The Trail

The group, which was partially modeled on the Save Darfur Coalition, was set up by Republican and Democratic foreign policy experts, including former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Middle East troubleshooter Dennis Ross and former CIA chief R. James Woolsey. Its Web site blocks public access.

The group will hold its first public event, a cocktail reception and film viewing, on Monday at the Millennium Hotel across the street from U.N. headquarters. The event will take place hours after Palin is scheduled to appear at the Ahmadinejad protest. One of the protest's organizers, Malcolm Hoenlein, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, denied Tuesday that Wallace had arranged for Palin's participation in the event.

-- Anne E. Kornblut and Colum Lynch

THE RICH AND FAMOUS

McCain Campaign Brags About Endorsement by Wealthy Socialite

John McCain's election strategy has for weeks involved an aggressive push for support from disenchanted Hillary Rodham Clinton voters, particularly those white, working-class women who helped the former first lady win primaries in swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

So it was with great fanfare that McCain's campaign alerted reporters yesterday morning of a development on that front: "A prominent Hillary Clinton supporter who is a member of the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee will endorse John McCain at a press conference at the Capitol Hill Club today, September 17," the advisory said.

As a headline, the announcement played great -- even landing a prominent spot on the Drudge Report. But McCain supporters who read further might not have found the payoff quite as satisfying.

The supporter was none other than Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, wife of British banking scion Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. When not engaged in politics, de Rothschild -- whom the Wall Street Journal dubbed a "New York socialite" and Portfolio has described as "the flashiest hostess in London" -- has the run of the sprawling Ascott House estate, north of London. In the United States, she summers on Martha's Vineyard. And she has not been shy with her feelings about Obama prior to today, telling CNN weeks ago, "Frankly, I don't like him. I feel like he is an elitist."

In the midst of the economic crisis, the Obama campaign decided to let the announcement speak for itself. And it countered with an endorsement of its own, from Lilly Ledbetter, the Alabama woman whose fight for equal pay led her to the United States Supreme Court and inspired the 2007 fair pay legislation that bears her name -- and which McCain opposed.

-- Matthew Mosk