Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.

Ben Pershing, washingtonpost.com congressional blogger, was online Monday, July 14 at 11 a.m. ET.

Read Ben Pershing's blog, Capitol Briefing

The transcript follows.

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Archive: Post Politics Hour discussion transcripts

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Ben Pershing: Happy Monday, everyone. Lots of interesting political stories this week, with the housing crisis headlining on the Hill and the campaign trail. Let's get started.

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San Francisco: Hi Ben, thanks for chatting today. You mentioned Friday that Harry Reid seemed exhausted and frustrated. Any chance he'll tend to his 2010 home fires and step aside as Majority Leader to avoid being targeted like Tom Daschle was?

washingtonpost.com: Capitol Briefing's Player of the Week: Edward Kennedy (washingtonpost.com, July 11)

Ben Pershing: Good question. Reid's advisers claim that he's sticking around and has no plans to retire in 2010 -- but even if he was planning to leave, he certainly wouldn't telegraph that decision now and make himself a lame duck. I do think there's a decent chance he could decide that this term is his last, whether because he's worried about his re-election or just because he's tired and ready to go home. We won't know for sure for quite a while, though.

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Charlottesville, Va.: A month ago Newsweek told us Obama had a huge 16 point lead over McCain. Now we hear they're tied. Isn't that massive, unprecedented, overnight shift in public opinion newsworthy? Why the silence in The Washington Post?

Ben Pershing: For what it's worth, most political analysts considered that previous Newsweek poll -- the one that showed Obama with a huge lead -- to be an outlier. It didn't match most of the other national poll results that were coming in at the time. So don't read to much into the apparent contrast between the latest Newsweek poll and the previous one. Most every poll has shown Obama with a small, single-digit lead for awhile now.

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Rockville, Md.: Hi Ben. Should Democrats be concerned about the Green Party's nominee for president, Cynthia McKinney? could she be a spoiler for Obama, especially in Georgia, or could Bob Barr be the real spoiler for McCain?

washingtonpost.com: Green Party names McKinney as presidential pick (Reuters, July 12)

Ben Pershing: Funny that two former House members from Georgia with controversial histories are both on the ballot, isn't it? I suppose it's possible that McKinney could attract at least some of the African American vote in her home state, just as Barr could attract some of the conservative/Libertarian vote. At this point I'd guess that Barr will have a slightly bigger impact nationwide on the race than McKinney, but that's just a guess. And don't forget about the ever-present Ralph Nader.

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Richmond, Va.: It has been reported that much of the housing crisis, which has precipitated the Freddie Mac/Fanny Mae slide and the failure of the thrift in California, was caused by lack of oversight by the government (under the president and the GOP majority) -- and Federal Reserve regulators. Why isn't Obama shouting that from the rooftops? I would have thought that would be a winning strategy, and yet I hear nary a whisper about this from him. Any thoughts?

washingtonpost.com: U.S. Unveils Plan to Aid Mortgage Giants (Post, July 14)

Ben Pershing: It would be tough for Obama to complain too much about lack of government/congressional oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, given that he has been in the Senate and hasn't done too much about it either. There have been a few sharp critics on the Hill in recent years who have complained that the government-sponsored enterprises were headed for disaster (Rep. Richard Baker comes to mind), but they didn't get too much traction with their colleagues.

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Lyme, Conn.: If President Obama is worried about what to do with former President Clinton, has anyone in the Obama camp mentioned considering appointing Bill Clinton as ambassador to the United Nations? He would do very well there with his reputation as a former president and his knowledge of international issues. Plus he would be in New York, not attempting to hog the Beltway limelight from President Obama -- nor Vice President Hillary Clinton, should Bill be the problem that is keeping Hillary from being considered for the ticket.

Ben Pershing: It's hard to imagine Obama wanting to put Bill Clinton in the cabinet. As a general rule, most White Houses don't want people in their cabinets who might outshine the president himself. And do you think Clinton really would keep quiet and toe whatever line or policy the administration wants him to?

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St. Paul, Minn.: Hi Ben -- thanks for chatting today. Lots of talk about the cover of the New Yorker today. In the interests of equal time, are we likely to see a future cover featuring a doddering John McCain and an out-of-it Phil Gramm? Or the American public on a psychiatrist's couch being told our current economic troubles are all in our head?

washingtonpost.com: Magazine's 'satirical' cover stirs controversy (AP, July 14)

Ben Pershing: In the interests of equal time, perhaps the New Yorker should consider your suggestion. This whole debate about what the magazine cover really means reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine is complaining that she doesn't understand what a New Yorker cartoon means, because it's so strange and intellectual.

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Alexandria, Va.: Could we please stop whining about troops getting killed or whether the Fannie/Freddie buyout will impact the fall elections? Focus on what's important -- what exactly did Condit provide Chandra Levy while they were courting?

washingtonpost.com: Who Killed Chandra Levy? A 12-Part Investigative Series

Ben Pershing: I'm glad to see you've got your priorities straight. If you want to know more about the Condit-Levy relationship, you'll just have to keep reading that Washington Post series to its conclusion.

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Harlem, N.Y.: Ben: Will we see any fallout from the Charlie Rangel apartments mess in New York? It seems to me the questions of propriety and legality would rock any other lawmaker, but Rangel is just too powerful and he knows it, right?

washingtonpost.com: Rangel: Not unfair to have four rent-stabilized apartments (AP, July 11)

Ben Pershing: That's certainly an interesting little scandal there, which was broken by the New York Times and which I wrote about on the Capitol Briefing blog last week. What usually keeps a story like this moving is some sort of official investigation. It's possible the House ethics committee will get involved, but it seems that the substantive charge is that he might have violated New York state and city rent stabilization laws (particularly by using one of the apartments as a campaign office). So I'll be watching to see if there's any official action by the state or the city against him.

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Anonymous: Where's this papers coverage of the Ron Paul march? Why so quiet?

Ben Pershing: I don't get to make such coverage decisions, but I'd imagine that most of our political reporters are busy out on the campaign trail right now. It's true that Paul has drawn a lot of followers and showed himself to be a potent political force -- but at the same time he's not really a presidential candidate anymore, so most of the news coverage will be devoted to the candidates who are still in the race. I'll bet you can find plenty of reporting on the march elsewhere on the Web. Hooray for the blogosphere, right?

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Drilling: Can Bush really circumvent congressional approval to lift his dad's executive order banning offshore oil drilling? Can he just hand out drilling contracts without a go-ahead from Congress?

Ben Pershing: I'm just reading about this now in an alert from the AP. The procedure here is complicated -- the annual spending bill for the Interior Department always has included a ban, so according to Bloomberg News, Bush simply will refuse to sign the 2009 Interior bill if it still includes the ban. What complicates this is that it's unlikely an Interior bill actually will reach Bush's desk this year, because Congress likely won't be moving many appropriations bills at all. So I'm not sure how Bush can pull this off if there's no bill to sign (or veto).

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Penfield, N.Y.: Remembering the wonderful state roll calls of the '40s and the '50s (the Kefauver-Kennedy battle for the vice presidential slot in 1956 comes to mind as one of the most dramatic), I guess my previous prediction of a possible battle in Denver has gone down. But why do you think some Hillary enthusiasts have been pushing for a roll call now that only will result in her certain defeat, rather than a lovefest kind of introduction and a stirring primetime speech.

Ben Pershing: I suppose some Hillary Clinton backers just want some sort of public display at the convention of how much support she still has within the party, but nothing that appears divisive will be allowed to happen at the convention, as that would hurt her prospects for another presidential race if she decided to run again. Clinton herself and her senior people will be talking of nothing but unity in Denver.

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Anonymous: Govs. Kaine or Richardson as Obama's vice president? Even money on both?

Ben Pershing: Tim Kaine definitely is seen as a very viable candidate. I believe my colleague The Fix had him ranked as the No. 1 Democratic vice presidential contender last week. Richardson seems to be off the map. He's got a great resume, but he doesn't seem to be under serious consideration.

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Chicago: Thanks for taking my question. A lot has been written about how this election is all about Obama -- that if the American people are comfortable that he would be commander in chief, he will win, in what is shaping up to be an overwhelmingly Democratic year. But couldn't the election also be a referendum on whether the country wants another four years of GOP leadership, or whether McCain is up to the job?

Ben Pershing: I think the answer is that most polls show that voters don't want another four years of GOP leadership (or more specifically, another four years of Bush's policies). But that doesn't mean Democrats automatically win -- if Obama doesn't appear experienced enough or competent enough to be a good president, he still can lose. That's why there's so much focus on Obama.

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For Charlottesville, Va.: Last month's Newsweek poll had more Democrats than Republicans. This week's had Democrats and Republicans even. A large part of the difference was how the poll was weighted.

Ben Pershing: Good point, though I've read some conflicting information about just how different those two samples were. Logically, it does seem likely that there is some methodological reason why that first Newsweek poll was so different from the second one (and every other major poll taken at the same time).

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San Francisco: Hi again, Ben -- my question was unclear, I guess. I meant, what are the odds Sen. Reid will step down as Majority Leader for the 111th Congress in order to fight a re-election battle without the baggage of being leader?

Ben Pershing: Sorry if I missed your point. I think there is very little chance that will happen. Reid will stay as Majority Leader in the 111th Congress regardless of whether he runs for re-election or retires in 2010. It can be tough to juggle both jobs, but if he were giving up the Majority Leader job, why would he bother staying in the Senate at all?

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Waterville, Maine: Good morning. When Sen. Obama decided to opt out of federal funding for the general election, it was assumed by many that this would be a huge advantage, because he could compete in far more states than Sen. McCain. However, there have been recent reports that Obama's vaunted fundraising slowly but steadily has decreased compared to the stratospheric numbers his campaign posted during the first quarter of the year. Could it be because many of his donors are from the Netroots and are tapped out or frustrated with his more moderate positions of late, or is this simply a matter of a summer drought (in comparison)? Lastly, he seems to be playing defense to McCain's advertising. Could it be that he is actually tight on money?

Ben Pershing: No, I don't think Obama is really tight on money. It's true that the financial gap between the candidates has closed, but Obama has the advantage. A lot of the McCain campaign's spin on this topic has focused on the fact that the Republican National Committee has vastly outraised the Democratic National Committee, but in a head-to-head financial race just between the two campaigns, Obama still will raise more money. It looks like both candidates will have plenty of money to spend.

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Mt. Lebanon, Pa.: You made it sound like Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader was a done deal until he retires. Can't the House and Senate members throw out Nancy and Sluggo whenever they wish for whatever reasons they wish? I didn't just wake up in the Soviet Union this morning, did I? Thanks much.

Ben Pershing: Yes, Democrats in the House and Senate could throw out Reid and Nancy Pelosi, I just don't think they will. Most members are pretty happy with both leaders -- even if party activists sometime aren't -- and it's likely that the party is going to pick up seats in both chambers in November. Why punish the leaders who just helped you get a bigger majority?

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Rangel Scandal: Didn't Rangel buy that seat from the estate of Adam Clayton Powell? It's gonna take a lot more than some bogus real estate deals to take him down.

Ben Pershing: It's true that Rangel has been a very powerful figure in Harlem politics for a long time. I don't think this story is going to "take him down." It just might bring him some unwanted negative publicity for awhile. He definitely doesn't have to worry about getting re-elected.

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San Francisco: What would be the procedure for Barr, McKinney or Nader to get onstage for a presidential debate this fall? Is there an actual threshold of support they'd need, or is it up to some commission, or would it be up to the major party candidates (ha!) to decide to include them?

Ben Pershing: The general election debates are run by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which was set up by the Republican and Democratic parties. In past years, third-party candidates had to meet some sort of threshold in national polls in order to get on stage. I know that Ralph Nader has sued regarding this before, complaining that his First Amendment rights were violated, but I believe he has lost those challenges. So I'd expect that Nader, Barr and McKinney will have to register some viable level of support in the polls to get in on the debates.

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Silver Spring, Md.: It doesn't seem like any of the Hillary-for-veep commentators and pundits ever address the real deal-killer for the idea: Her comments during the primary run. It's like throwing the GOP a life preserver in the form of TV ad fodder: "Don't take our word for it, take his running mate's (fade in picture of Hillary as her voice intones): 'John McCain and I have decades of experience, Barack's got a speech he gave in 2002...' " And so on (there's loads more where that came from). It seems like she made her bed with the over-the-top stabbing she did of her fellow Democrat. Am I missing something?

Ben Pershing: I think you're right that Clinton's comments during the primary hurt her vice presidential chances -- particularly the one about McCain being qualified to be commander-in-chief, while Obama wasn't -- but I expect you'll hear the GOP pull that quote out again soon anyway, regardless of whether she's on the ticket.

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Anonymous: Gov. Kaine opposes abortion. Is he for overturning Roe v. Wade?

Ben Pershing: Kaine's abortion views will be interesting fodder for both sides of the debate if Obama picks him for vice president. During his run for governor, Kaine said he was opposed to abortion but did not want to make it a crime to get or perform an abortion. I think he largely has avoided dealing with the Roe v. Wade question. I imagine Obama's people will make the argument that presidents nominate Supreme Court justices, not vice presidents, so Kaine's views won't matter -- but I'm not sure Obama's pro-abortion rights supporters will buy that argument.

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Arlington, Va.: I'm surprised more hasn't been made of President Bush's "goodbye from the world's biggest polluter" flippant parting shot to his follow leaders at the G8 Summit. The remark was the lead in many international papers' coverage of the last day of meetings. Did I miss something over the weekend?

Ben Pershing: I did see the "polluter" comment mentioned a couple of places, including in an item on The Trail yesterday. Apparently Hillary Clinton has been mentioning the Bush polluter comment in speeches.

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Why punish the leaders who just helped you get a bigger majority?: Hmm, and I thought all along that was done by Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Crayfish from New York. What's his name? I thought Reid and Pelosi were just carpetbaggers who went along for the ride. Thanks much.

Ben Pershing: Obviously there are lots of reasons why Democrats appear to be in good shape for November, and lots of members who will get some credit for it. Rahm Emanuel did do a good job in 2006, and Schumer is doing well too, but Chris Van Hollen runs the party's campaign efforts now, not Emanuel. And Pelosi and Reid have a big influence on how those campaign committees are run, not to mention the fact that they set the agenda and floor schedules. If Democrats gain seats, Pelosi and Reid definitely will get some credit for it.

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Anonymous: Pawlenty cuts his mullet and Crist gets engaged. Romney converting to Catholicism next?

Ben Pershing: An interesting prediction. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that if Romney converted from being a Mormon to something else in the middle of the campaign, that might hurt him a bit more than it helped him. Pawlenty's haircut, on the other hand, was a stroke of genius.

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Westcliffe, Colo.: Why aren't Bob Wexler or Roy Romer ever mentioned as possibilities to be Obama vice presidential candidate? One is exciting and all fired up; the other has two lifetimes of good governing and leadership experience.

Ben Pershing: Roy Romer is actually a very good suggestion, and I have no idea why his name hasn't been mentioned. He was the popular governor of a swing state (Colorado) and has been working in a bipartisan way on a crucial issue -- education reform. Wexler, on the other hand, is probably more liberal and more "fired up" than Obama really wants on his ticket.

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washingtonpost.com: The Trail: Clinton Says GOP Should Apologize to America (washingtonpost.com, July 13)

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Ben Pershing: Thanks for the great questions, everyone.

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