POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Compiled by Mary Grace Lucas

CNN Washington Bureau

CNN Projects: Who's ahead in the fight for the Electoral College?
Monday, CNN unveiled the first of many CNN Electoral Maps of the 2008 general election. It is based on analysis from the CNN Political Unit and takes into account a number of factors, including polling, state voting trends, ad spending, candidate visits, and guidance from the campaigns and political strategists. The list will be updated regularly as the campaign develops over time.

CNN: Obama's VP team raises 'a lot of names' on Capitol Hill
Members of Sen. Barack Obama's vice presidential search team had a "good, long discussion" with top House and Senate Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill over potential running mates Monday, one participant said.

NY Times: For Clinton, Millions in Campaign Debt and Limited Options
With her campaign now officially suspended, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is confronting still another challenge: whittling down what is believed to be the largest presidential campaign debt in history.

NY times: Obama, in Economic Tour, Criticizes McCain Agenda
With the Democratic stage to himself for the first time, Senator Barack Obama opened a two-week tour of battleground states on Monday, attacking Senator John McCain’s economic policies and moving to focus on the ailing economy as the central theme of the general election campaign.

The Guardian: Barack Obama recruits team to tackle web smears
Barack Obama is recruiting senior staff to a new unit which will combat virulent rumour campaigns on the internet that threaten to cost him votes in the presidential election against John McCain.

NY Times: Return to Old Spy Rules Is Seen as Deadline Nears
With Congress at an impasse over the government’s spy powers, Congressional and intelligence officials are bracing for the possibility that the government might have to revert to the old rules of terrorist surveillance, a situation that some officials predict could leave worrisome gaps in intelligence.

LA Times: Barack Obama's victory stirs Mississippi ghosts
In the town where three civil rights workers were slain in 1964, his candidacy uniquely resonates. The county supported him in the primary. But some say little can change here.

LA Times: McCain criticizes an Obama advisor
GOP officials say the Washington power broker may have improperly received preferential treatment from a controversial mortgage lender.

Washington Post: The Reformers As Fundraisers; McCain and Obama Juggle Dual Roles
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are turning their undivided attention to the general election this week, loading their schedules with fundraising events that will fuel their campaign through the summer. But advisers to the White House hopefuls are also working feverishly to square their carefully crafted images as campaign finance reformers with the need to gather tens of millions of dollars.

Baltimore Sun: McCain facing tricky balancing act
Ohio shows task of holding the base of conservatives while competing with Obama for center.

AP: McCain opens fundraiser to media
Republican John McCain reversed course Monday and allowed the media into three private fundraisers, including an event where he chided Democratic rival Barack Obama for his reluctance to agree to a series of joint town-hall meetings.

Politico: Record gas prices could hurt McCain
More Americans now view energy as a serious concern than at the low point of the 1979 energy crisis, according to a Politico analysis of historical Gallup Polls. And the percentage of voters who consider energy issues “very important” in determining their vote has also risen dramatically since the last election, from 54 percent in October 2004 to 77 percent in a recent poll released by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press — a percentage point increase nearly double that of any other issue.

USA Today: Campaign ramps up as Obama starts national tour in N.C.
Barack Obama plans to rally in North Carolina on Monday as his campaign begins to expand operations in the state, hoping to become the first Democratic presidential winner here in three decades.

WSJ: McCain Faces Challenge Over Campaign Links to Lobbyists
A Democratic advocacy organization launched a television ad and filed federal complaints Monday about Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his campaign's ties to lobbyists.

New York Daily News: Barack Obama gets poor fashion marks after weekend bike ride
Barack Obama ditched the campaign trail for the bike trail last weekend, offering onlookers a rare peek into the Democratic nominee's casual-wear closet.

Washington Post: How HUD Mortgage Policy Fed The Crisis; Subprime Loans Labeled 'Affordable'
In 2004, as regulators warned that subprime lenders were saddling borrowers with mortgages they could not afford, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development helped fuel more of that risky lending.

Washington Post: Something Just Clicked; An Obama Delegate's Road to Politics Began With an Online Donation
It all started last summer with a $10 online donation - her very first political contribution. With another click of the mouse, 52-year-old Linnie Frank Bailey, a political neophyte, morphed into a campaign volunteer. By fall, she'd taken on the titles of "area coordinator" and "regional field organizer." And by winter, she'd become a field commander of sorts, organizing a 10,000-square-foot presidential campaign office in southern California.

WSJ: House Ex-Staffer Caught in Probe;Arms-Control Group Tied to Kremlin Paid Wife of Weldon Aide
A former congressional aide admitted in court proceedings that his wife received unreported payments from an arms-control group with ties to top security officials in the Russian government, according to several people involved in an inquiry of a former congressman.

LA Times: Nevada governor's messy divorce is a gossip jackpot
Few things get a state talking like a first lady scorned. Although Nevadans yawn at quickie divorces, drive-through weddings, topless showgirls and legalized prostitution, the divorce proceedings between Gov. Jim Gibbons and his estranged wife, Dawn, have transfixed folks here like a daytime soap opera.

Washington Post: Warning to Sen. Vitter: DC Madam Case Not Over?
Maybe Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) isn't completely off the hook when it comes to the late "D.C. Madam," Deborah Jean Palfrey. And other Washington Johns who used the late Palfrey's escort service and whose names remained below the radar screen may want to find a nice hiding place.

Washington Post: Lobbying's Good Guys? On the Campaign Trail, They're Invisible.
Lobbyists have been pariahs for nearly a century - at least to presidential candidates.