The AP reports Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday that "as president he would strengthen government oversight of energy traders he blames in large part for the skyrocketing price of oil." Obama "singled out the so-called 'Enron loophole' for allowing speculators to run up the cost of fuel by operating outside federal regulation." The Obama campaign "blamed the loophole on former Sen. Phil Gramm," who serves as Sen. John McCain's campaign "co-chairman and economic adviser." The Washington Post reports Obama "laid out a four-step program that would, among other things, close" the loophole. The "three other components of the plan, as described by Obama economic adviser Jason Furman, are to ensure that U.S. energy futures cannot be traded in offshore, unregulated markets; to work toward international regulation of oil futures markets, in cooperation with like-minded countries; and to have both the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department investigate the oil markets." The New York Times says, "How large a role speculative investment plays in pushing up oil and other commodity prices is not entirely clear."
Bloomberg News reports that McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds "said Obama is following McCain's lead in trying to require CFTC regulation of energy futures trading. 'John McCain has supported bipartisan efforts to close this loophole and will work to address abuses in oil speculation,' Bounds said in an e-mailed statement."
McCain Proposes Green Prize The AP reports that McCain "hopes to solve the country's energy crisis with cold hard cash" and is "proposing a $300 million government prize to whomever can develop an automobile battery that far surpasses existing technology." McCain, who is expected to announce the plan in a speech today, "said such a device should deliver power at 30 percent of current costs and have 'the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.'"
On its front page, the Washington Post reports Sen. Barack Obama has "moved aggressively to shape his campaign and offered a clear road map for the kind of candidate he is likely to become in the months ahead: an ambitious gamer of the electoral map, a ruthless fundraiser and a scrupulous manager of his own biography in the face of persistent concerns about how he is perceived." With his first general election ad focusing on his biography, Obama "acknowledged ongoing concerns among his advisers that voters do not know whether he shares the values and beliefs of ordinary Americans, a potentially critical vulnerability." The Washington Times also says that "nearly all U.S. voters recognize" Obama's name, but "the problem is, many don't know much about his background or where he stands on the issues, and Republicans and groups working for his defeat in November are working to define him on their terms." In the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz says Obama "has demonstrated an ability to mesmerize 20,000 people in an arena, but for all his sudden fame, most voters know little about the texture of his life. Now, in ways large and small, he and his staff are trying to add some dabs of color to a gauzy portrait, using media coverage to convey the sense of a down-to-earth fellow." On NBC Nightly News, Kevin Corke reported, "For Barack Obama, two key general election strategies are emerging, as the Illinois senator looks to build on momentum following his tough primary fight. ... First, Obama hopes to blanket the airways with TV ads, reintroducing himself to the American people, part of a 50-state strategy Democrats hope will force the Republicans to fork out big dollars in places they hadn't planned to. ... Another Obama strategy? Equate a McCain presidency with a third Bush term."
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Sen. John McCain may have secured the backing of the GOP in the primary, but some Republican outliers may still give him a headache. The AP reports Republicans are concerned about the role Libertarian Bob Barr, a long-time GOP House member from Georgia, may play in the presidential race. While Barr "is the longest of long shots," political experts say he may be able to exploit the unease some die-hard conservatives still feel about" McCain. California Republican consultant Dan Schnur said, "Bob could be the Ralph Nader of 2008."
Another potential problem: Ron Paul, the Libertarian-leaning Republican. The Politico reports that with Paul "unlikely to endorse anyone" in the '08 race, "many of his campaign officials expect Paul's votes will splinter - and the names of Libertarian candidate Bob Barr and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin come up at least as frequently as does Obama's." The Politico noted, "For some Paul supporters, the only way they can see supporting McCain is if" he "reverses his core positions on foreign and economic policy." Similarly, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a paper with strong conservative ties, says McCain "still has a Ron Paul problem, analysts say. The extent of the problem -- and how deeply it might cut into McCain's vote in November -- depends a lot on what kind of show Paul is planning when he holds his shadow convention in Minneapolis near the Republican National Convention in September."
The conventional wisdom is that Sen. Barack Obama, whose campaign has shattered fundraising records, will have a decisive advantage over Sen. John McCain in campaign cash, a view reinforced by Obama's controversial decision last week to forego public financing. However, the most recent fundraising reports show that the cash race is not as uneven as it once was. The AP reported over the weekend that Obama's new finance reports show he brought in $22 million in May, his worst showing of the year, spent $26.8 million, and started June with $43 million in the bank. CQ's Money Line reports that McCain brought in $21.8 million in May, and started June with $31.6 million in the bank. Further evening the odds the Republican National Committee is thrashing the Democratic National Committee in fundraising. The Hill reports that RNC "raked in" $24.4 million in May and finished the month with $53.5 million on hand, while CQ's Money Line reports the DNC brought in $5 million and finished the month with just $4 million in the bank. One caveat the Democratic House and Senate campaign committees are significantly outpacing their GOP counterparts, and it is likely that some of the RNC's money will have to be redirected.
However, The CBS Evening News reported last night that Sen. Hillary Clinton's fundraisers "could produce a surge of up to $75 million" for Obama.
With one exception, a series of polls out over the weekend showed Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain by between 2 and 7 points, a range that the race has been in for several weeks now. A USA Today /Gallup poll of 1,310 likely voters taken June 17-19 shows Obama leading McCain 50%-44%. Separately, Gallup's presidential tracking poll for June 22 shows Obama leading McCain 46%-44%. That survey is based on 2615 registered voters interviewed between June 19-21. The Rasmussen Reports automated tracking poll for June 22 shows Obama leading McCain 49%-42%.
However, there is one outlier -- a Newsweek poll of 896 registered voters taken June 18-19 shows Obama leading McCain 51%-36%. Newsweek's May survey had shown both candidates tied at 46%.
Obama Up By Three In Oregon A SurveyUSA automated poll of 547 likely Oregon voters released June 22 shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain 48%-45%.
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Media coverage of a summit of oil producers and consumers in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, puts a pessimistic spin on events, with many reports saying that while Saudi Arabia offered to produce more crude oil if needed, the offer was "vague" and that even an output increase is unlikely to directly impact high gasoline prices. The AP reports Saudi Arabia, "facing strong U.S. pressure and global dismay over oil prices," said Sunday that it "will produce more crude this year if the market needs it. But the vague pledge fell far short of U.S. hopes for a specific increase and may do little to lower prices immediately." The AP story is carried by only about 40 newspapers and websites, and is not on the front pages of most major newspapers this morning.
All three broadcast networks, however, opened their Sunday evening newscasts with lengthy reports on the meeting and on high gasoline prices. ABC World News opened by saying, "The world's great oil powers sat down to try to tame the skyrocketing price of oil. It's more than doubled since last year, chilling the global economy, and setting off protests from Brussels to Bangkok." The CBS Evening News reported that although the Saudis said they "would produce more crude oil this year if the market needs it," analysts "say, don't expect the price at the pump to fall." Any hopes "that today's summit in Saudi Arabia would slow runaway oil prices were dashed when the Saudis announced an immediate increase of only 200,000 more barrels of oil a day, with the vague promise of more down the road when demand warrants." NBC Nightly News reported, "Today's decision may not spell the relief at the pump so many were counting on."
Bloomberg News says analysts "maintain that consumers will need to curtail demand before prices head lower. The biggest drop in prices in 11 weeks came on June 18, after the world's second-biggest oil consumer, China, raised gasoline, diesel and power prices to rein in energy use." The Financial Times says the "hastily convened conference" is "likely to be seen as a disappointment because it yielded little more than had been expected from the world's largest exporter in spite of global concerns that developing countries were cracking under the burden of record oil and food prices."
The Wall Street Journal says the Saudis "moved to calm anxiety in the oil market by promising the world a little more oil now and potentially a lot more later. But it is unclear whether the Saudi bid to reassert its oil muscle will be enough to slow a historic surge in crude prices that many fear could go far higher." The Washington Post reports that Secretary Bodman "called again Sunday on Saudi Arabia to increase production, saying it has not kept pace with demand." The Christian Science Monitor notes that "politicians and financial analysts" say there "is no quick fix for the coincidence of complex economic factors pushing oil prices up." The New York Times says the Saudis "considered the meeting a success because of the high attendance."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "Consumer anger over high gasoline prices is driving a reconsideration of the U.S. ban on coastal drilling for oil and natural gas, even in Florida, where conservation and tourism concerns have long bolstered a bipartisan consensus against offshore production. Now, there are signs of a shift in sentiment in the state."
The Washington Post writes that while "soaring oil and gas prices may be a fiscal drag for much of the nation," in Houston, the "self-styled energy capital of the world," high prices "are feeding an economic surge."
Roll Call reports Democrats and Republicans "each had a bill to crow about last week, when a rare spate of bipartisan deal-making broke logjams in the House on war spending and warrantless wiretapping in what may be the last major flurry of legislating before the November elections." The "endgame on the $258 billion war supplemental had Democrats claiming they finally bested President Bush." Republicans, "meanwhile, crowed about the deal on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which included retroactive conditional immunity for companies that cooperated in warrantless wiretapping."
Roll Call reports that in the Senate, "months of escalating partisan tensions" began "to ease last week as both parties backed away from the legislative standoff that has dominated the chamber this year." Though Senate Democrats and Republicans "remain deeply skeptical of one another, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reached a rare deal to actually vote on amendments to a housing bill, and the measure appears on a path to completion with broad bipartisan support by midweek."
Roll Call reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "on Friday said he hopes to move a package of bipartisan presidential nominees to the Federal Election Commission this week, even though Reid blocked an effort by Republicans to vote on the picks late last week." The FEC nominees "have been caught in a standoff between Reid, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the White House that has essentially shuttered the election regulatory and enforcement body."
However, the Wall Street Journal says in an editorial that Reid "hit the stall button again" on the consideration of the FEC nominees last week, and the "magic day for Democratic foot-dragging is tomorrow, when they will receive a new tool to bludgeon John McCain. That's when the Democratic National Committee will be able to proceed with a lawsuit filed this spring to prevent Mr. McCain from opting out of the public financing system in the primaries." That "means more unflattering publicity for the Republican."
The Christian Science Monitor reports increased enforcement of immigration law "may already be shrinking the flood across the Mexican border and have a modest positive impact on job prospects for 'native born' Americans during the present economic slump." Immigration prosecutions "reached an all-time high in March, reports the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data research and distribution group at Syracuse University in New York. Using data from the Justice Department, it calculates that prosecutions were up 49 percent from February and 72.7 percent from March of last year." March prosecutions "numbered 9,360."
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The Wall Street Journal reports that "at pivotal times during the current financial turmoil," Securities and Exchange Chairman Christopher Cox "has appeared peripheral," such as during the Bear Stearns bailout. Critics say "America's top securities regulator didn't act boldly enough to restore confidence when the financial world shuddered." Cox's defenders "say he acted within his powers as an SEC chief and didn't step beyond them."
The New York Times reports the Army and Air Force "discharged a disproportionate number of women in 2007 under the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy that prohibits openly gay people from serving in the military, according to Pentagon statistics gathered by an advocacy group." While women "make up 14 percent of Army personnel, 46 percent of those discharged under the policy last year were women. And while 20 percent of Air Force personnel are women, 49 percent of its discharges under the policy last year were women."
The AP reports, "Veteran news anchor Tom Brokaw has agreed to moderate NBC's 'Meet the Press' through the November election to fill the vacancy created by the death of Tim Russert." Brokaw will "start next week, the network announced Sunday."
NBC Nightly News reported, "Brian Williams made the announcement this morning, as he sat in the chair Tim Russert occupied for the past seventeen years. USA Today reports Brokaw, 68, "who stepped down in 2004 after 21 years as anchor of Nightly News, will lead the top-rated Sunday morning show through the presidential elections in November, said network news president Steve Capus."
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Jay Leno: "President Bush and Sen. John McCain were both touring the flood-damaged areas of Iowa this week, but they did not cross each other's path. McCain said he didn't want to join up with Bush because that might send the wrong message. You know, nothing turns voters off more than people getting together for a noble cause."
Jay Leno: "Ralph Nader attacked Barack Obama for refusing to accept public financing for his campaign and said that Obama was too closely tied to big business. ... Then the guy sitting next to Nader on the park bench said, 'Shut up!'"
Jay Leno: "Have you noticed how a lot of gas stations now have TV screens where they show the news or clips of the news? If I'm paying $5 a gallon, I want HBO, Showtime, and pay-per-view."
David Letterman: "President Bush has ordered...his troops now to find Osama bin Laden. Boy, he really jumped on that one, didn't he?"
Conan O'Brien: "Last night, President Bush held a celebration at the White House honoring jazz. ... It was an awkward moment when Bush said, 'This is great. It's just like being in an elevator.'"
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