Yesterday evening, Senator Barack Obama dropped by a fundraiser for North Dakota Democrats. The campaign arranged with the state party to allow a print pool reporter to accompany the senator, but no cameras were allowed, which has been typical at fundraisers (usually the events are not equipped to handle cameras, which require lights, a sound system, and risers).

The New York Times reporter who went to the fundraiser sent out his “pool report” following the event, which included the following paragraph: “Radio talk show star Ed Schultz warmed up the crowd, attacking Sen. John McCain as ‘a warmonger,’ before Obama arrived in the room. Obama thanked Schultz, saying he was he ‘voice of progressive radio.’” The print pooler later said Schultz was talking as he was ushered into the event, and there is no audio recording of Schultz’s remarks.

The McCain campaign picked up on the story and quickly asked Senator Obama to condemn Schultz, but while Obama mentioned McCain at his rally in Missoula, Montana, this morning, he remained mum on Schultz. “[McCain] is basically running for a third Bush term. He wants to continue this war in Iraq maybe for another 100 years. He wants to perpetuate the same tax breaks for the wealthy that he himself called irresponsible when George Bush first passed them,” Obama told the crowd.

Both the McCain campaign and the RNC took note of Obama’s silence. RNC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson said, “Once again today, Barack Obama ditched his ‘new brand of politics’ and resorted to launching misleading and disproven attacks against John McCain. Instead of showing leadership and renouncing the slanderous remarks made by his surrogates or his national party chairman, Obama continues to try and deceive the American people with dishonest attacks.”

After numerous inquiries from Obama’s traveling press, the Obama campaign eventually responded with a comment. “John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such. He’s a supporter of a war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged,” traveling press secretary Jen Psaki said in a written statement.

The campaign also pointed out that Obama did not hear the comment and stressed that Schultz is not an Obama surrogate.