Tuesday, July 1, 2008
DEMOCRATIC FENCE-MENDING
Obama Speaks With Bill Clinton
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- Barack Obama reached out to Bill Clinton on Monday, speaking for 20 minutes to the husband of his vanquished rival and asking the former president to campaign with him this fall.
"I believe he's excited to do it," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said afterward.
Obama placed the call as his campaign plane arrived here ahead of a speech on patriotism. The conversation would have taken place earlier, Obama aides said, but Clinton was in Europe last week.
"Senator Obama had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign. He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
-- Jonathan Weisman
CAMPAIGNING VIA FACTORY TOURIn Pa., McCain Sees What's Working
PIPERSVILLE, Pa. -- Monday was Safety Goggles Day for John McCain.
Even as he prepared to leave the next afternoon for Latin America, the Republican presidential candidate was devoting himself to domestic issues, talking about the price of gasoline and the need to revive the nation's economy. Apparently, these involved walking repeatedly across factory floors in a Rust Belt state.
McCain started off in Harrisburg, Pa., at Turbine Airfoil Designs, a producer of components for aircraft engines. Accompanied by several top company officials -- owner and CEO John Walton, President Ben Frazier, and production manager Tom Garner -- McCain examined several aspects of the engine-making process. At one point, Cindy McCain -- whose tangerine-colored, waffle-weave sweater-and-jacket set was coordinated to match her husband's tie -- pointed to a grinding machine and asked, "Does this work?" Sure enough, the operator turned it on and it made a loud noise, which resembled a mix of an old-fashioned knife sharpener and an espresso-machine milk steamer.
At the end of the tour, McCain watched company employees unveil a red-hot bell used for coating parts that had been heated to 1,975 degrees. "There's a lot of heat. You might want to step back," Garner warned McCain.
The senator dutifully did so, exhaling with relief as he walked away.
After his tour, McCain said he had chosen to visit the company because it exemplifies "both the opportunities and the challenges that face our manufacturing base here in the United States today." Some of the parts the company was making Monday, according to manufacturing engineer Kevin Hile, are destined to be shipped overseas to Fiat.
After a short plane flight and longer bus ride, McCain made it to Pipersville, a town in the Philadelphia suburbs, to visit Worth & Co., which produces heating and cooling units.
Accompanied by the company's president and CEO, Stephen Worth, and a phalanx of other officers, McCain inspected several workstations that help produce units for schools, universities and other institutions. The most lighthearted moment of the tour came when McCain stopped by a station that cuts metal to help create duct systems. He watched a Worth employee cut out the word "McCain" on a metal sheet, surrounded by a handful of stars.
The senator began giggling as soon as he recognized his name. "Thank you, it's great," he told the employee before moving onto another station. Then it was on to a town hall meeting with Worth employees -- a more familiar setting for the senator.
-- Juliet Eilperin
NEW PLANE FOR MCCAINStraight Talk in the Friendly Skies
ABOARD THE STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS -- The Straight Talk Express has gone airborne.
Monday morning marked the inaugural flight of John McCain's new campaign plane, even though he wasn't on it. Wife Cindy and the traveling press corps tested out the airplane equivalent of McCain's legendary bus by hopping a short flight from Dulles International Airport to Harrisburg, Pa., where the senator had spent the night.
The Boeing 737-400, operated by Arizona-based Swift Air, represents a serious upgrade from the JetBlue charters McCain has been using for several months. Specially configured for the candidate, it features an area toward the front where McCain will conduct group interviews, in the same way he does on his chartered bus. That section features a couch and two captain's chairs, along with an area where cameras can film him. McCain stopped conducting interviews on his plane several weeks ago, with his aides saying he prefers a setting where he can sit down with reporters rather than while journalists throng him in the aisle.
Senior aide Mark Salter quipped Monday morning that "only the good reporters" would get to sit in the section for interviews. "You'll have to earn it," he said.
The aircraft features 10 first-class seats in the front section, where McCain and his immediate associates sit, along with a second section for Secret Service agents and additional campaign staff members. The media sit in the main section of the plane, where there are standard coach-class seats. Even the coach section, however, features leather seats and thick blankets for passengers.
McCain spokeswoman Kimmie Lipscomb noted that the plane also has "phone and fax capability," which members of the media can use -- for a price.
On the outside, the plane touts McCain's new campaign message -- "Reform, Prosperity, Peace" -- along with the Straight Talk Express logo. And even the plane's tail is aimed at boosting the candidate's fortunes, with "JohnMcCain.com" emblazoned on it. Asked whether this means McCain is fully committed to his three-pronged campaign slogan, Salter replied, "It's on the plane."
-- Juliet Eilperin
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