Senior Dems concerned over McCain gains

DENVER — Senior Democratic politicians are signaling concern about Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) slip in the polls and are urging him to regain his edge against GOP rival Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

Rep. John Dingell (Mich.), the longest-serving House Democrat, said Obama must realize the primary season is behind him and Republicans will “run a very rough campaign against him.”

{mosads}Dingell’s critique comes in the wake of polls showing that McCain has gained ground on Obama since the Democratic senator left the campaign trail for a family vacation in Hawaii. A CNN poll released Monday showed McCain and Obama in a dead heat.

“The campaign has not yet taken off,” said Dingell in a telephone interview. “He’s got to address things that go into a presidential campaign as opposed to a primary campaign. They’re very different campaigns.”

Even Obama’s allies, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the co-chairman of Obama’s campaign, acknowledge McCain has gained ground. Durbin said Obama’s absence from the news cycle during his Hawaii vacation, combined with Russia’s invasion of Georgia, gave McCain a chance to dominate the race over the last 10 days.

“We realize over the last week or 10 days that John McCain has had a 12-0 run in this basketball game,” said Durbin, who hastened to add: “We know the momentum can shift.

“My observation is, and I talked a little bit about it with Barack after [his] tour overseas with dramatic positive results, that we expected an evening of the playing field,” he said.

Dingell said Obama can regain momentum if he addresses substantive issues such as a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, rebuilding of the nation’s roads and infrastructure, and the lack of health insurance for an estimated 47 million Americans, including 1 million in Michigan.

Dingell’s words carry weight because of his seniority in the House and his knowledge of Michigan politics. The AFL-CIO, an important ally of the Democratic Party, has identified Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania as the three most important battleground states of the campaign.

Durbin said Obama’s family vacation was “well-deserved,” but blamed Russia’s invasion of Georgia for focused media attention on McCain’s national security credentials. McCain is a former prisoner of war and senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“All those things came together in a moment giving McCain the field — I mean, a stronger position than he might have otherwise have had,” Durbin said.

Al Eisele contributed to this report.