Obama, McCain to address VFW

Both presidential candidates have accepted invitations to address the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) national convention in Orlando, Fla., later this month.

{mosads}Republican candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), a decorated Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war, and his Democratic counterpart Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) will both address the group, a VFW source said Monday.

McCain is scheduled to speak Aug. 18, and Obama will speak the following day.

The source said the group is still waiting to hear from the White House whether President Bush will speak to the convention, but he has been invited.

The VFW does not endorse candidates, but the independent VFW political action committee, created in 1979, does endorse at the congressional level and has backed McCain in previous races.

In 1996, the group broke its own rule and endorsed another lifelong member, former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), but a source said that will not happen again.