't stick, but McCain turned it to his advantage. As Smith recounts it (and as detailed in Robert Timberg's book "The Nightingale's Song"), McCain fielded questions about those claims for weeks. But one night, apparently fed up, he responded, rather hotly.

"Listen pal, I spent 22 years in the Navy. My father was in the Navy. My grandfather was in the Navy. We in the military service tend to move a lot.... I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the First District of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi," referring to the 5-1/2 years he spent as a POW in the infamous prison in North Vietnam.

Smith says there was silence for a few moments, then thunderous applause.

McCain won the GOP primary, one of his closest races ever. The general election, as well as subsequent elections to the US Senate, was pretty much a walk in the park for the honored war hero.

Help during the Keating Five scandal
Most experts say his service to Arizona has been stellar, except for the so-called Keating Five scandal of the late 1980s. Five senators, including McCain, were investigated for meeting with regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, who was trying to save his ailing savings and loan. After hearings ended in 1991, McCain received the mildest rebuke of the five: "poor judgment."

McCain himself has said it's the worst thing that's happened to him, even worse than imprisonment in North Vietnam. Most experts say he survived it in part because he works well with the press and in part because the Arizona Republican Party stood behind him.

But that, now, is part of their disaffection with him, experts say.

"The religious right that is now so opposed to him think they saved his career by standing up for him [during the Keating Five scandal]," says Bruce Merrill, a political scientist and pollster at Arizona State University in Tempe. "They think he deserted them by moving to the center seven years ago when he ran for president, which you have to do to run. But that is behind some of the hard feelings those on the far right have."

The Arizona GOP is split in its support for McCain, say most experts, though they can't tell how big a faction is disaffected. A recall effort in the summer of 2001 by far-right Republicans had appeared to be gathering momentum, but was abruptly ended after the 9/11 attacks. This spring, in a straw poll for president at a state Republican Party convention, McCain received only about 5 percent of the vote. Moreover, he received just 47 percent of the vote � not high for a favorite son, these experts say � during the February presidential primary here.

But Dr. Merrill draws a distinction between GOP party regulars and generic Republican voters.

"Republican Party leaders have not been terribly supportive of [McCain]," Merrill says. "But the party, being made up of regular Republicans, like him, respect him, and give him very high marks."

Few in the party complain publicly about McCain, but Joe Arpaio, a popular Republican sheriff, tells of being on the receiving end of McCain's wrath.

A rent in the GOP tent
Sheriff Arpaio of Maricopa County, known for creating a "tent city" in the desert for inmates, clothing them in pink underwear, and feeding them cheap bologna sandwiches, says he first ran afoul of McCain during his 2000 presidential bid. McCain had sought his endorsement, and Arpaio says he replied that he'd probably give it. Then he didn't hear from McCain about a public appearance or announcement for more than a year. Meanwhile, George W. Bush visited the state and Arpaio's tent city, and asked for his endorsement. Arpaio complied.

"McCain found my phone number that night � he called my house but he didn't reach me," Arpaio recalls.

During Arpaio's next reelection campaign for sheriff, McCain endorsed Arpaio's opponent.

They didn't meet again until about four years ago at a baseball game in Phoenix, where Arpaio sat with Mr. Bush.

"McCain was surprised that I was there, next to the president, and he kind of turned away from me," Arpaio says. "He was a little cold."

Arpaio endorsed and served as co-chair of Mitt Romney's primary campaign here. He says he's willing to help McCain now � if McCain asks for his support.

Even if a significant share of GOP voters close ranks and come out to the polls for McCain in November, the bigger question is, what will registered Independents do? McCain has been able to tap into their support in the past, but experts note a great deal of support among them for Obama as well. In Mr. de Berge's latest poll, for example, Independent voters were split evenly between McCain and the Democrats.

"The battleground is going to be over the Independents," de Berge says. "When you look at their position on who can do a better job, they poll 2 to 1 on the side of Democrats�. They are a very fickle bunch of people, but now they lean toward 'throw the rascals out.' "

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Assassination’ Artist Is Questioned and Released

This morning, a Boston-born performance artist, Yazmany Arboleda, tried to set up a provocative art exhibition in a vacant storefront on West 40th Street in Midtown Manhattan with the title, “The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama,” in neatly stenciled letters on the plate glass windows at street level.

By 9:30 a.m., New York City police detectives and Secret Service agents had shut down the exhibition, and building workers had quickly covered over the inflammatory title with large sheets of brown paper and blue masking tape. The gallery is across the street from the southern entrance to The New York Times building.

The police officers declined to answer any questions, and at first would not permit reporters to speak with Mr. Arboleda, who was wearing a black T-shirt and making cellphone calls from inside the makeshift gallery.

Later, Mr. Arboleda, who is 27, said in an interview: “It’s art. It’s not supposed to be harmful. It’s about character assassination — about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media.” He added, “It’s about the media.”
Mr. Arboleda said the exhibition was to open on Thursday and run all day.
The interview was abruptly ended as Mr. Arboleda was led off to the Midtown South police precinct station for what he called an interrogation.

Reached by telephone this morning, Eric Joza, the building manager for the building at 264 West 40th Street, between Eighth and Seventh Avenues, said: “I had no idea what he was going to do. All I knew is that he was an artist and was going to use the store for two days: today and tomorrow.” There are offices above the storefront.
Mr. Joza would not identify the building’s owner, and he would not disclose the terms of the lease or the previous occupant of the storefront, beyond saying that the storefront had been vacant.

Mr. Arboleda has even set up elaborate Web sites, one for Mrs. Clinton and one for Mr. Obama. (June 5 Update: Further reporting has determined that descriptions of past shows and claims of censorship were fabrications intended to fool news organizations.)

Shortly after 11:30 a.m., Mr. Arboleda called reporters to let them know that he had been released.

The Assassination of Barack Obama: Freedom of expression or racism?

A controversial art exhibit was raided and shut down before it could be viewed in NYC yesterday.

According to the NY Times blog: Cityroom, Boston-born performance artist, Yazmany Arboleda, tried to set up a provocative art exhibition in a vacant storefront on West 40th Street in Midtown Manhattan with the title, “The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama”.

The artist thought his racist views were protected under the Constitution because he was expressing himself through his art. Wrong.

Not 30 minutes after Arboleda set up the gallery across the street from the New York Times building, police, feds and secret service swooped in to shut the art exhibit down. While police covered the offensive storefront window with brown paper, Arboleda was led away in handcuffs to be “interrogated”.

Arboleda, 27, learned the hard way that freedom has its limits. Later, in an interview, he said: “It’s art. It’s not supposed to be harmful. It’s about character assassination — about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media.” He added, “It’s about the media.”

Ancient laborer burial ground excavated near Rome

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer

ROME - First-century burial grounds near Rome's main airport are yielding a rare look into how ancient longshoremen and other manual workers did backbreaking jobs, archaeologists said Monday.

The necropolis near the town of Ponte Galeria came to light last year when customs police noticed a clandestine dig by grave robbers seeking valuable ancient artifacts, Rome's archaeology office said.

Most of the 300 skeletons unearthed were male, and many of them showed signs of years of heavy work: joint and tendon inflammation, compressed vertebrae, hernias and spinal problems, archaeologists said. Sandy sediment helped preserve the remains well.

Judging by the condition of the skeletons, archaeologists concluded that the men likely carried loads on their backs at a nearby port during the early years of Imperial Rome, said Gabriella Gatto, a spokeswoman for the archaeology office.

Many ailments "seem to hark back to work as laborers, in transport and carrying of heavy loads, in an especially humid environment, circumstances that makes one think of the burial of individuals who worked in port areas of the city," the office said in a statement.

Finding a necropolis near ancient Rome is not rare, but most of them have been the burial grounds of the privileged classes. So the Ponte Galeria find is enlightening experts how the ancient lower class lived.

Also excavated was a skeleton of a man whose lower jaw was fused to his upper jaw.

Study indicated "how for all of his life this individual was fed, likely through the care of his family" with liquids or semisolids "introduced through a hole made through his teeth," the archaeology statement said.

The man lived into his 30s, a decent age at the time. Experts took that as evidence that the lower classes cared for the disabled.

Artifacts found in the necropolis were simple ones, including lanterns to guide the dead to their next life, Gatto said. One ceramic-and-glass lantern was decorated with a grape harvest scene.

The dig yielded a glimpse into a working-class community that was "humble and marked by strong ties and solidarity among its members," the statement said.

The necropolis was one of the most extensive ones to be excavated near Rome in recent years, archaeologists said.

Obama ramps up search for a running mate

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 2 hours, 9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama ramped up his search for a running mate on Monday, consulting with one congressional ally by phone and dispatching members of his vice presidential vetting team to the Capitol for meetings. Sen. Dick Durbin said he had spoken with Obama, his fellow Illinois senator.

Jim Johnson and Eric Holder, who comprise two-thirds of the group Obama has asked to help guide his search, met separately with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois.

Obama's campaign announced last week that he has asked Johnson, Holder and Caroline Kennedy to help guide the search.

None of the congressional leaders involved in the meetings have figured in speculation about a possible running mate, suggesting that the day's conversations were designed to seek advice. Durbin and Emanuel are barred from being on the ticket because the Constitution requires that the presidential and vice presidential candidates be from different states.

Johnson himself became a subject of campaign controversy during the day after a weekend report in The Wall Street Journal that he had received loans from Countrywide Financial Corp. with the help of the firm's chief executive, Angelo Mozilo.

Obama's campaign suggested its surrogates call the story "overblown and irrelevant."

But Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, jumped in quickly.

"There is nothing 'overblown and irrelevant' about millions of Americans facing foreclosure and Barack Obama entrusting his most important decision as a presidential candidate to a man who has accepted millions in special loans from a subprime mortgage lender," said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the Republican presidential contender.

The selection of a running mate is a top priority for both Obama and McCain.

McCain stirred interest when he held a Memorial Day weekend barbecue at his Arizona home and invited three potential running mates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and their wives.

Obama has fielded numerous questions in recent days about perhaps offering Hillary Rodham Clinton a spot on his ticket. The former first lady suspended her own presidential campaign on Saturday and issued a strong endorsement for the man who edged her out in a marathon race for the nomination.