2008 and counting

McCain repudiates the Rev. Hagee

Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who has taken constant fire since receiving the endorsement of controversial pastor John Hagee, renounced the reverend’s past comments Thursday and rejected his endorsement.

McCain said Thursday he finds Hagee’s “remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them.”

{mosads}The episode is similar to one that hounded Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) campaign before Obama denounced his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, after weeks of criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.

Taking a page from Obama’s comments on Wright, McCain said: “I did not know of them before Rev. Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.”

In doing so, McCain also mentioned the Wright controversy, drawing a contrast between his relationship with Hagee and Obama’s relationship with Wright.

“I have said I do not believe Sen. Obama shares Rev. Wright’s extreme views,” McCain said in a statement. “But let me also be clear, Rev. Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual adviser, and I did not attend his church for 20 years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today.”

While Wright drew fire for controversial comments about whites and the U.S. role in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Hagee has been widely criticized for his inflammatory comments on Catholicism and homosexuality, among other things.

— Sam Youngman

Obama gives surrogates ‘gender’ talking points

As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has increasingly invoked the specter of sexism in the Democratic nomination battle, Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) campaign has told its surrogates how to fight back.

In an internal memo obtained by the Hill, the Obama campaign — under the heading “Gender Bias and the Campaign,” which is new to the talking point memos — says surrogates should say that “Obama — and everyone involved with this historic campaign — deplores and rejects sexism and prejudice in any form.

“As a person who has experienced inequality in his own life, and as the husband of a working mother and father to two young daughters, Barack Obama has a deep personal commitment to justice and equality for all of us,” the memo reads. “Sexism is an issue that he takes extremely seriously.”

The memo, which contains talking points on matters ranging from Obama’s support for Israel to explanations of delegate math, notes that the Illinois senator has “seen tremendous support from women.”

“In fact, Sen. Obama won the women’s vote in Oregon on Tuesday,” the memo says.

Clinton and her campaign surrogates in recent days have said that sexism has played a role in her now-trailing presidential bid.

— S.Y.{mospagebreak} 

In shift, Obama praises Clinton’s experience

After months of questioning Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) experience, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is changing his tune.

During his speech in Iowa on Tuesday night, Obama said, “You know, in her 35 years of public service, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up on her fight for the American people.”

Obama’s remarks on Clinton’s experience were echoed in a “talking points” memo issued Thursday by his campaign.

Clinton and her backers have repeatedly cited her “35 years of experience,” a claim that has been disputed by the Obama camp and Republicans.

In March, the Obama campaign released a memo that sought to torpedo Clinton’s assertions: “When your campaign is based upon a claim of experience, it is important that you have evidence to support that claim.”

Last year, Obama said, “If [Clinton] wants to tout her experience by having visited countries, that’s fine. I don’t think that [former Secretary of State] Madeleine Albright would think that Hillary Clinton was the face of foreign policy during the Clinton administration.”

The Obama shift is an indication he is attempting to unify the party with only a few Democratic presidential primaries remaining. But it is also likely to feed speculation that Obama will select Clinton as his running mate. The Obama campaign did not comment.

— Bob Cusack

Feinstein, McCaskill weigh in on ‘dream ticket’

With all the recent chatter about a so-called “dream ticket” featuring both Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) running for the White House together, two of their most loyal Senate backers offered their thoughts Thursday.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a prominent Clinton supporter, said she is not pushing Obama’s camp to pick the former first lady for the vice president spot, but does believe in the idea.

“I do believe, if it works out that Sen. Obama is the nominee, that the strongest ticket would be with Sen. Clinton as vice president,” Feinstein said. “There’s no question in my mind. The constituencies and the votes are different. The weight of the states — the states he carried, versus the states she carried — are different. So therefore if you combine them both, it’s the best electoral package possible.”

Feinstein addressed concerns that Clinton might have too much “baggage” for the No. 2 slot.

“Everybody has some baggage,” Feinstein said. “She is known, and what wasn’t known is the degree to which she’s got the drive, the stamina and the motivation.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a vocal Obama supporter, dismissed the notion that Obama needs Clinton to win female voters. “A lot of her most passionate support is an emotional attachment to her candidacy,” McCaskill said.

McCaskill continued, “Time will help. I think the reality of the choice between John McCain and Barack Obama will heal a lot of that.

“These are women who are more about the issues than about the people advocating for the issues,” McCaskill said. “So I think the issues will trump the emotion of the Clinton campaign. I believe Hillary Clinton will have a major role in that. She will do the right thing. I have a great deal of confidence that she cares more about those issues than she cares about who it is that’s carrying the standard.”

The Clinton campaign said Thursday there have been no discussions with the Obama campaign about a joint ticket.

— J. Taylor Rushing