The Filter: August 18, 2008

A round-up of this morning's read stories.

FOR CONVENTION, OBAMA'S IMAGE IS ALL-AMERICAN
(Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg, New York Times)
Democrats face a number of imperatives at their convention, none trickier than making more voters comfortable with the prospect of putting a candidate with a most unusual background — the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, who grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia — and his family in the White House. No one, his advisers believe, makes the case better for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois than his wife, who will expand her profile by delivering one of the marquee speeches carried by television networks. Through four nights there will be testimonials from family members like Mr. Obama’s wife and sister who will tell his “very American story,” in the words of one adviser, and from party luminaries like Senator Edward M. Kennedy (by videotape) and former President Bill Clinton (live) who will give Mr. Obama, the presumptive presidential nominee, the imprimatur of the party establishment... His aides said in interviews that perhaps the most important goal of the entire program is to define the election on the Obama campaign’s terms — “change” versus “more of the same” — from here until Election Day, with the second night of the convention being heavily devoted to contrasts between Mr. Obama and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee. 

MCCAIN AND OBAMA AT SADDLEBACK
(Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico)
Given the sharp words exchanged between their campaigns in recent weeks, John McCain and Barack Obama put on a good show of civility Saturday at their first joint appearance of the all but officially begun general election race. Midway through the forum at Saddleback Church, McCain joined Obama on stage. The rivals, who have spent the summer quarreling as much over the definition of “celebrity” as the details of their policy proposals, exchanged a man hug, a handshake followed by a one-armed embrace. Smiling and tieless, they took their place on either side of the Rev. Rick Warren, the evangelical preacher who brought them together. For one night, at least, Warren may have achieved his desired goal of comity. Neither candidate spoke critically of the other. And perhaps most tellingly, their campaign’s rapid response teams fell silent for the night.  It may well prove a brief respite before a critical three-week stretch in which McCain and Obama will announce their vice presidential picks and accept their party’s nomination.  

MCCAIN SHINES AT SADDLEBACK FORUM
(Michael Gerson, Washington Post)
The forum previewed the stylistic battle lines of the contest ahead, and it should give Democrats pause. Obama was fluent, cool and cerebral -- the qualities that made Adlai Stevenson interesting but did not make him president. Obama took care to point out that he had once been a professor at the University of Chicago, but that bit of biography was unnecessary. His whole manner smacks of chalkboards and campus ivy. Issues from stem cell research to the nature of evil are weighed, analyzed and explained instead of confronted. This approach has a genuine appeal to some voters, especially of a more liberal bent, who believe there is a nuance shortage in American life. But on Saturday night it did not compare well with McCain, who was decisive, passionate and surprisingly personal. The candidate who once seemed incapable of the confessional style of politics talked at length of Vietnam experiences and his adopted daughter from Bangladesh. Asked by Warren about his greatest moral failure, McCain's response -- "the failure of my first marriage" -- had an abrupt and disarming authenticity.  

BARACK OBAMA'S PURPOSE-DRIVEN GAMBLE
(Mike Madden, Salon)
What more than 5,000 Saddleback Church members (and more watching the live TV broadcast at churches around the country) saw in the event's first hour, when Obama took the stage, was a Democratic candidate who was plainly comfortable talking about the role his Christian faith plays in his life, and who used his religious views to explain and defend his political ones. "I think America's greatest moral failure in my lifetime has been that we still don't abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me," Obama said, with Warren affirming his choice of Scripture by finishing the quote. "That basic principle applies to poverty. It applies to racism and sexism. It applies to, you know, not having -- not thinking about providing ladders of opportunity for people to get into the middle class." Not bad for a guy who's still trying to hammer it into some voters' heads that he's not a Muslim. Of course, what they also saw was a Democratic candidate who -- though he sometimes seemed more at ease with his faith than McCain -- disagrees with many evangelical voters on issues from abortion to who sits on the Supreme Court to the role of faith-based organizations in providing government services.

MCCAIN AND OBAMA ON ABORTION
(Nancy Gibbs, Time)
It's not just that a majority of Americans favor at least limited access to legal abortion. (I've seen polls suggesting that a substantial minority of Americans thinks McCain himself is pro-choice, which is a natural mistake given his maverick image. Will Independents like him less when they learn more?) McCain's construction that life begins "at the moment of conception" opens a whole new range of questions: There is a world of mystery in what transpires between the moment when egg meets sperm and the point of implantation, when that fertilized egg nestles into the uterus and begins to grow. McCain's position has the great virtue of simplicity; a unique set of chromosomes has now been assembled that has the potential to grow into a unique human being, assuming circumstances permit. As many as half of fertilized eggs naturally miscarry, usually before the prospective mother even knows she was pregnant. But there is a roiling debate over what factors might also affect implantation, with implications for everything from fertility treatment and contraception to criminal law and human rights. I wonder if McCain knows how deeply into troubled waters he has waded.

MCCAIN REOPENS NATIONAL SECURITY GAP
(David Paul Kuhn, Politico)
Less than two years after Democrats finally bridged the decades-long gap between the parties on national security issues, Republicans have opened it right back up — a shift likely tied to the party's new standard-bearer John McCain and the perception of improvements in Iraq. The reemergence of the national security gap comes amid the first headline-grabbing world conflict of the 2008 campaign — the Russian invasion of Georgia that highlights the potential for a dramatic military event to upend the political landscape, and likely aid McCain. July's NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll found that three in four Americans believe McCain can "handle" the role of commander in chief, while only 19 percent said he "cannot," compared to a 50 percent to 42 percent split for Obama. When asked which party is more capable of "dealing with the war on terrorism," 40 percent of respondents to the latest NBC/WSJ poll said Republican while 29 percent said Democrat. The parties had been effectively tied as recently as January of this year, and the 11-percentage-point gap is the largest since 2004, the last year these numbers shifted so dramatically and, not coincidentally, the last presidential election year.

SEEING TOUGHER RACE, ALLIES ASK OBAMA TO MAKE 'HOPE' SPECIFIC
(Patrick Healy, New York Times)
As Senator Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democratic presidential nomination next week, party leaders in battleground states say the fight ahead against Senator John McCain looks tougher than they imagined, with Mr. Obama vulnerable on multiple fronts despite weeks of cross-country and overseas campaigning. These Democrats — 15 governors, members of Congress and state party leaders — say Mr. Obama has yet to convert his popularity among many Americans into solutions to crucial electoral challenges: showing ownership of an issue, like economic stewardship or national security; winning over supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; and minimizing his race and experience level as concerns for voters. Mr. Obama has run for the last 18 months as the candidate of hope. Yet party leaders — while enthusiastic about Mr. Obama and his state-by-state campaign operations — say he must do more to convince the many undecided Democrats and independents that he would address their financial anxieties rather than run, by and large, as an agent of change — given that change, they note, is not an issue.

RURAL ECONOMIC WOES MAY PROVIDE OPENING FOR OBAMA
(Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press)
The folks in this picturesque mountain community with red barns and Amish buggies have been voting overwhelmingly Republican in national elections for decades. But tough economic times in Mifflin County and in rural areas all around the country have created possible openings for Democrat Barack Obama. President Bush won nearly 70 percent of the county's vote in both 2000 and 2004, but the standard of living here has declined steadily during his administration. The farm equipment factory that employed 500 workers here is closing. So is the milk plant. Farmers are facing skyrocketing feed and fertilizer costs, and gas prices are squeezing household budgets of those who now have to drive elsewhere for work. Nationally, Bush won almost 60 percent of the rural vote, but Republican John McCain doesn't appear to be doing as well. In an AP-Yahoo News Poll in June, rural voters favored McCain over Obama, 40 percent to 34 percent. About 34 percent of rural voters said McCain "shares my values," compared to 27 percent who said Obama did. Recognizing an opportunity, Obama has opened more offices in rural areas than any other Democratic presidential candidate in years, pushing a message focused on job creation. Neighborhood campaign teams have been going door to door talking about Obama and his economic policies.

POTENTIAL VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TREAT LIGHTLY
(Amy Chozick, Wall Street Journal)
With the Republican and Democratic Party nominating conventions just around the corner, vice presidential shortlisters hit the airwaves Sunday in an audition for the No. 2 spots. Appearing on TV talk shows, the could-be running mates from both parties strived for a delicate balancing act -- at once demonstrating their loyalty, appearing vice presidential and avoiding over-eagerness. Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat, is expected to name his running mate in a matter of days, prior to the opening of the Democratic Party convention in Denver on Aug. 25. Sen. John McCain of Arizona is likely to identify his pick just before the Republican gathering opens in St. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 1.

EVANGELICALS AND ROMNEY'S V.P. PROSPECTS
(Michael Kranish, Boston Globe)
An apparent effort by former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee to diminish the chances of former rival Mitt Romney becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee is reviving questions about whether Romney's prospects are being damaged by opposition from evangelicals and religious conservatives. Gary Bauer, an evangelical leader who is an informal adviser to John McCain's campaign, said in an interview today that evangelicals are divided, but discounted the idea there is an organized effort to stop McCain from picking Romney. Bauer said he personally believes that Romney "would be a great running mate" and said he has conveyed that message personally to Romney. Bauer, chairman of the Campaign for Working Families political action committee, said he was not allowed to say whether he advised McCain to pick Romney. Bauer said that he recently conducted an unscientific poll among activists about who should be picked for vice president and said that Romney won a plurality of votes. He said that "it was notable" that among those who backed Huckabee, "many of them said negative things about Governor Romney." Some evangelicals have opposed Romney on the grounds that they believe his Mormon faith is a cult. Other conservative religious leaders have questioned whether Romney's switch to opposing abortion represents a genuine commitment to the issue.

AS RUNNING MATE, BIDEN OFFERS FOREIGN POLICY HEFT BUT AN INSIDER IMAGE
(John M. Broder, New York Times)
Mr. Biden’s strengths and weaknesses as a vice-presidential nominee are glaringly obvious and in many cases overlap. At age 65, he would bring heft, knowledge and nearly four decades of experience in Washington to a ticket headed by a relative political newcomer. But that experience — he was first elected to the Senate at age 29 and has served for nearly four decades — would undercut Mr. Obama’s image as an agent of change. Mr. Biden is among the best-informed lawmakers on international affairs, a gap in Mr. Obama’s résumé. But Mr. Biden’s broad knowledge, his committee chairmanship and his longtime membership in the most exclusive debating club in the nation also feed his biggest flaw: a verbosity and love of his own voice that drive many, including, by some accounts, Mr. Obama, nuts.

VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE KEY TO OBAMA'S EFFORTS TO PUT VIRGINIA IN PLAY
(Tim Craig, Washington Post)
Virginia has added nearly a quarter-million registered voters since the 2004 elections, and about half of that growth came from increasingly Democratic Northern Virginia. With Virginia a battleground state in the presidential race for the first time in 44 years, the additional voters have the potential to alter long-standing electoral patterns in some historically Republican counties while reinforcing the Democratic tilt of others. According to a review of registration statistics from Nov. 1, 2004, through Aug. 1 of this year, Virginia has 235,976 more registered voters than it did in 2004, when President Bush carried the state by 262,000 votes. Democrats say the newly registered voters are fueling the Democratic resurgence in the state, including the election of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in 2005 and U.S. Sen. James Webb in 2006. As Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) battle for Virginia's 13 electoral votes, political strategists say these newly registered voters add another element of unpredictability to the November election.

ENTICING TEXT MESSAGERS IN A GET-OUT-THE-VOTE PUSH
(Brian Stelter, New York Times)
The names of vice-presidential candidates are typically announced at news conferences or political conventions. But sometime before the opening gavel of the Democratic National Convention next Monday, Senator Barack Obama plans to break the mold by doing it with a text message. Last week, the Obama campaign said that anyone who sent a text message of “VP” to a dedicated phone number would be among the first to learn the identity of his running mate. The campaign has also run a television commercial that offers a campaign sticker to any person who sends the word “Barack” to the same number. The efforts spotlight Mr. Obama’s push to harvest millions of cellphone numbers of potential voters through text messaging, a technology that is increasingly moving into the mainstream. And it could have a significant effect in November, when the campaign plans to use the technology to get out the vote.

OBAMA-THEMED MERCHANDISE SALES STRIKE IT HOT
(Sasha Issenberg, Boston Globe)
The Obama cargo cult is vast, stretching from quirky online precincts, where action figures in his senatorial likeness and replicas of his Number 23 high-school basketball jersey are readily available, to the outskirts of high style. Paparazzi last year caught actress Halle Berry in a $46 "Obama for Change" shirt, and these days fashion-forward Tokyo teenagers promenade past an Obama shirt hanging prominently in a shop window in the trendy Harajuku neighborhood. But nowhere has the presumptive Democratic nominee's unusual persistence in consumer culture been felt as strongly as in the informal urban economy, where his candidacy is delivering an unexpected summertime jolt. In downtown business districts and uptown commercial corridors, wares with Obama's words and image - and even items with no real connection to his campaign, but bearing his name nonetheless - are taking space on vendors' tables that once were reserved for sports and hip-hop icons.