McCain pulled out of Michigan.

(CNN) – John McCain’s decision to pull out of Michigan prompted the state Republican Party chairman to issue a desperate plea Friday for donations to help fund political activities the presidential campaign would likely have shouldered.

“I won’t sugar coat it; the McCain Campaign’s decision to pull out of Michigan is a tough blow,” Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, wrote in an email fundraising solicitation to Republicans. “But we cannot let it deter us.”

The latest CNN poll of Michigan voters, released late last month, suggested Obama was holding on to his edge over McCain in the fight for the state’s 17 electoral votes. Among likely voters, Obama held a 5 point lead, 51 percent to 46 percent; among the larger sample of registered voters, the lead was 7 points. Obama had a 4 point advantage in the previous CNN poll in Michigan, conducted at the beginning of September.

Michigan has voted for the Democratic candidate in the last four presidential contests, though John Kerry's winning margin there over President Bush in 2004 was just 3 points.

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(CNN) — John McCain’s campaign said Tuesday Barack Obama’s reference to “lipstick on a pig” to describe the Republican’s vow to bring change to Washington was offensive language, and a slap at VP nominee Sarah Palin – despite the fact that the Arizona senator himself used the phrase last year to describe a policy proposal of Hillary Clinton’s.

Obama made the remarks at a Virginia campaign stop late Tuesday afternoon. “John McCain says he’s about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, ‘Watch out George Bush – except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics – we’re really gonna shake things up in Washington,’” Obama said.

“That’s not change. That’s just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”

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Track Palin is supposed to deploy to Iraq on Thursday .

(CNN) — A liberal veterans group called Monday for an official investigation into media discussion of Track Palin’s deployment to Iraq — prompting a Defense Department response that there had been no irregularities involved, and would be no investigation.

“Numerous outlets have reported the date and location of Palin's deployment, which compromises operational security,” said Vote Vets in a statement. “The source of the leaks would be acting in violation of the law, and putting troops at unnecessary risk, and could be prosecuted.”

But the kind of information the group is referring to is typically publicly released by the Defense Department well in advance of a unit’s deployment. And the date of Palin’s upcoming deployment has been referred to numerous times by his mother, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, on the campaign trail.

"There is no violation of operational security,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. “DoD tells the public when we rotate a brigade into Iraq or Afghanistan."

There was no word from the Pentagon on whether there had been any requests for special consideration in Track Palin’s case. Earlier this year, John McCain asked the media not to report the precise date and time his son Jack would be returning from Iraq until he was back in the United States, a request that was honored by all major news organizations.

(CNN)—Barack Obama's campaign responded to John McCain's first positive ad of the past several days– an ad that emphasized his independent reputation –with a new spot Tuesday that looked to tie the Arizona senator to President Bush.

Obama’s 30 second spot called “Original,” uses part of McCain’s ad “broken” also released Tuesday, where the announcer calls McCain “the original maverick,” and then paints the word “really?” across the screen.

The ad flashes to a video clip of McCain in May of 2003 saying he and President Bush are lockstep on most issues.

“The president and I agree on most issues. There was a recent study that showed that I voted with the president over ninety percent of the time…” McCain says in Obama’s ad.

The ad continues on by asking the viewer if McCain is in fact the “original maverick? Or just more of the same?”

Full script after the jump

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Nader’s campaign is taking aim at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a new fundraising pitch.

(CNN) – A presidential rival is fundraising off of Barack Obama’s decision to reject public financing for the general election, using the move to fuel allegations the presumptive Democratic nominee is a policy-shifting flip-flopper.

But it isn’t John McCain.

Ralph Nader’s campaign sent an e-mail to supporters Friday that paints Obama as too close to big business and special interests. “Ralph Nader stands for shifting the power from the big corporations back to the people. Period. Full stop. End of story,” writes the Nader campaign. “Contrast that with Senator Obama.”

The message highlights what it says are changes in the Illinois senator’s positions on public spending limits, NAFTA and economic populism, and says that Obama has surrounded himself with “veterans of the military industrial complex status quo.” It does not mention his Republican counterpart, John McCain.

“We're at six percent nationwide in the most recent CNN poll. We're going to be on ten state ballots by the end of June. And we're shooting for 40 by the end of the summer,” writes the Nader campaign. “Together, we are moving forward. And together, we will make a difference in November.”

Barack Obama’s lead over John McCain increased by one point in the most recent CNN national poll when Nader, a perennial presidential contender, was included as one of the options.

McCain visited the flood-stricken town of Columbus Junction, Iowa Thursday.

(CNN) — John McCain's campaign is striking back after a top staffer for Iowa Governor Chet Culver said Thursday that the Democratic governor had unsuccessfully asked the Arizona senator to avoid making a scheduled campaign trip to the flood-ravaged state.

Patrick Dillon, Culver’s chief of staff, said in a statement there had been worries McCain's arrival would put a strain on already-overtaxed area law enforcement. The presumptive Republican nominee visited several hard-hit towns in the state Thursday.

President Bush also visited Iowa Thursday.

A McCain aide said the campaign took steps to avoid burdening any flood recovery efforts. “We worked with the local authorities to make certain we weren’t getting in the way. We’d be happy to put you in touch with the local mayor and sheriff who were part of our tour,” a McCain aide told CNN and pointed to an AP-reported comment from the mayor of the town of Columbus Junction, Iowa that McCain’s Thursday visit had not posed any difficulties.

“The governor never called the campaign to express this concern,” the McCain aide added.

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Sens. Obama and McCain talked during a Capitol Hill press conference in this 2006 file photo.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – John McCain’s campaign is denying an account by staffers on Barack Obama’s team that the rival campaigns had been involved in discussions over whether or not they would accept public funds.

Obama counsel Bob Bauer said Thursday he had met with Trevor Potter, his counterpart on the McCain team, on June 6 to discuss a possible joint townhall appearance later in the month, and that the two discussed the public funding issue for 45 minutes.

“I asked him to address a [series] of issues of concern to the Obama campaign–the McCain campaign's active raising and spending of private money since February for a general election campaign, including for media, while we were still in the middle of a primary contest,” said Bauer in a statement. “He gave me his perspectives–the best arguments he could offer for an agreement on both sides to accept public financing–and it was clear to me that these offered no basis for any further exchange.”

McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker flatly said Thursday that Bauer “never negotiated with Potter about public financing.”

Others in the McCain camp said that Obama’s staffers are “libeling” their attorney, and lying about the discussion – that the two counsels were meeting on a separate topic entirely, and that there were no negotiations on public finance.

(UPDATED with response from the McCain campaign, after the jump)

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Gore endorsed Obama in Detroit Monday.

TAYLOR, Michigan (CNN) – Could Barack Obama ask a former vice president to reprise his role on the Democratic ticket?

At a Michigan campaign event Tuesday, a student reporter asked the presumptive Democratic nominee if he would consider asking Al Gore to serve as his running mate.

Obama, who has kept mum on his vice presidential plans, sidestepped the question. "I have just started looking through possible candidates. I haven't made any decisions. I'm getting some recommendations,” said the Illinois senator. “Obviously Al Gore is a great public servant, he was a great vice president. He may not want to be vice president again, since he's already done that for eight years, but certainly he's somebody that I'll be getting advice from as we go forward and hopefully he'll help me when I'm president."

The 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, who officially endorsed Obama Monday, said in December that he might jump back into the political fray – but only in a bid for the top spot. A third term as vice president would mean Gore had spent more time in the office than anyone in U.S. history.

Gore endorsed Obama Monday night in Michigan.

DETROIT, Michigan (CNN) – Barack Obama defended Hillary Clinton at a Michigan unity rally Monday night that featured former Vice President Al Gore — and some off-message audience booing at the mention of the New York senator's name.

After joking about the extended Democratic primary season – “I was planning to run for the '08 election, not the 2012 election!" – Obama responded to some vocal Clinton critics in the crowd, who had reacted to praise for the senator from both the presumptive Democratic nominee and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a longtime Clinton supporter.

"I want everybody here to be absolutely clear — I want everybody here to be absolutely clear — Senator Clinton is one of the finest public servants we have in American life today," said Obama, noting her work on behalf of children's rights and universal health care.

"She has been on the right side of just about every battle that we have fought — she has, in her own words, shattered a glass ceiling into 18 million pieces. ….She is worthy of our respect, she is worthy of our honor.

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The primaries may be over, but there are signs the Clinton campaign may keep going.

(CNN) — Democrats, reporters and rival Barack Obama’s campaign have all been scrutinizing Hillary Clinton for signs she may continue her presidential run after the last primary takes place June 3. On Thursday, they got an answer: definitely maybe.

The press corps traveling with the New York senator received an afternoon e-mail asking them whether they wanted to stay on the road with the campaign next week – most of which falls after Tuesday’s votes in Montana and South Dakota, the final contests of the primary season.

Reporters were offered the option of traveling with the campaign on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, June 4-6.

But the Clinton campaign – which regularly informs journalists of travel plans just hours beforehand – is offering no other details, including possible destinations.

Said Clinton spokesman Jay Carson. "There are a lot of places for us to go between June 4 and November."

Bob Barr has clashed with his former party over policy.

(CNN) — Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr is now the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee — and a potential headache for John McCain, as he reaches out to conservative voters who might otherwise vote for the GOP nominee in November.

The former Georgia congressman — who left the Republican Party two years ago, citing differences over fiscal policy and concerns over civil liberties — was nominated on the sixth ballot at the party’s convention in Denver. The vote on the sixth ballot was 324 for Barr, and 276 for Mary Ruwart, the last remaining candidate out of 14 originally seeking the Libertarian nomination.

Sen. Clinton listens during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday.

BRANDON, South Dakota (CNN) – Sen. Hillary Clinton said Friday that she regretted comments that evoked the June 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy as part of her explanation for why she was staying in the presidential race late into the primary season.

Earlier Friday afternoon, she told the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader that "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said.

Clinton complained that "people have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa" and said that position "historically … makes no sense."

Later at an event in Brandon, South Dakota, she said, "earlier today, I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Sen. Kennedy waged in California in June in 1992 and 1968, and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nominating primary contests that go into June. That's an historic fact.

Update: During an interview with Radio Isla Puerto Rico on Saturday, Barack Obama reacted to the Clinton RFK comment.

According to a quote released by the campaign, he said, “I have learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Senator Clinton and I have been campaigning, sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make and I think that is what happened here. Senator Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it and I will take her at her word on that.”

Full story

Related video: Watch Sen. Clinton's comments to a SD newspaper's editorial board

Related video: Watch Brian Todd's report on Sen. Clinton's remarks Friday.

Pastor John Hagee endorsed McCain earlier this year.

(CNN) — In the face of mounting controversy over headline-grabbing statements from Pastor John Hagee, CNN has learned presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has decided to reject his endorsement.

The Huffington Post had published a recording of Hagee saying that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling God’s will by hastening the desire of Jews to return to Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy.

“Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well,” McCain said in a statement to CNN Thursday.

He added that his relationship with Hagee did not compare with Obama’s lengthy association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. “I have said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright's extreme views. But let me also be clear, Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual advisor, and I did not attend his church for twenty years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today,” said McCain.

The Arizona senator had earlier renounced comments from Hagee that termed the Catholic church "the great whore" and "an apostate church."

Update after the jump: Hagee rescinds McCain endorsement

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(CNN) — John McCain’s chief media adviser said Tuesday he is stepping down rather than campaign against Barack Obama.

Mark McKinnon said last year that he would leave McCain’s campaign after the primary season if the Arizona senator were to run against Obama.

The Illinois senator is not the Democratic nominee, but he has accumulated a significant lead in the number of delegates required to claim the nomination.

In a 2007 interview with Cox News, McKinnon said he would vote for McCain, but "I just don't want to work against an Obama candidacy." He added that if Obama were to reach the White House, it "would send a great message to the country and the world."

The McCain campaign says McKinnon will remain a “major supporter” of the McCain’s presidential bid.

(CNN) — John McCain’s campaign sent reporters footage of a 2006 interview between former Clinton State Department official Jamie Rubin and John McCain Friday which they said proved the presumptive Republican nominee had been quoted out of context in an op-ed claiming he advocated dialogue with the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Rubin, a supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, had made the claim in a piece published in Friday’s Washington Post. A clip of the exchange, which came during an interview Rubin conducted for Sky News, was published on the Huffington Post Web site.

At the time, said Rubin, McCain told him the United States would not be able to avoid a dialogue with Hamas, which had recently won a majority in Palestinian elections. "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another,” said the senator.

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Hillary Clinton's campaign released a series of ads Friday.'

(CNN)— Hillary Clinton’s campaign released a series of positive ads in Oregon and Kentucky Friday, as the Democratic primary race continued its second straight week without a negative spot.

“What’s Right,” airing in Oregon, stresses her support for universal health care and her opposition to President Bush’s energy bill and No Child Left Behind education policy.

“In Washington, they talk about who's up and who's down,” the announcer says. “In Oregon, we care about what's right and what's wrong. She's been right when it matters… She'll be there when it counts.”

Clinton continues her appeal to the blue collar voters who have overwhelmingly supported her presidential bid with two new Kentucky spots that highlight her image as a fighter for the working class.

“The wealthy and the well connected have had a president. It's time the middle class had a president who will stand up for you,” Clinton says in “Partner.”

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Hillary Clinton took aim at President Bush Thursday over his overseas comments.

RAPID CITY, South Dakota (CNN) – Hours after President Bush made an apparent swipe at Barack Obama’s foreign policy in a speech to the Israeli Knesset, Hillary Clinton seemed to come to his defense.

“President Bush's comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is both offensive and outrageous on the face of it, especially in light of his failures in foreign policy,” she told reporters in Rapid City, South Dakota Thursday. “This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address and certainly to use an important moment like the 60th anniversary celebration of Israel to make a political point seems terribly misplaced; unfortunately, this is what we've come to expect from President Bush.

"There is a very clear difference between Democrats and Republicans on foreign policy and that difference will be evident once we take back the White House.

Bush had made a historical parallel between those willing to engage in dialogue with countries like Iran and pre-World War II appeasers. He did not mention any names, but it was widely viewed as an attack on Obama, who has said that move could be part of his foreign policy as president.

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McCain and Pelos reacted to the president's speech.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted President Bush's comments Thursday suggesting that Democrats believe "we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals" and suggested Senator John McCain denounce them.

But the presumptive Republican nominee himself defended the remarks, said he intended to make Barack Obama’s willingness to consider dialogue with Iran an issue in the fall campaign, calling on the Illinois senator to “explain [that decision] to the American people.”

“It is a serious error on the part of Senator Obama that shows naiveté and inexperience and lack of judgment — to say that he wants to sit down across the table from an individual who leads a country who says that Israel is a stinking corpse, that is dedicated to the extinction of Israel,” said McCain Thursday. “My question is, what does he want to talk about?”

Pelosi, who is leaving later today on a bipartisan congressional trip to Israel, said there is a "protocol" of not criticizing the President when he is abroad, but then declared, "I think what the president did in that regard is beneath the dignity of the office of president and unworthy of our representation at that observance in Israel."

The California Democrat added that she hopes "any serious person would disassociate themselves from the president's remarks, who aspires to leadership in our country."

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(CNN) — Barack Obama’s cash-rich campaign has spent so much this primary cycle, rival Hillary Clinton has been forced to loan her own campaign millions of dollars. Now the Obama team is using Clinton’s loan — in an effort to raise even more money.

“We need to show that the voices of more than 1.5 million ordinary people donating whatever they can afford are more powerful than one person giving more than $11 million to their own campaign,” said campaign manager David Plouffe, in an e-mail sent to supporters Wednesday.

“Now is the time add your voice to our historic movement. Make a donation of $25 to match Senator Clinton's loan.”

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Schuler is a first term Democrat.

(CNN) — Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina announced Wednesday that he is backing Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, CNN has confirmed.

Shuler, a former NFL quarterback, is a superdelegate. The first-term congressman represents the 11th district in the western part of the state

Shuler has said in the past that he would support whoever won his district in Tuesday's North Carolina primary. Clinton won the district by 13 points.

On Tuesday, as North Carolina voters weighed in at the polls, Barack Obama also gained one of the state’s superdelegates: Democratic National Committee member Jeanette Council announced her support for his White House run.

UPDATE: Wednesday afternoon, the Obama campaign confirmed Council's endorsement, and announced the support of two more superdelegates: North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, and California Democratic National Committee member Inola Henry.

Click here for full North Carolina results