NEW YORK—

Two ads were released today featuring Senator John McCain, but the candidate approved only one. The ad, “Leading” will air in Iowa and aims to play on the still-ongoing battle for the Democratic nomination:

“While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama argue and fight with each other, John McCain leads.”

The commercial says that the presumptive Republican nominee will “fight against wasteful government spending,” advocates a gas tax holiday, and explains how he wants his health care plan to provide tax credits.

Click here to watch the ad:

The other ad is sponsored by MoveOn.org and is a scathing attack on McCain’s senior advisor, Charlie Black. Black has come under fire during the campaign for his lobbyist history, but today McCain was adamant that Black and campaign manager Rick Davis are no longer practicing lobbyists.

This week the McCain campaign instituted a new vetting procedure to find out if any employees have lobbyist histories, particularly if they have lobbied for any foreign governments. In recent days, three McCain advisors have left the campaign because of embarrassing revelations of work outside the campaign. Newsweek revealed that two aides had lobbied for the military junta in Myanmar in 2002 and just yesterday another staffer left because he was also working for a 527 group opposing the Democratic candidates.

The ad reveals Black’s lobbyist history and calls for him to resign. The commercial says Black “made millions lobbying for the world’s worst tyrants” and names some of them including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, and Jonas Savimbi of Angola—over very graphic images.  The ad was sent to Move On members and concludes with asking members to, “Call John McCain and tell him to fire Charlie Black,” and includes the phone number for McCain headquarters.

Click here to watch the ad:

President Bush seemingly waded into the ‘08 fray during a speech before the the Israeli parliament yesterday, causing a firestorm of back-and-forth between the three ‘08 contenders. The offending comment - “Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along…We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

While Bush didn’t name names (and the White House says the President was not specifically referring to Obama), of course it has been Barack Obama who has said on the campaign trail that he will meet with friends and foes - including Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Obama campaign quickly responded to Mr. Bush’s statement, saying it was “sad” that the president used his speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence to “launch a false political attack.”

Later when John McCain “embraced” Bush’s statement, an Obama spokesman replied “It is the height of hypocrisy for John McCain to deliver a lofty speech about civility and bipartisanship in the morning and then embrace George Bush’s disgraceful political attack in the afternoon. Instead of delivering meaningful change, John McCain wants to continue George Bush’s irresponsible and failed Iran policy by refusing to engage in tough, direct diplomacy like Presidents from Kennedy to Reagan have done.”

Today, Obama responded with anger and forcefulness, while criticizing Bush’s “failed” policies abroad and hammering McCain for supporting them. “They’re trying to fool you. They’re trying to scare you. And they’re not telling the truth. And the reason is they can’t win a foreign policy debate on the merits, but it’s not gonna work. It’s not gonna work this time and it’s not gonna work this year,” Obama told voters in Watertown, South Dakota. “If George Bush and John McCain want a debate about protecting the United States of America, that’s a debate I’m happy to have, anytime, any place, and that is a debate that I will win, because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for,” he said.

As evidence, Obama cited what he sees as foreign policy failures implemented by the Bush Administration. “Our Iran policy is a complete failure right now and that’s the policy John McCain is running on. He has nothing to offer except the naïve and irresponsible belief that tough talk from Washington will somehow cause Iran to give up its nuclear program in support for terrorism. I’m running for president to change course, not to continue George Bush’s course,” he said to applause.

Later at a press avail, Obama was asked if he took the White House’s word that President Bush was not referring to him. “For them to suggest that somehow they weren’t aimed – who’s this “some” that they were talking about? Is this some amorphous “some”? Or is this just a straw man that they were setting up? And if so, what was the purpose of the remarks? That’s being disingenuous,” he responded.

Of Obama’s South Dakota remarks, a McCain spokesman noted, “It was remarkable to see Barack Obama’s hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t even mentioned.”

Columbus, Ohio:

Reported by Jake Gibson, Producer with the McCain Campaign….

McCain laid it all out today in a broad reaching speech on how he saw the world after four years of his administration.

It was a little prospective retrospection, fast-forwarding to 2013 in order to look back on his first four years in the White House.  He painted a pretty picture!

Barack Obama took the stage this evening in Grand Rapids, MI, in front of more than 12,000 supporters and said, “I know that we didn’t have the chance to campaign here during the primary – and I felt bad about it. I didn’t have a chance to talk to you guys about the issues. I felt guilty about not campaigning and so as a consequence I decided that I would try to give you something special,” he said to applause. “I decided that on my first full day of campaigning in Michigan, that I wouldn’t be fooling around, that I wasn’t just going to do the same old thing. But I decided that I was going to bring out one of the greatest leaders we have in the Democratic Party – please give it up for my friend John Edwards!”

John Edwards entered the arena to thunderous applause as Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” blared over speakers (a Kerry/Edwards ‘04 favorite). Before he praised Obama, Edwards was sure to mention the other Democrat still in the race - even as the Obama supporters booed at the sound of her name.

“I want to tell you, I know this is hard to understand sometime, but it is very, very hard to get up every day and do what she’s done. It is hard to go out there to fight and to speak up when the odds turn against you. And what she has shown is strength and character, and what drives her is something that every single one of us can and should appreciate,” he said, noting she is a woman “made of steel.”

“She’s a leader in this country not, not because of her husband, but because what she has done, because of speaking out, because of standing up. And we, when this nomination battle is over, and it will be over soon – brothers and sisters, we must come together as Democrats and in the fall stand up for what matters to the future of America, to make America what it needs to be. And we are a stronger party because hillary Clinton is a democrat. We are a stronger country because of her years of public service, and we’re gonna have a stronger nominee in the fall because of her work,” he said.

And then the news all the Obama fans were there to hear:

“The reason that I am here tonight is because the Democratic voters of america have made their choice and so have I,” he said as the arena erupted. “There is one man who knows and understands that this is a time for bold leadership. There is one man that knows how to create the change, the lasting change that you have to build from the ground up. There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to create one America, not two, and that man is Barack Obama.”

Barack Obama had equally glowing things to say about his one-time rival and promised to join in Edwards’ fight to end poverty. “The fight that John is waging right now will be a fight I carry into the White House for the next four years,” he said. “I want to make sure that everybody knows that he will have a partner in that effort, because that is a goal that I will set as President of the United States of America.”

Soon after, a man in the crowd yelled out, “Does that mean Obama-Edwards?”

Obama laughed, Edwards smiled, but no one commented on the question. The message, rather, was unity. Obama said, “John Edwards and I believe in a different America. Hillary Clinton believes in a different America. The Democratic Party believes in a different America. One America, where we rise and fall together as one people and that’s why we are gonna take Washington by storm this November.”

The Obama campaign did not campaign in any of the five states yet to cast votes for the Democratic nominee today (a morning event in Kentucky was cancelled due to Senate votes), opting to visit Missouri and Michigan, states that will be key for a Democratic victory in November. “I’ll be back because we’re gonna be competing in Missouri,” Obama promised voters in Cape Girardeau, MO, while taking aim at John McCain on issues ranging from the economy to Iraq to the environment. Surely signs of a campaign confident of a victory, despite getting creamed by Senator Clinton in West Virginia today.

But when asked by a voter at his Missouri town hall if Hillary Clinton might be his running mate, a more emure Obama replied, “It’s too early. Senator Clinton is still competing; we haven’t resolved this nomination - I haven’t won the nomination yet.” He added, “It would be presumptuous of me to pretend like I’ve already won and start talking about who my vice president’s going to be. I’ve still got more work to do.”

Obama phoned Senator Clinton before taking off for Michigan (the first time the candidate has been there since speaking at an NAACP dinner there last June) to congratulate her on her WV victory. The frontrunner didn’t get through to tonight’s victor, however, and left her a voice mail.

North Bend, WA–

Senator John McCain continued his “green” tour of the Northwest today with a stop in North Bend, Washington. He was clear that he wants to be seen as a progressive when it comes to curbing climate change, “I will be a President of the United States for the environment. I have a long record of advocacy for our environment and I’m proud of that.”

The presumptive Republican nominee stressed many of the points in his speech on global warming yesterday, such as the importance of cap and trade, the reduction of greenhouse gases, and the link between stalling climate change and protecting America’s national security.

McCain made a clean break with President Bush on the issue of the environment. He was not shy in describing his conflicts with the administration on this issue:

“The President and I have disagreed on this issue for many years. It isn’t a recent disagreement. Beginning in 2002 or 2003 I held hearings as chairman of the commerce committee and I took great exception to the testimony by administration officials on this issue,” He told reporters, “So there’s a long-standing, significant, deep, and strong differences on this issue between myself and the administration. . .”

The Arizona senator said he would be a better protector for the environment than either of his Democratic rivals because his proposal is “doable” and he has been involved in the issue for many years, “They have never, to my knowledge, been involved in legislation, or hearings, nor engagement on this issue. I have a long history,” McCain said, “I traveled around the world and seen the impacts of climate change on the world. I’ve held hearings beginning back after the 2000 presidential campaign.”

The Obama campaign was quick to respond hitting McCain with his own words, “While Barack Obama has brought Republicans and Democrats together around plans to raise our fuel standards and invest in renewable energy, John McCain’s ‘long history’ involves opposing countless measures to invest in renewable fuels and alternative energy technology.”

(more…)

Sen. McCain is set to appear on Saturday Night Live next weekend, giving us a good excuse to take a glimpse back at his October 2002 SNL appearance.

In the skit above, he (painfully tries to) sing Barbra Streisand’s greatest hits like “Memories” and “People,” before going back to his straight talk: “Do I know how to sing? About as well as she knows how to govern America!”

Sen. McCain and his mother co-star in a Mother’s Day ad set to air on on ABC Family, A&E, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, Oxygen and TLC. The TV spot comes out just as the GOPer is battling the age issue.

COLUMBIA, SC — Asked if he is prepared to take on Barack Obama today, John McCain didn’t pause.

“Oh I’m ready,” he told reporters at a press conference in South Carolina. “I’m ready to take to the American people the challenges of the issues we face. Whether it be raising your taxes as Senator Obama wants to do. Something like capital gains where 100 million Americans have an investment or have the government make the decisions on health care or the family or certainly issues such as national security.”

McCain continued his assault on Obama’s foreign policy vision in his second media availabilty in less than four hours.

“Senator Obama continues to say he would sit down and negotiate with the president of Iran who yesterday called the state of Israel a stinking corpse,” McCain said. “That’s a dramatic difference between my view of the relations with a state sponsor of terror that is exporting lethal explosive devices into Iraq killing Americans and I would not give them the respect or the ability to enhance their prestige by sitting down and talking to the head of the state sponsor of terrorism who repeats his country’s dedication to the extinction of the state of Israel.”

The Arizona Senator also commented on the escalating violence in Lebanon, condemning what he feels is Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs.

“The Syrians are obviously playing a role and would like to a reassert or increase their influence in Lebanon and its affairs,” McCain said. “I think that obviously pressure (has) to be brought to bear on Syria, who is the major motivator I think of a lot of their continued effort to gain control of Lebanon and continue the influence they have had for a long period of time. And I would recommend that we of course convene other and work with other nations who have an interest in Lebanon and peace in the region.”

JERSEY CITY, NJ — McCain laughs off suggestions he didn’t vote for President Bush in 2000, saying the accusation marks the start of political “silly season.”