Barack Obama says he does not worry about coming off as too preachy in his speeches.

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) – Barack Obama says he hasn’t spoken to Rev. Jesse Jackson since the pastor was caught by an open mic saying that Obama is “talking down to black people,” and using a vulgar expression to vent his feelings about the candidate.

“I had spoken to him before, a few days before,” Obama told a gaggle of reporters aboard his campaign plane, “and we had actually discussed some of the concerns he had raised about my fatherhood speech.”

Obama spoke at an African-American church on Father’s Day and took black absentee fathers to task for shirking their responsibilities.

“I told [Jackson] that I absolutely believe that we have structural inequalities in this country that have to be dealt with,” said Obama. “We also have to recognize that there is a particular problem when more than a half of African-American children are growing up without a father in the house and often times not even knowing their father.”

“That is a problem and I won’t back up one bit in asserting that that’s a problem that we have to be honest about,” he added.

Asked how Jackson replied, Obama told CNN, “I think it would be hard for him to disagree with that since many of the things I have said are the things that he has said in the past.”

When a reporter remarked that bad fathering isn’t something that can be fixed by a federal policy, Obama responded that his June speech sparked a conversation and has given him “something of a bully pulpit.”

“I do think part of the role of president is to offer his or her opinions about critical issues, not all of which can be solved by government, but make a big difference in the quality of our society. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to solve these problems overnight, but I’d like to think that if a president says that something’s important, that some people might pay some attention.”

But does he worry about coming off as too preachy?

“No.”

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced last month that he plans to visit Germany.

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) – Flying to California Saturday night, Barack Obama told reporters he “didn’t have a particular site in mind” for an upcoming speech in Germany and he doesn’t “want the negative to be a distraction.”

He was responding to reports in the German press in recent weeks that he wants to speak at the country’s famous Brandenburg Gate – the site of President Ronald Reagan’s “Tear down this wall” speech - during his forthcoming trip to Europe and the Middle East.

The reports started a fierce debate in Germany about the possible perception of a candidate campaigning at a national and international monument.

“I want to make sure that my message is heard as opposed to creating a controversy,” Obama said. “Our goal is just for me to lay out how I think about the next administration’s role and rebuilding our transatlantic alliance.”

“What I want to do is just work with folks on the ground to find some place that’s appropriate,” he added.

Obama has also announced plans to visit Iraq and Afghanistan and said he’d be traveling with Sens. Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed to Iraq as part of a congressional delegation – or CODEL. Obama called the senators “experts in foreign policy” and praised them for “a traditional bipartisan wisdom when it comes to foreign policy.”

Asked if he would discuss his plans to withdraw American troops from Iraq with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in light of Maliki’s recent call for a timetable for withdrawal, Obama said he wasn’t going there to negotiate or make promises.

“I am there to listen,” answered Obama before adding that his position “is now a position that is also held by the Iraqi government itself.”

Obama draws contrasts with McCain.

DAYTON, Ohio (CNN) -– Between offshore drilling, a summer gas tax holiday, and more efficient car batteries, the debate over energy policy has provided some of the starkest contrasts between Barack Obama and John McCain in recent months.

On Friday, Obama took a daytrip from Chicago to Dayton to detail his energy plan and to emphasize how the lack of a sound one is a national security risk. The focus was on ending dependence on foreign oil through investment in alternative energy but Obama laced his various initiatives with repeated jabs at McCain who has taken to calling Obama “Dr. No” because of his consistent rejections of the Arizona senator’s proposals.

Obama started going after McCain on Friday by quoting the Arizona senator saying the country’s dependence on foreign oil stems from 30 years of inaction in Washington.

“I could not agree more, John McCain is exactly right,” Obama said to more than a thousand supporters in a school gymnasium. “The only problem is that out of those 30 years, Senator McCain was one of those politicians in Washington for 26.”

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Watch Clinton praise Obama.

NEW YORK (CNN) — For just the second time since she ended her campaign in early June, Hillary Clinton made a public appearance with Barack Obama Thursday morning at a women’s breakfast fundraiser in New York.

Obama is focusing on women’s issues Thursday, specifically how his proposed economic plan would impact them. But the message of unity between the two former Democratic rivals going forward into the general election was front and center.

“Anyone who voted for me has so much in common with those who voted for Barack,” Clinton told donors while introducing him. “It is critical that we join forces because the Democratic Party is a family.”

“Sometimes a dysfunctional family,” Clinton added, “but it’s a family.”

“1 am very proud to be here with someone I serve with from the United States Senate who I campaigned hard with and against,” she said. “[Someone] who I’m going to do everything I can and everything I’m asked to make sure he takes the oath of office on January 20th, 2009.”

Obama heaped praise on Clinton, saying, “I know firsthand how tough she is, how passionate she is, how committed she is to the causes that bring us here today.” He noted that though they took the same historic journey, “I didn’t do it in heels.”

The Illinois senator told the more than 2,000 donors gathered that he learned from Clinton as candidate and that he’ll “desperately need” both the New York senator and her husband, former President Clinton, over the course of the campaign.

Thursday morning’s fundraiser was the third Obama has held with Clinton. Spokespeople for both Clinton and Obama say there will be future events together, though none are currently scheduled.

At a joint Wednesday fundraiser, Clinton nearly slipped Obama’s mind.

NEW YORK (CNN) – It was announced last week that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would attend a series of fundraisers in New York together, one to help pay down her campaign debt and the rest to help raise money for his White House bid.

But a busy day in the Senate delayed Obama in Washington, forcing him to combine two events into one where he was supposed to ask donors to help Clinton as well as contribute to his campaign.

Wednesday night, he praised Clinton as “extraordinary” and “tough” — but nearly forgot about her need for funds.

After wrapping up his speech to donors Wednesday evening with an emphatic, “We will change the world!”, Obama left the stage to loud music, only to re-appear minutes later to complete his duties.

“Hold on a second guys, I was getting all carried away. I’ve got one more thing that is important to do,” Obama said to a laughing audience. “Senator Clinton still has some debt. And I could have had some debt if I hadn’t won so I know the drill.”

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Obama has spent the week explaining his Iraq withdrawal comments.

NEW YORK (CNN) – Barack Obama Wednesday night blamed recent criticism that he is shifting on his Iraq policy on skepticism about the political process.

“I understand why people were skeptical despite that fact that I hadn’t said anything that would suggest I had changed my position,” Obama told donors at a New York fundraiser. “What happens is people are used to seeing promises broken. They’re used to seeing us taking an easy way out. But not this time, not in this moment.”

“So don’t be confused by any reports out there,” he later added. “I will end this war, I will bring our troops home, we will treat our troops with the honor they deserve.”

Obama came under fire for telling reporters at a press conference last week that after visiting to Iraq he plans sit down with advisors and “refine” his Iraq policy.

(CNN) — Barack Obama's campaign said Wednesday that Hillary Clinton will travel to New York with the presumptive Democratic nominee on his campaign plane. The former rivals are scheduled to appear at a joint fundraiser later Wednesday evening.

Obama campaigned in Georgia Tuesday.

POWDER SPRINGS, Georgia (CNN) – Barack Obama on Tuesday rejected recent allegations that he has changed his position on Iraq since effectively claiming the Democratic nomination.

When asked by a self-proclaimed “reformed Republican” at a campaign rally about charges that he is flip-flopping on his pledge to get troops out of Iraq within 16 months, Obama replied, “The people who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me.”

Obama listed positions “that make me progressive and squarely in the Democratic camp,” and denied his views had shifted at all since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, adding that more centrist positions like his support of faith-based initiatives and an individual’s right to bear arms are long-held beliefs.

Obama then summarized his position on Iraq, repeating his position that if elected, he will withdraw 1-2 brigades per month, completing a total withdrawal over the course of “about 16 months.”

The Illinois senator started a firestorm last week when he said a visit to Iraq would allow him to “refine” his policies. Critics said he was backing off the 16-month deadline.

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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) – The Obama traveling press corps may have thought their mechanical issues were over for the day when they arrived safely Monday night in Atlanta following a day when the campaign plane made an unplanned stop in St. Louis because of problems in the tail cone.

Not so.

A small group of pool reporters were trapped inside a bus after the first of two Monday evening Atlanta fundraisers when the bus’s electronics shut down, locking the doors.

The lucky few reporters not yet on the bus continued on to the next fundraiser in a staff van as Obama’s motorcade zoomed off.

The stranded reporters eventually exited on the bus driver’s side and made their way back to the hotel in the hotel’s shuttle.

Watch Obama comment on his plane troubles.

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI (CNN) — Barack Obama's plane made an unscheduled landing in St. Louis Monday after the pilot reported technical problems. The plane landed safely.

Obama told reporters after landing it was the first time he had had to land because of mechanical problems.

"Just thought we'd spice things up a little bit today," he joked, adding: "Anytime a pilot says that something's not working the way its supposed to, then you know, you make sure you tighten your seat belt. Everything seemed under control, the pilots knew what they were doing."

Watch: Obama has plane trouble

Full story

McCain is launching a Spanish radio ad.

(CNN) – John McCain has come out with the first “contrast” ad of the general election cycle.

The Spanish radio ad is voiced by McCain’s U.S Naval Academy roommate Frank Gamboa.

“It seems to me that the other candidate has just discovered the importance of the Hispanic vote,” Gamboa says in the ad while playing up McCain’s history with the Hispanic community.

The ad is airing in Nevada and New Mexico. Asked if any other contrast ads are in the works, a McCain spokesman says it’s “likely.”

Crist is getting married.

(CNN) – Florida governor and possible Republican vice presidential candidate Charlie Crist announced Thursday that he is engaged to Carole Rome, his girlfriend of nine months.

"She's special in every way. She's brilliant, beautiful and sweet. I'm very, very lucky," Crist told the St. Petersburg Times.

Crist was married once before for less than a year but got divorced in 1980. Rome is recently divorced and has two children, 9 and 11.

The pair met when Crist was visiting New York last September according to the Associated Press, and don’t have a firm date for the nuptials.

Crist is rumored to be on John McCain’s shortlist for the vice presidential nomination and has been one of the Arizona senator’s most fervent surrogates. He recently reversed his position against domestic offshore drilling to line up with McCain’s proposal to allow the states to decide.

Both presidential candidates have been known to enjoy gambling.

(CNN) – John McCain often brags about gambling with his political career by reaching across the aisle to work with Democrats or by voting against his party. But it turns out risking his political ambition is only part of a larger affinity for the thrill of putting it on the line.

An article published Thursday by Time Magazine takes a look at both McCain and Barack Obama’s love for the tables.

McCain is a heavy-betting high-energy craps man, while Obama prefers the slow pace and strategy of poker, reporters Michael Scherer and Michael Weisskopf write.

“Enjoying craps opens up a window on a central thread constant in John's life,” the article quotes former McCain strategist John Weaver as saying. “Taking a chance, playing against the odds.”

You won’t find McCain at the low-stakes tables, but rolling the dice with thousands of dollars at stake. He draws the line at taking markers, or loans, from the casinos to play.
He’s not in it for the money, the article says, but the camaraderie at the table and the thrill of winning.

Aides have recently curbed McCain’s casino visits, and Obama’s gambling days have waned since arriving in the U.S. Senate. But back in Springfield, Obama and three other state senators made up the core of a weekly bi-partisan poker game that often included lobbyists and bank, insurance and utilities agents.

Tight play and an unwavering desire to win kept Obama raking in the $3 top raise pots, and led a Republican rival to exclaim, “Doggone it, Barack, if you were more liberal in your card-playing and more conservative in your politics, you and I would get along much better.”

CNN's breakdown of the electoral college map.

(CNN) — A set of polls released Thursday shows Barack Obama leading John McCain in four critical battleground states — Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado and Minnesota.

A new Quinnipiac University/Wall Street Journal/Washingtonpost.com survey put Obama up significantly over the Arizona senator in Minnesota — 54-37 percent – and Wisconsin — 52-39 percent. His lead is smaller in Colorado — 49-44 percent — and Michigan — 48-42 percent.

This comes on the heels of another Quinnipiac poll last week that had Obama leading in the key swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe explained the campaign's strategy to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. The campaign is counting on winning the 20 states John Kerry won in 2004, looking to add Iowa, and then setting their sights on several others. Among those: the four states included in Thursday's poll.

Watch: CNN's John King breaks down the electoral map

Plouffe said Michigan is one of the most competitive states, attributing its competitiveness to the fact that Obama didn't campaign or run ads there in the primary. He claimed they are "very strong" in Colorado and "very competitive" in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The poll surveyed between 1,300 and 1,600 likely voters from June 17-24 with margins of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent for Minnesota and Wisconsin, 2.6 percent for Michigan and 2.7 percent for Colorado.

The latest CNN national poll of polls has Obama up 48-40 over McCain among registered voters nationwide.

The Obama campaign says a VP candidate's ability to carry a state won't be a factor.

(CNN) – With debates raging over who strategically would be the best vice presidential picks for the candidates, Barack Obama’s campaign manager said Wednesday the Illinois senator's choice would not be based solely on geography.

“I think Barack Obama will pick someone first of all who he believes is most qualified to be president,” David Plouffe told reporters. “Whether someone helps you in an election I think is kind of a side benefit. You certainly want to pick someone who doesn’t hurt you.”

Check out who's on the VP shortlists

Plouffe pointed to Dick Cheney and Al Gore as examples of VP candidates who weren't necessarily chosen to help win states.

“I don’t think that that’s going to be a factor in the selection,” he added.

Obama vice presidential vetters Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy were seen leaving the Democratic National Committee headquarters shortly before Plouffe’s press conference began.

“That’s unfortunate,” Plouffe joked regarding the press' sighting.

Plouffe is Obama's campaign manager.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Obama campaign manager David Plouffe held a press conference at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Wednesday to illustrate the campaign’s path to victory in November.

Plouffe said that the primary goal is to hold on to the 20 states that John Kerry won, netting him 252 electoral votes. To win the additional 18 needed to reach 270 for the victory, Plouffe outlined a variety of strategies and initiatives, several already underway.

Check out CNN's electoral map

He emphasized a likely victory in Iowa, believing that the momentum created by the January caucus victory could hold and add seven votes to the Obama column.

Plouffe said that contrary to popular belief, victory in Ohio and Florida isn’t necessary to reach 270 but that they would “fight like heck” for the pair.

He pointed to two previously solid Republican states – North Carolina and Virginia – as examples of states they think can be turned blue, saying they plan to put some of their best staff there and if they win either on top of the Kerry states and Iowa, it’s “game, set, match.”

Watch: CNN's John King takes a look at the battleground states

Despite claiming to not put much stock in many national and state polls, Plouffe noted recent polls in important swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio to emphasize the number of ways of reaching 270.

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Obama praised Bill Clinton in an interview with CNN.

(CNN) – The same day that Bill Clinton’s office issued a statement saying that the former president is “committed to doing whatever he can” for Barack Obama, the Illinois senator told CNN that he and the Clintons will be “working closely together over the next couple of weeks to put together a plan.”

“They’re going to want to campaign actively on behalf of the Democratic ticket,” said Obama, “I am going to need them.”

“Bill Clinton is one of the most intelligent, charismatic political leaders that we have seen in a generation and he has got a lot of wisdom to impart,” he added.

Watch: Obama discuss the Clintons

Obama didn’t answer whether he’d spoken to the former president, but he did talk with Hillary Clinton on Sunday ahead of their joint campaign appearance on Friday in New Hampshire.

“[Senator Clinton’s] going to be a force to be reckoned with not only in the Senate but hopefully if I'm successful in the White House she's going to be one of my key partners in making sure that we’re moving forward on issues like healthcare that she cares so deeply about.”

Watch: Clinton looking for help with her debt

UPDATE: Asked again if he will speak to Bill Clinton soon, Obama told reporters on his campaign plane, “I’m sure we will. He's in Europe right now which is the only reason we haven’t spoken. But we’re looking forward to setting up a long conversation."

Obama added that he spoke to Hillary Clinton on Tuesday and said they’re looking forward to campaigning together on Friday.

(CNN) Barack Obama had an “ops-intel” briefing from the Pentagon scheduled last week but it was canceled because of Tim Russert’s death.

A source from the Obama campaign tells CNN's Candy Crowley that the operations and intelligence briefing with the Joint Chiefs of Staff's office, first reported by Politico, was to bring the Illinois senator up to date on the situation on Afghanistan and Iraq.

The source adds that Obama had a similar meeting “a couple of months ago.”

Obama told reporters last Monday that he hopes to visit Iraq and Afghanistan before the election. McCain regularly reminds voters that it’s been almost 900 days since Obama last visited Iraq, and the Republican National Committee helps out with a running clock on its Web site.

The campaign and Pentagon are working on rescheduling the meeting.

Sen. John McCain's campaign nicknamed Obama 'Dr. No' Tuesday.

(CNN) – In the ongoing back-and-forth between John McCain and Barack Obama over energy policy, the Arizona senator's campaign gave Obama a new nickname on Tuesday – Dr. No.

“It’s just very clear at this point that Senator Obama is Dr. No on energy security,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said on a conference call with reporters. “Today it was ‘no’ on the $300 million for a new kind of battery. Before it was ‘no’ on further exploration or possibility of further exploration of our coasts. It was ‘no’ on gas tax relief that can help this summer families that are hurting. It’s ‘no’ on expanded nuclear power investments that we can make.”

“So, we think we’re seeing a pattern here,” Rogers concluded.

Watch: McCain discusses his energy plan

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, echoed the list of energy initiatives Obama has disagreed with, adding, “It's a new law we might call Obamanomics. It would repeal half the law of supply and demand.”

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Charlie Black is a senior adviser to McCain.

(CNN) – The Obama campaign Tuesday blasted senior McCain adviser Charlie Black’s comments that a terrorist attack would benefit the Arizona senator's campaign, accusing them of viewing terror “through a political lens.”

“Charlie Black’s statement that a new terrorist attack on United States soil would be a big advantage to John McCain’s campaign provides a candid and very disappointing glance into the thinking of one of Senator McCain’s closest advisors,” said 9/11 Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste on a conference call with reporters.

But Ben-Veniste stopped short of calling for Black to step down, saying, “I don’t think it’s up to us to suggest how Senator McCain staffs his campaign. I think the remarks were so out of place that they call for some re-calibration in the thinking and perhaps a greater adherence to the principal here in staying away from the politics of fear…”

Watch: Fallout from Black's comments?

Black’s comments from an interview with Fortune Magazine were posted on the magazine's Web site Monday. Asked if an attack in the U.S. would benefit McCain, Black responded, “Certainly it would be a big advantage to him.”

Black later apologized, saying, “I deeply regret the comments – they were inappropriate. I recognize that John McCain has devoted his entire life to protecting his country.”

“I cannot imagine why he would say it,” McCain told reporters at a press conference. “It’s not true. I’ve worked tirelessly since 9/11 to prevent another attack on the United States of America. My record is very clear.”