Politics

Starting Gate: Five Questions

By Vaughn Ververs

July 10, 2008 / 9:59 AM EDT / CBS News

There are no dog days of summer in a presidential campaign. The lengthy primary season might make many feel that they need a break from the constant drumbeat of presidential politics, there aren't that many days left on the campaign calendar -- just 117 to be exact. Here are some of the question marks defining the contest as we head deeper into summer:

The stakes for Barack Obama's looming overseas trip look to have gotten much higher in the wake of Iran's saber-rattling of recent days. Having spent a year defending his stated intentions to engage in direct talks with adversarial leaders and nations, including Iran, how will this bellicose behavior impact the way Obama is perceived?

The candidates sparred over the issue, with Obama calling for more "aggressive" diplomacy and arguing that the missile tests Iran has so publicly conducted are proof that the current approach does not work. But this is the kind of development that could have broader importance, especially as the election nears. Obama might be the "change" candidate, but in an unstable world, is change something voters can believe in?

Did Jesse Jackson do Obama a favor by going after him on an "open" mic (and hasn't Jackson done enough television interviews to know that when you're sitting in front of a camera, the mic is almost always "open)? Jackson's contention that Obama is "talking down to black people" when it comes to his faith-based initiative isn't likely to be echoed among a demographic that supported Obama at the rate of about 90 percent during the primaries. And it helps create more distance between Obama and the often controversial Jackson for other voters Obama needs to win.

"Reverend Jackson is my dad and I'll always love him," said Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. "He should know how hard that I've worked for the last year and a half as a national co-chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. So I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself." Will anyone disagree?

They're making a good show of it, but are Obama and Hillary Clinton getting their party back together? It's not a great sign when the presumptive nominee shows up at a fund-raiser to help retire Clinton's debate and almost forgets to make the pitch, as CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic reports.

High-profile former Clinton aides have been flocking to new jobs as TV pundits and consultants but not many have been absorbed into the Obama campaign for the fall yet and newspaper stories are full of comments by discouraged donors on both sides. Will the rifts disappear by the time they all get to Denver?

What does John McCain do with President Bush at the GOP convention? After he wrapped up his primary victory, McCain made the symbolic trip to the White House to receive the blessing of the president. At the time, both said Bush would be helping out the campaign as his schedule allows. He must be a very busy man. Outside of some closed fund-raisers, the president has been a ghost in the McCain campaign.

While he continues to seek ways to distance himself from the president's low approval ratings, Bush retains a strong base of support among many rank-and-file Republicans. President Clinton got a star turn at Al Gore's 2000 convention. Will there be a Bush "night" in Minneapolis?

Do vice presidential picks matter? The conventional wisdom says not really, that they have the potential to do more harm than good. But this might be the year that they really do. For Obama, it's his first really big decision, the chance to demonstrate the judgment he's touted throughout the campaign. For McCain, it's an opportunity to define the GOP in his image.

For the first time in a generation, there won't be a Bush on the ticket, and most likely not a Clinton, either. These vice presidential nominees, win or lose, will be potential future presidents, so in that sense they matter. But will they have an impact on this election?