Muslim Supporters Told to Move at Event

Former deputy attorney general Eric Holder reportedly had a scheduling conflict and did not make it. But the Obama campaign said he is still part of the working group.

-- Anne E. Kornblut

CROSS OFF THAT NAME

Gen. Jones Is No Obama Man

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- It doesn't look as if retired Gen. James L. Jones is going to be a vice presidential candidate after all -- at least for Barack Obama.

The former commandant of the Marine Corps and commander of U.S. forces in Europe, whose name emerged from meetings that Obama's running-mate team had on Capitol Hill last week, appeared at an energy event Wednesday with his longtime friend John McCain.

Jones, a Missouri native, flew on McCain's plane from Washington to Springfield, and a McCain aide said Jones was a backer of the senator from Arizona.

It was unclear whether Obama's team suggested Jones's name last week or whether members of Congress raised it. The senator from Illinois has pledged to keep the selection process secret until he announces a pick.

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

THE THIRD-PARTY FACTOR

Libertarian Barr Says He'll Get GOP Votes

Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee, offered a scathing critique of John McCain on Wednesday and predicted that the Libertarian ticket would garner substantial conservative Republican support in a handful of battleground states critical to McCain's campaign against Obama.

Barr, a onetime conservative Republican House member from Georgia who broke with the Bush administration and many of his former congressional colleagues, blasted McCain for his support of the war in Iraq, his energy policies and his stand on reducing government spending.

"With regard to domestic policy, Senator McCain really has put forward nothing that would indicate he believes in dramatically shrinking the size and cost of the government," Barr said in an interview on washingtonpost.com's "PostTalk" program. "He does talk a great game about doing away with earmarks, but that really does not get near to the heart of the matter of the massive federal spending, the massive federal debt and the deficits we're running."

-- Eric Pianin