Morning Road Map
By Michelle Levi and Steve Chaggaris:
McCAIN will tour General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich. at 9am ET before holding a town hall meeting with employees there. Later, McCain will tape the "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" show for air tonight. This weekend, McCain will be in New York for fund-raisers and private meetings.
OBAMA has no public campaign events today.
OBAMA'S UPCOMING FOREIGN TRIP
Associated Press, "Obama's trip: 1st high-profile step on world stage"
Slate's Dickerson, "The Obama Road Tour – The promise and peril of the Obama world tour": "Obama appears to have such an opportunity to sail next week that several Republican veteran political advisers I talked to suggested McCain shouldn't even bother engaging his opponent directly while he's overseas. With all the footage of Obama trading smiles with heads of state, McCain could just look fussy by comparison. Plus, if he fires off a zinger from the back of his campaign bus, voters might think it's in bad taste for him to pick on Obama when he's on foreign soil. (Obama may be his opponent, but why make a fellow American look bad when he's across the pond?)"
NY Daily News' Krauthammer, "Barack Obama's ego deflates him": "Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate... What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Ronald Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation. When President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin. Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop? ... Does Obama not see the incongruity? It's as if a German pol took a campaign trip to America and demanded the Statue of Liberty as a venue for a campaign speech."
NY Times, "A Mixed Take by McCain Camp on Obama's Trip to War Zones"
Time Magazine writes about Obama's Iraq and Afghanistan traveling partners, Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., "Obama's War Zone Guides"
Agence France Press, "Merkel to see Obama Thursday in Berlin"
CBS News' Michelle Levi, "McCain Camp Releases Video Criticizing Obama on Iraq"
CANDIDATES' FOREIGN POLICY
CQPolitics.com, "The Risks of Obama's Iraq Strategy":
NY Times, "A Cast of 300 Advises Obama on Foreign Policy"
CBS News' John Bentley, "McCain Moves Forward; Says U.S. Has 'Succeeded' In Iraq"
Bloomberg News, "Obama, McCain Plans on Afghan Surge Need Pakistan to Join Fight"
NY Daily News, "As the ground shifts on Iraq, Obama and McCain stand toe to toe"
Wall Street Journal editorial, "Obama's 'Judgment'": "Mr. Obama has made a central basis of his candidacy the 'judgment' he showed in opposing the Iraq war in 2002, even if it was a risk-free position to take as an Illinois state senator. The claim helped him win the Democratic primaries. But the 2007 surge debate is the single most important strategic judgment he has had to make on the more serious stage as a Presidential candidate. He vocally opposed the surge, and events have since vindicated Mr. Bush. Without the surge and a new counterinsurgency strategy, the U.S. would have suffered a humiliating defeat in Iraq. Yet Mr. Obama now wants to ignore that judgment, and earlier this week his campaign erased from its Web site all traces of his surge opposition."
CANDIDATES' FUNDRAISING
NY Times, "Obama Raises $52 Million in June, Keeping Campaign on Pace to its Goal"
LA Times, "Barack Obama's fundraising roars to life"
Washington Times, "Obama's windfall puts pressure on GOP"
LA Times, "The secret hidden within John McCain's campaign schedule": " Just 3 1/2 months out from the presidential election, McCain's national campaign schedule is being driven by the quest for money, not by the hunt for votes."
Associated Press, "DNC sets up independent operation to help Obama"
VEEPSTAKES
Politico, "Opposites attract: VP Hagel, Lieberman?"
ALSO:
WWMT-TV, "McCain in Michigan"
Detroit News, "McCain focuses on Michigan again"
Kansas City Star, "McCain renews call for gas-tax holiday at Union Station campaign stop"
Washington Times, "McCain's straight talk spins wheels – Errs on vote record, policy stance"
USA Today, "Obama shifts stance on environmental issues"
Wall Street Journal, "Left Behind: Evangelicals Haven't Embraced the Demcorats' Agenda"
CBS News' Jamie Farnsworth, "Bill Clinton Will Campaign for Obama 'Whenever He Asks'"
Seattle Times, "Michelle Obama brings change message to Seattle fundraiser"
Tampa Tribune, "Obama a Feminist, Sister Tells Tampa"
San Francisco Chronicle, "Dems solicit ideas for their party platform"