Cindy McCain doesn't plan on being involved in her husband's possible presidential administration.

(CNN) – Cindy McCain on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of serving in her husband’s possible presidential administration.

Mrs. McCain, the wife of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, told NY1 that while she would want be an “advocate” for issues like education as first lady, she has no plans to serve in an official post.

“I do not ever envision myself as being involved in the McCain administration, as it has been put, at all,” she said. “But my husband and I do talk and I want to be party to listening to what his ideas are too.”

She also said that her role as first lady would not change from her role today, making note of her work for international charities.

CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from The Best Political Team.

(CNN) — In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, Scott McClellan is responding to the criticism being directed at him over his new book, reports Ed Henry.

Barack Obama's doctor released a letter summing up the Illinois senator’s physical condition that declares him in "excellent health," says Candy Crowley.

Some of the lingering issues surrounding the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations may be resolved this Saturday when the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee meets in Washington. Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider takes a look at the possible outcomes of the meeting.

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CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from The Best Political Team.

(CNN) — As the three remaining presidential candidates continue to campaign, a former of aide of President Bush took center stage Wednesday.

White House Correspondent Ed Henry reports on the response from Bush and members of his inner circle to the new tall-all book by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama are still duking it out in anticipation of their likely general election match-up.

Candy Crowley reports on McCain’s latest efforts to take Obama to task over Iraq and national security.

The Democrats see huge potential in the Western states, but McCain says the west is his turf. Mary Snow has the story.

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CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from The Best Political Team.

As the presidential primary season winds down, the candidates are turning their attention to November and their likely general election opponents.

In the latest espisode of CNN=Politics Daily, John McCain gets heckled in Denver and takes on Barack Obama for saying that he would meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mary Snow reports.

Ed Henry takes a look at comparisons Democrats are drawing between John McCain and President Bush and explains why the two men are fundraising together behind closed doors.

The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet on Saturday to discuss viable options for seating the Michigan and Florida delegations. Brian Todd investigates possible outcomes.

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Bill Clinton had some tough words for the media and the Obama campaign.

(CNN) – Bill Clinton says that he thinks most people in the media are in Barack Obama’s demographic, telling People magazine “There have been times when I thought I was literally lost in a fun house."

In an interview hitting newsstands Friday, the former president said his wife Hillary Clinton has been “outspent, dismissed, denigrated, declared dead” this primary season.

Asked whether he likes Obama, Clinton responded that he did not know the Illinois senator very well – but “I think I understand him. There are enough similarities in our childhoods and things that I think I get what he is doing.”

Clinton said the allegation that he and Sen. Clinton played the race card was a “cold-blooded, calculated, manipulated, and a revolting strategy,” and that his only campaign season regret was speaking “late at night when I was tired, ‘cause if you are tired or angry, you shouldn’t be talking.”

Clinton told People that after her mother lost the Iowa caucuses, daughter Chelsea “was upset, bawled, went to her employer and said, ‘Look, you got to let me go or give me an indefinite leave of absence. I’m not letting my mother go down like this.’”

Does the former president think Chelsea Clinton would consider a run for elected office? “I don’t know. If you had asked me this before Iowa, I would have said ‘No way. She is too allergic to anything we do,” responded Clinton. “But she is really good at it.”

Barack Obama's campaign said they are campaigning in places to be competitive this fall.

(CNN) – Barack Obama’s campaign says the Democratic presidential hopeful is now focusing his attention on general election battleground states, with plans to appear in Missouri Tuesday and the announcement of his first campaign stops of the year in both Michigan and Florida.

“Our schedule reflects the fact that we are still fighting for votes and delegates in the remaining contests but also that we are going to places that are going to be competitive in the fall,” Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday.

Voters in both Michigan and Florida went to the polls in January, but no delegates were awarded because of national party penalties for their early primary dates. None of the major presidential candidates campaigned in either swing state, and Obama did not appear on the ballot in Michigan. Hillary Clinton won both contests.

Obama will head to Macomb County, Michigan on Tuesday night and make two stops in the state the following day. He will also spend three days in Florida beginning on May 21, with planned campaign stops in Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Palm Beach County.

Watch John McCain's remarks on President Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' speech.

(CNN) – John McCain today said that President Bush was not to blame for the decision to speak in front of the famed “Mission Accomplished” banner aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln five years ago.

“Do I blame him for that specific banner? of course not,” McCain told reporters during a press conference Thursday afternoon in Cleveland.

The presumptive Republican nominee said that he feels responsibility should rest with elected officials who made statements at the time that “were contradicted by the facts on the ground.”

McCain, who has been a fierce critic of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for years, said again that the former cabinet member was to blame for misleading statements. “When the leaders of government – the Secretary of Defense – says that ‘there’s only a few dead enders,’ then that is an area that responsibility should be placed, in my view.”

Asked if there will ever be a moment when the United States’ mission will indeed be accomplished in Iraq, McCain responded: “I don’t know if you could ever say quote ‘mission accomplished’ as much as you could say ‘Americans are out of harms’ way.’”

(CNN) – Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe suggested Friday that racists voting in November’s general election would probably choose John McCain regardless of who the democratic candidate is.

Asked by National Journal's Linda Douglass if race would be a problem for Obama in the general election, Plouffe responded: “We really don't think so. I mean the vast, vast majority of voters who would not vote for Barack Obama in November based on race are probably firmly in John McCain's camp already.”

Plouffe also discussed a possible divide within the Democratic Party after the nominating process ends. “The lion's share of Democrats are going to be supporting the Democratic nominee,” he said.

A crucial asset to Obama’s campaign in recent contests has been his ability to register new voters and get them to the polls. Plouffe told Douglass that if Obama is the Democratic nominee, “[The campaign’s] ability to register new voters is going to be a very important piece of the puzzle.”

Plouffe's comments come the same day the Obama campaign announced an ambitious, 50-state voter registration program designed to boost Democratic registration – already reaching record levels in many states – with an eye towards November.

Watch Jeanne Moos weigh the value of the Obama waffle.

(CNN) – How much would you pay for a half-eaten waffle? How about: a waffle half-eaten by a White House hopeful?

The price tag eBay bidders settled on for a waffle served to — and half-consumed by — presidential candidate Barack Obama was at least $20,100. The auction was shut down and removed from eBay before anyone could bid any higher.

The waffle in question was the one referenced by Obama on Monday when the senator responded to a reporter’s question about Jimmy Carter’s meeting with Hamas by asking: “Why is it that I can’t just eat my waffle?”

“I guess one of my employees must have taken it and had an idea that they were going to do something with it,” the diner’s owner, Charles LeStrange, told CNN’s Jeanne Moos.

But the Scranton Times-Tribune reported on Wednesday that diner patron John Oakes was the responsible party. “We put it up there because we figured people are nuts and they might go crazy with it. And guess what — they did,” Oakes told the paper.

The bids of the cancelled auction have now been nullified, and the Illinois senator’s breakfast leftovers remain stored in Oakes’ freezer.

Former president Jimmy Carter addressed the media in Jerusalem.

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (CNN) — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama told reporters that it was a “bad idea” for former President Jimmy Carter to meet with exiled militant Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal “without [Hamas] having recognized Israel or renounced terrorism or acknowledged previous agreements.”

“What we're seeing now is that even as President Carter suggests there is a breakthrough, you had some of the same old rhetoric coming out of Hamas representatives with regard to Israel,” Obama said during a stop at a Pittsburgh diner, referencing a statement made Monday by Meshaal that Hamas would not in fact recognize Israel.

“If we are clear about improving the day-to-day lives of Palestinians,” Obama said, “Then I think that will do more than anything to encourage Hamas to renounce violence, rather than simply sitting down with them.”

 

Watch Clinton on Leno Thursday night.

(CNN) — It was a gaffe that caused the Clinton campaign a serious headache two weeks ago, but in an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Thursday night, the New York senator was all smiles about it.

As she walked out on stage, Clinton told Leno she almost didn't make the interview.

"I was pinned down by sniper fire at the Burbank airport," Clinton said laughing.

The comments were in reference to the recent revelation that Clinton was not forced to make a dangerous landing and cover herself from sniper fire during a 1996 trip to Bosnia, despite her repeated claims to the contrary.

"You know this has been such a mismatch of words and actions," Clinton also told Leno. "I was thinking about it, because obviously I've been so privileged to represent our country in, gosh, more than 80 other countries, lots of war zones and all the rest of it — I wrote about this in my book and obviously I just had a lapse."

The New York senator also took aim at her husband in the interview, telling Leno that “He's doing a great job for me but he does get a little carried away sometimes."

And when Leno asked what she thought of her daughter, Chelsea, telling crowds on the campaign trail that she thinks her mother would be a better president than her father, Clinton responded, “Oh, you know, she’s such a smart young woman.”