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Washington Post campaign finance reporter Matthew Mosk was online Tuesday, July 8 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the latest news in politics.

The transcript follows.

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Archive: Post Politics Hour discussion transcripts

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Matthew Mosk: Good morning. It's an exciting day at The Washington Post. Right now, over my shoulder, the newsroom is being introduced to our soon-to-be new executive editor, Marcus Brauchli, 47, a former top editor at the Wall Street Journal. But you're here to talk politics, so I welcome your questions on the latest from the campaign trail.

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New Hampshire: Hi Matthew, and thanks for taking my question. I have seen rumors that John McCain may be considering Carly Fiorina as his running mate. I believe she was asked to resign as CEO of HP because of failures in her economic management of that company. How likely is it that he will choose her, and how will this help his campaign? (By the way, I wonder if you know if any action has occurred with regard to the FEC complaint filed against McCain, and if not, why not.) Thank you.

washingtonpost.com: Washington Sketch: Risky Business (Post, July 8)

Matthew Mosk: There has, indeed, been speculation about Carly Fiorina, as recently as this morning on the pages of The Washington Post. My colleague Dana Milbank wrote an interesting account of a discussion Fiorina held with reporters at the St. Regis Hotel, during which she was quite clear she hopes to be considered for vice president.

Here is Milbank's account:

"Fiorina, for her part, couldn't be any more plain about her vice presidential ambitions without taking out an ad. 'I've been advocating on his behalf for about a year,' she told the 30 reporters at the breakfast after USA Today's Susan Page asked the running-mate question. 'I've spent the last three-plus years getting involved in a variety of issues in a variety of government departments, whether it's the Defense Department or the Central Intelligence Agency or the State Department. . . . There are things that government can borrow and learn from business.'

"Another reporter, who must have been in the men's room for the answer to Page's question, asked Fiorina if she would consider the vice presidency. 'One of the great things about my life right now is I have lots of options and lots of opportunities,' she said, 'and I have learned that if you're open to options and opportunities, the future tends to take care of itself.'

"Barely an answer went by without a reference to her past in the executive suite. McCain's staff shake-up? 'As someone who's managed a lot of people, one of the most important jobs you have is to put the right players on the field in the right positions,' she said. Obama's superior fundraising? "I'm a business person. Trends matter to me, and the trend line for Barack Obama is down." McCain's plan to control big executive payouts? 'I voluntarily gave up the contract that I was given when I arrived at Hewlett-Packard so my pay could be put to a shareholder vote.'

"These are delicate matters for Fiorina. When she was forced out at HP, it was because her acquisition of Compaq was going badly and the company's stock price had fallen. Fiorina still managed to leave with an eight-figure severance package. That, and the job cuts she ordered, wouldn't look good in a political ad. But now HP has passed Dell as the No. 1 laptop maker, and the Compaq merger has become a success. Fiorina has published her memoirs, appeared opposite both Bob Schieffer and George Stephanopoulos, and convinced the conservative magazine Human Events that having her as the vice presidential nominee could be 'a significant step in the right direction.' "

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Beverly Hills, Calif.: Have the candidates assumed an Obama victory in California? Are either of them planning to spend any money here?

Matthew Mosk: Thanks for the question. Much of the answer depends on whether Sen. Obama finds himself with a large financial advantage, as many have predicted he will. If Obama has more money to spend, he can afford to spread that money into a range of traditionally red states -- smaller states such as Georgia or North Carolina -- where he could force Sen. McCain to defend himself. That probably would preclude Sen. McCain from making a significant investment in traditionally blue states -- such as New Jersey or, in this case, California. If the two are evenly matched financially, or if Sen. McCain has an edge, he may see fit to spend money in California. But that's not how folks are expecting things to play out right now.

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Arlington, Va.: Did Sen. Obama release a statement about Jesse Helms's passing?

washingtonpost.com: "A spokesman for Sen. Barack Obama said the candidate aspiring to be the country's first African-American president wouldn't have any comment." -- Wall Street Journal, July 4

Matthew Mosk: It appears from the account in The Wall Street Journal that Sen. Obama did not release a statement.

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Raleigh, N.C.: There are a variety of big players in the health care industry when it comes to financing campaigns -- general practitioners, specialists, trial lawyers, big insurance companies, small and medium insurance companies and Big Pharm, to name some of them. Which are aligning with McCain, which with Obama, and which are splitting their "vote"?

Matthew Mosk: Hi Raleigh. That's an interesting question. I just took a quick glance at the Center for Responsive Politics Web site, which provides an industry breakdown in contributions. It's a little tough to tell, though, because Sen. Obama has raised considerably more than Sen. McCain overall. One clear distinction would be money from the trial bar, which clearly is favoring Sen. Obama, as that money traditionally has leaned Democrat. Overall, Sen. Obama has raised $7.2 million in the category "health," while Sen. McCain has raised $3.3 million. I would recommend the site if you want to review it in more detail. It's at www.opensecrets.org.

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Washington: I find The Post's article today on Social Security baffling and inaccurate. Social Security is not fragile, especially when compared with some other programs -- and there is a fundamental difference between Obama and McCain that appears to go unnoticed, despite the enormous and fairly definitive debate about Social Security that we had a couple of years ago. Obama, like all Democrats, actually wants to preserve Social Security in essentially its present form; McCain, like most Republicans, actually wants to fundamentally alter Social Security, so that it does not provide a guaranteed income and is not redistributive -- he wants to privatize Social Security. That is a perfectly coherent position. Republicans know it is totally unpalatable to the vast majority of Americans, and lost out in the debate last time, and so they have to continue to try to conceal the nature of their plans.

This difference flows from a shared sense that Social Security is the backbone of the American welfare state. The Democrats back it as such, the Republicans wish to dismantle it as such. All of this became very clear, eventually, in the circa 2005 debate about Social Security. Why is The Post running a story that appears totally innocent of all that?

washingtonpost.com: Candidates Diverge on How to Save Social Security (Post, July 8)

Matthew Mosk: Rather than wade into this, I would encourage others to have a look at the story and provide their reactions.

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St. Paul, Minn.: Hi Matthew -- thanks for taking my question and for chatting today. Is it your sense that the brouhaha about Sen. Obama's decision to forgo public financing largely has dissipated, meaning that in the end it was a shrewd move on his part? Or does it still have the potential to come back and bite him?

Matthew Mosk: I think there are still moments where this issue could rear its head. Most notably, when the conventions conclude and Sen. McCain accepts his public funds for the campaign. I would expect he will use that moment to make note of Obama's decision to back away from his pledge.

Ultimately, though, there are many Democrats -- particularly on the Web -- who have argued that Sen. Obama made the right call because he will be able to capitalize on a potentially significant advantage in online fundraising.

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Richmond, Va.: How big an issue do you see the need for Obama to repair relations with the women who supported Clinton? How well do you think he's doing in this regard?

Matthew Mosk: Hi Richmond. Thanks for this question. Based on a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, I would say the concerns raised by women -- particularly donors -- have not subsided completely. Here's a bit from their interesting report on the topic:

"Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, faces dissent from dozens of top fund-raisers and other supporters of former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, who are angry over how she was treated during their bruising primary battle and are hesitating to back Sen. Obama.

"Some leading Clinton supporters are starting new Web sites or political action committees aimed at prodding Sen. Obama on issues or pressuring him to give Sen. Clinton a big role in the general-election campaign. People familiar with the matter say the effort involves dozens of the roughly 300 Clinton 'Hillraisers,' individuals who raised at least $100,000 apiece for her campaign.

"The Clinton holdouts are typically most angry about what they say was the media's sexist treatment of Sen. Clinton during the campaign. And though few, if any, blame Sen. Obama directly, they fault the Illinois senator and other party leaders for what they say was failing to do enough to stop it.

"Susie Tompkins Buell, a Hillraiser from San Francisco, said, 'What really hurt women the most was to look back and see all this gender bias.' Ms. Buell said she hasn't decided whether to vote for Sen. Obama and plans to skip the August Democratic convention."

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Feeling your pain: So John McCain let slip his economic plan yesterday, and the big surprise is that oil companies and obscenely rich people are the winners. No, wait, that's not surprising, but it is the natural outcome of reductions in the corporate tax rate and extensions of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. The losers? Anyone who needs Social Security to survive, because their benefits will be cut and their program privatized. Did I miss anything? Oh, yeah. How about the way he's going to balance the budget: "Victory in Iraq." You guys gotta report this bilge without throwing up? How do you do it?

washingtonpost.com: McCain, Obama duel on economic fix-it plans (AP, July 8)

Matthew Mosk: Well ... this is certainly one point of view. An interesting take on the candidate's economic plans will be published shortly on The Trail, by my esteemed colleague Dan Balz. You will be able to find it here.

Here's a snippet:

"John McCain has been around Washington long enough to remember the days when Republicans constantly clashed among themselves over fiscal policy. Were they the party of Jack Kemp, of supply-side economics of big tax cuts, or the party of Bob Dole and the green eyeshade economics of deficit reduction?

"McCain today finds himself with a foot in both camps, though tentatively. He remains an unconvincing tax cutter but he is also an unpersuasive deficit hawk, at least on the basis of his latest economic plan. He is a pure reflection of the Republican Party he seeks to lead.

"That proposal, unveiled with great fanfare on Monday, moved him back in the direction of deficit reduction after a lurch toward tax cutting designed to make him more acceptable to the party's supply-side devotees."

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Fairfax, Va.: Alright, you're the Post's campaign finance guru. Can you explain why the Republican National Committee is outpacing the Democratic National Committee by leaps and bounds, especially when Obama, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are doing much better than their GOP counterparts? Has Dean been successful at bringing in small-dollar donors, as he was with his campaign (at least for a little while) in 2004?

Matthew Mosk: Thanks for this question, from Fairfax. It's a good one, and has been puzzling party insiders for several months now. There are some theories. One is that the prolonged Democratic primary tamped down contributions to the party during the critical months of January to April. The thought here is, people who write big checks to the DNC want to get credit for them. Until there was a clear nominee to came in and take over the DNC, those contributions would not get noticed, so the big donors waited to get a nominee in place before giving.

Another theory holds that the fundraising was not the DNC's problem, it was spending. If you compare DNC fundraising totals for 2003 and 2007, they aren't that different. What's different is how much money the DNC spent during that period. Critics of Chairman Dean will argue that much of the money was wasted on a 50-state program that was investing in states such as Utah and Alaska, even though Democrats typically don't fare well there. Dean allies say the money was invested in infrastructure that will be critical during the presidential contest -- things like e-mail lists and marketing data that the DNC can use to help the party's candidate.

The real answer is anyone's guess.

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Bronx, N.Y.: When Obama's people removed the Muslim American women from the camera shot at one of his speeches, it was a two-day story in the mainstream media. Now, in a move all too-reminiscent of the Bush campaign in 2004, the McCain people ejected a 60-year-old librarian from a public appearance because she was holding a sign that said, somewhat benignly, "Bush-McCain." Somehow I doubt that equal attention will be paid by the media, although the significance of both stories is nearly identical. Don't you agree?

Matthew Mosk: Thanks for this question, Bronx. I was not familiar with this incident, but found a video tape of it at a Web site called Think Progress. Here's how the Web site describes it:

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was in Denver today for a town hall meeting. The event, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, was billed as "open to the public." Yet Carol Kreck, a 61-year-old librarian carrying a "McCain = Bush" sign, was taken away by police for trespassing."

I'm not sure what kind of bounce that episode would have in the mainstream media. We'll have to watch and see...

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Southwest Nebraska: What will Obama do with the $5-or-better donations that get you a meeting with him at Invesco Field? Ingenious, or a dumb move?

Matthew Mosk: I suspect the goal of the Obama campaign here is less about raising the $5 and more about getting more of those critical small donors into the fold. In addition to the money, Sen. Obama's campaign will ask for the e-mail addresses of the donors. This will enable the campaign to return to these supporters at critical moments and ask for more small contributions. As we saw in February, when Sen. Obama raised $55 million, that strategy has given the campaign a big financial boost at key points in the campaign.

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Anchorage, Alaska: Ted Stevens has Republican party challengers here for his seat (August), and Mark Begich is waiting in the general. Should Obama make a big play for Alaska? The state isn't all Republicans. The governorship switches hands from time to time. and a Republican congressional delegation that hasn't changed names since the '70s (well, Lisa took Daddy's job) couldn't get ANWR in any decade since! Should Obama tour the largest state in the union? What's your take? Thanks.

Matthew Mosk: Hi Anchorage. I don't know enough about the political landscape in Alaska to answer your question directly, but I can say that the Obama campaign is giving a fresh look to a number of states typically considered out-of-play for a Democrat. If the campaign maintains a large financial edge, Obama will have the luxury of sprinkling money into states like Alaska, which don't have expensive media markets, to see if the numbers start to move his way.

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Bow, N.H.: Does the Supreme Court's ruling on the millionaire's amendment mean that Clinton now has as long as she wants to recoup the debt her campaign owes her?

Matthew Mosk: Hello Bow -- great question. I've just called Paul S. Ryan, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, who knows more than most about the McCain-Feingold law. He says that there is indeed a provision in McCain-Feingold that would force Sen. Clinton to repay her personal loan to her campaign in short order, or face losing the money. But did the Supreme Court ruling impact her need to do that?

"Definitely not," Ryan told me. "The millionaires amendment had nothing to do with the debt repayment provision. It was part of McCain-Feingold, but not that part."

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New York: Today comes the news that Obama leads McCain among people without pets. What, if anything, does this mean? Or is the only meaning that we should take from this factoid that we have reached the silliest of the silly season in this election?

Matthew Mosk: Rather than try to guess myself, I've asked our polling guru, Jon Cohen, for his take on whether the opinion of people with pets is telling.

He says, succinctly, "not meaningful."

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New York: I am a Democrat and a woman, and I for one did not see a lot of gender bias against Hillary during the campaign. In fact, I thought she was given enormous support by the press! So all those complaining woman should calm down and work for the Democratic party for a win!

Matthew Mosk: Here's another point of view on the question of whether women who backed Sen. Clinton should have trouble getting behind Sen. Obama. Worth noting also on this subject is the following news out of the Obama campaign this morning:

"The Obama campaign announced today that Dana Singiser will be joining the campaign to serve as a Senior Advisor to Senator Obama and will help direct efforts to win the woman's vote... Prior to joining the campaign, Singiser served as the Director of Women's Outreach for the Hillary Clinton 2008 campaign."

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Social Security: No 'Crisis': Nice bamboozlement on the Social Security front from The Post today. Buried in the story is this little gem of truth: "The Social Security Board of Trustees estimates that interest on the program's bond holdings will keep it from running a deficit until at least 2041." There are much bigger crises than Social Security right now, so how about focusing on where the real fiscal trouble is (instead of where the GOP is misdirecting it to be): health care and (especially) Medicare.

Matthew Mosk: Lots of thoughts on this morning's story by Perry Bacon on Social Security. I thought I'd share a couple of them now.

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Baltimore: Re privatizing Social Security: In yesterday's New York Times, Jean Edward Smith had a column in which she quoted a letter President Eisenhower wrote to his brother Edgar. In part it read: "Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security ... you would not hear from that party again. There is a tiny splinter group that believes you can. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." And I am old enough to remember criticism that Ike had trouble expressing himself clearly!

Matthew Mosk: Here's another one. Thanks, Baltimore.

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Chapel Hill, N.C.: I'm with the earlier post on today's Social Security article. The headline and treatment of the issue is misleading. Obama wants to keep Social Security the same except to change the funding through the payroll tax. McCain wants to completely revamp the system. Obama's is a fairly mild revision to the current system, while McCain's version was floated by Bush in 2005 and very quickly was beaten down by public opinion. It often seems that Perry Bacon is so busy trying to make everything equal among the candidates (if McCain is revamping the system then Obama must be doing it too) that readers lose the truth in the article.

Matthew Mosk: And another...

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Alexandria, Va.: I'm still confused about how much I can contribute when to a Presidential candidate. If I were to give $2,300 today to a candidate, does that count as "general election" money, or can I give another $2,300 after the convention?

Matthew Mosk: Thanks Alexandria, for a question I can answer with certainty. An individual can donate up to $2,300 to a candidate for use during the primary, and another $2,300 for use during the general election -- so at this moment, if you have not yet given any money to your favored candidate, you can write him a check for up to $4,600.

Here's the only really confusing part: Neither candidate is allowed to spend the second $2,300 until after he accepts his party's nomination -- and if the candidate decides to accept public financing for the general election (McCain has suggested he will; Obama has said he won't) he won't be able to accept your second $2,300 check.

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Laurel, Md.: Does anyone track and publish spending on presidential TV advertisements by metro area? It'd be interesting to see how much is being spent per viewer in a place like Huntington, W.Va. (the metro area of which includes parts of Kentucky and Ohio) as opposed to Salt Lake City or Syracuse, N.Y.

Matthew Mosk: Thanks Laurel. One fellow who tracks the spending is Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. I just called him to inquire for you about the Huntington, W. Va., market, which you correctly note is mostly aimed at viewers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He tells me John McCain in that market has spent about $110,000, while Barack Obama has spent $48,000 there during the last 30 days.

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Florida: Now that our governor is getting married (and very soon too), does that increase his chances of becoming the vice president under McCain?

Matthew Mosk: I saw this question and realized it's time for me to say farewell!

Thanks everyone for keeping it lively and interesting, as always. And keep checking The Trail for updates from the campaign as the day proceeds.

All the best.

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