Sarah Palin's stunning declaration of independence from "politics as usual,'' standing up for her "beloved state of Alaska'' while standing down as governor 18 months before the end of her first term, has been interpreted variously as a bold venture into a new realm of political leadership or as an irreversible, destructive act of political self-immolation.

"Being right is better than being popular,'' Palin declared with characteristic defiance, standing by the dock of her lakeside home in the tiny town where she got her start as mayor and announcing that she will hand over the governor's office to Alaska's lieutenant governor by month's end.

Ed Rollins, a Republican consultant who traces his work to Ronald Reagan's heyday, has offered a blunt assessment of what Palin has done to herself: "It makes her look flaky, which is one of the dilemmas she's had to face all the way through this.'' He raises the question, too, of what's the "next shoe to drop'' in the Palin story.

Palin's supporters say the former mayor of Wasilla who represented her party on a presidential ticket, a self-styled political pitbull, has simply reinforced her credentials as a maverick.

"Time out or flame out?'' one of our newspapers is asking today. Our own Mark Z. Barabak writes of the governor's "disjointed and cryptic remarks'' explaining how, by quitting the office that she won in 2006 after failing at a campaign for the vice presidency in 2008 and being held out by many in her party as a prospect for 2012, she hopes to "effect positive change outside government.''

"Many took that to mean a full-fledged run for the Republican nomination, without the encumbrance of her office and the difficulty of navigating a national campaign while running a state thousands of miles from the action,'' Barabak writes. "But the fact that Palin, 45, will vacate her elected post without finishing the four-year term -- which would have bolstered a political resume already thin enough that it hampered her 2008 bid for vice president -- led some analysts to suggest that she had badly damaged herself, perhaps irretrievably.''

The New York Times' Adam Nagourney notes that Palin's "tone and some of her words in an often-rambling announcement... sounded like someone who was making a permanent exit from politics after what her friends have called a rough and dispiriting year. But her remarks, delivered in a voice that often seemed rushed and jittery, sounded at times like those of a candidate with continued national aspirations, as when she suggested she could "fight for all our children's future from outside the governor's office."

He offers some understatement here:

"Ms. Palin's announcement was another unusual marker in what has been a tumultuous year for this first-term governor since Mr. McCain turned her into a national figure overnight by surprising his own party and naming her his running mate. It also underscored the instability in the Republican Party as it tries to find a strategy and voice in the wake of losses in 2008.''

Mitt Romney, a Republican who sought his party's presidential nomination last year and is expected to seek it again in 2012 -- and who is looking more and more like the survivor of a party reality show after two weeks of sex-scandals that sidelined a couple of prospects, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, and now Palin's withdrawal from public office -- offered only a terse statement from his "Free and Strong America PAC:''

""I wish Sarah Palin and her family well, and I know that she will continue to be a strong voice in the Republican Party."

The leader of that party still struggling to find its voice after 2008, Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, said this:

"I plan on talking to Gov. Palin very soon. She is an important and galvanizing voice in the Republican Party. I believe she will be very helpful to the party this year as we wage critical campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey. I am certain this has been a difficult decision for her to step down as Alaska's governor. She has been a good governor for her state and I wish her and the Palin family the best during this transition."

Ed Rollins, who reached the peak of his party's political machinery in the management of Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign, but who also knows the lows, as a leader of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's failed bid for the GOP nomination last year, has offered some particularly blunt comments about that "transition'' period in which Palin now finds herself.

On the satellite radio station, SIRIUS XM's POTUS Channel, Rollins, who now hosts a weekly show there, had this to say about Palin's party-rattling announcement:

"It wasn't smart under any circumstances. It wasn't set up properly. I don't know what her reasons are. But if her reasons were, 'I'm gonna run for president and I need two years, three years to do that,' it was very foolish...

"You don't call a press conference and raise questions. You call a press conference to answer questions. She has basically left out there everyone asking, why is she doing this? There must be another reason. There must be another shoe that's gonna drop. There's something else.

"This is something you set up, you don't drop on Friday of a holiday weekend, unless it's terrible news or something like that. In this particular case she's left more questions unanswered. It makes her look flaky, which is one of the dilemmas she's had to face all the way through this.

"So if this was an effort to get out of a very difficult time in the state's history with the financial crisis the state has, to go run for president, she hasn't helped herself one iota, and has probably damaged herself severely.''

History has "a right side and a wrong side,'' Sen. John McCain says.

American independence was born of the right side, the senator from Arizona and war hero who survived five and a half years of imprisonment by the North Vietnamese says in the Republican Party's weekly address today. And the protestors storming the streets of Iran are standing on the right side, McCain says.

By implication, but not by name, the Republican candidate for president in 2008 suggests that President Barack Obama is standing shy of the right side by not more forcefully speaking out for the rights of Iranians to be free.

It's ironic, perhaps, that McCain should be delivering his party's address today, the morning after his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, announced that she is stepping down as governor -- raising questions in the minds of many about what kind of fortitude is possessed by the candidate who hoped to serve as vice president, and thus a heartbeat from the presidency. But McCain already had distanced himself from Palin, pointing by name to other leaders within his party who hold promise for 2012.

The Declaration of Independence, McCain suggests today, on the Fourth of July, represented "not only the bold assertion that 13 former British colonies were and forever would remain free and independent states, but also the once radical idea that history has a right side and a wrong side, and that Americans stood and would always stand on the right side..

"We share a kinship of ideals with every man and woman on earth who struggles for their God-given rights. The world must never doubt where we stand in the liberation struggles of our time...

"Today, we stand with the millions of Iranians who brave batons, imprisonment and gunfire to have their voices heard and their votes counted. They do not ask us to arm them or come to their assistance with anything other than public declarations of solidarity, and public denunciations of the tyrants who oppress them. We have a moral obligation to do so...

"They are not fools, these brave and determined Iranians. They are on the right side of history, and the cynics among us, who think them fools, are on the wrong side. Liberty and justice will someday be theirs. Let us hope they will have reason to remember then, who their friends were in their struggle for freedom.''

See McCain's address above and read it below:

Think of it as the audacity of America.

The audacity of 13 colonies to declare independence from the British Empire, the audacity of their descendants to "blaze a westward trail,'' the audacity to build the world's greatest economic engine -- and now, says President Barack Obama, on the Fourth of July, the audacity to tackle a daunting recession, repair an "unsustainable healthcare system,'' fix broken schools and free the nation from dependence on oil.

That's how the president is framing the challenge for a nation on this Independence Day, a holiday on which to "kick back,'' Obama says in his weekly radio and Internet address, but not a time to kick the nation's problems "down the road.''

"We are called to remember how unlikely it was that our American experiment would succeed at all; that a small band of patriots would declare independence from a powerful empire; and that they would form, in the new world, what the old world had never known - a government of, by, and for the people,'' Obama said today.

:"Our economy - and our nation itself - are endangered by festering problems we have kicked down the road for far too long: spiraling health care costs; inadequate schools; and a dependence on foreign oil.

"We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years ago today.''

See the president's Independence Day address above and read it below:

Today, we are called to remember not only the day our country was born - we are also called to remember the indomitable spirit of the first American citizens who made that day possible.

We are called to remember how unlikely it was that our American experiment would succeed at all; that a small band of patriots would declare independence from a powerful empire; and that they would form, in the new world, what the old world had never known - a government of, by, and for the people.

That unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans. It is what led generations of pioneers to blaze a westward trail.

It is what led my grandparents' generation to persevere in the face of a Depression and triumph in the face of tyranny.

It is what led generations of American workers to build an industrial economy unrivalled around the world.

It is what has always led us, as a people, not to wilt or cower at a difficult moment, but to face down any trial and rise to any challenge, understanding that each of us has a hand in writing America's destiny.

That is the spirit we are called to show once more. We are facing an array of challenges on a scale unseen in our time. We are waging two wars. We are battling a deep recession. And our economy - and our nation itself - are endangered by festering problems we have kicked down the road for far too long: spiraling health care costs; inadequate schools; and a dependence on foreign oil.

Meeting these extraordinary challenges will require an extraordinary effort on the part of every American. And that is an effort we cannot defer any longer.

Now is the time to lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity. Now is the time to revamp our education system, demand more from teachers, parents, and students alike, and build schools that prepare every child in America to outcompete any worker in the world.

Now is the time to reform an unsustainable health care system that is imposing crushing costs on families, businesses, large and small, and state and federal budgets. We need to protect what works, fix what's broken, and bring down costs for all Americans. No more talk. No more delay. Health care reform must happen this year.

And now is the time to meet our energy challenge - one of the greatest challenges we have ever confronted as a people or as a planet. For the sake of our economy and our children, we must build on the historic bill passed by the House of Representatives, and make clean energy the profitable kind of energy so that we can end our dependence on foreign oil and reclaim America's future.

These are some of the challenges that our generation has been called to meet. And yet, there are those who would have us try what has already failed; who would defend the status quo. They argue that our health care system is fine the way it is and that a clean energy economy can wait. They say we are trying to do too much, that we are moving too quickly, and that we all ought to just take a deep breath and scale back our goals.

These naysayers have short memories. They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of change. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of America.

We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years ago today.

That is how this generation of Americans will make its mark on history. That is how we will make the most of this extraordinary moment. And that is how we will write the next chapter in the great American story. Thank you, and Happy Fourth of July.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is stepping down, announcing suddenly today that she will pursue other means of having an impact in the public arena, fueling speculation about her intentions for another bid for national office.

Palin will step down before her first term is finished, resigning as of July 26 -- while not offering a clear reason for her withdrawal. Having decided not to seek a second term, she said she did not want to remain as a "lame duck'' simply wasting taxpayer money with trade missions and the like.

"I know when it's time to pass the ball,'' said Palin, a basketball player in her high school days, almost tearfully announcing today in a long and rambling but not fully explanatory statement that she would hand the office over to the lieutenant governor. "All I ask is that you trust me with this decision,'' she said, allowing that it's "no more politics as usual...''

Palin maintained that the pressure, and expense, of confronting unfounded ethics complaints has gotten out of bounds. 'We're fishermen,'' said Palin, standing with her husband Todd, a commercial fisherman, and maintaining that they're not "going with the flow... Only dead fish go with the flow...

"Some are going to question the timing of this,'' she said.in an impromptu news conference at her home. "This decision has been in the works for a while.''

Standing with her husband and children at their lakeside home in Wasilla, their seaplane docked behind them, she said that a recent visit to wounded soldiers overseas had helped her make the decision. "We can all learn from our selfless troops,'' she said.

"We've got to put first things first.... I'm doing what's best for Alaska,'' she said, citing a family refrigerator magnet that suggests not trying to explain anything because critics won't believe it anyway.

The Republican former mayor of Wasilla and self-styled "hockey mom'' and political "pitbull" remains popular among the most conservative base of the party that nominated her for vice president in 2008. She carries high negative ratings among the general public, however, according to the latest polls, questioning the role she might play in another party ticket for 2012.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who had been considered another possibility for Arizona Sen. John McCain's running mate when McCain sought the presidency last year, also has announced he will not seek another term -- setting up the more moderate Midwestern Republican as another prospect for his party to consider in 2012.

Palin was first elected in 2006 on a populist platform and was one of the nation's most popular governors for a while. But her popularity has waned as she engaged in partisan politics in the presidential campaign and since then.

Her term would have ended in 2010. Palin said she plans to make a "positive change outside government," without elaborating on her plans. Remaining as a lame duck would be wasteful, said Palin, who has attempted to portray an image as a fiscal hawk.

"I cannot stand here as your governor and allow the millions of dollars and all that time go to waste just so I can hold the title of governor," Palin said.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who was surprised as anyone else about the announcement, will be inaugurated at the annual governor's picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month.

But Palin still suffers from a sharply divided opinion of her among the American public, following that same presidential campaign, in which she represented the GOP as the nominee for vice president - though the Alaska governor remains a rock star within her party, more popular among Republicans than the image-reviving former Massachusetts governor.

These are among the findings of a new Pew Research Center study on the favorability ratings for leading Republicans.

Romney's ratings have improved among the general public, with 40 percent rating him favorably, 28 percent unfavorably. This marks a reversal from February 2008, in the heat of the GOP campaign in which Romney was challenging Sen. John McCain of Arizona for the party's presidential nomination - then it was 44 percent unfavorable, 30 fave.

"Impressions of Sarah Palin have not changed much since the presidential campaign,'' Pew reports. The Alaskan "continues to be divisive figure among the general public, with about as many saying they have an unfavorable impression (44 percent) as a favorable view (45 percent) of the Alaska governor. That's a little better than Palin looked to the general public in October, when her image and her ticket were taking a beating.

But among Republicans: Palin has a 73 percent favorable rating, with just 17 percent viewing her dimly. Only 10 percent offered no opinion.

By contrast, Romney draws a 57 percent favorable rating within his party and 18 unfavorable - with 24 percent voicing no opinion.

And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia draws similar ratings, 55 percent favorable, 22 percent unfavorable, with the same number uncommitted.

Interestingly enough, 58 percent of Republicans surveyed were unable to offer any impression at all of the Republican National Committee chairman, Michael Steele.

"Since February 2008, shortly before he abandoned his race for the GOP presidential nomination, opinion of Romney has improved across most political and demographic groups, but the shift has been particularly pronounced among independents,'' Pew reports. "In February 2008, just 29 percent of independents had a positive impression of Romney while 46 percent had a negative view. Today, that balance is reversed: 44 percent view Romney favorably and 25 percent unfavorably.''

And "almost a year after capturing the attention of the political world as John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin remains a broadly popular figure within the Republican Party, despite receiving mixed reviews from the public as a whole...

"Unlike Romney, Palin's ratings continue to be much better among conservative Republicans (80%) than among moderates and liberals in the party (62 percent). And while positive views of Palin have slipped among non-evangelical Republicans (from 77% to 67%), they remain overwhelmingly positive among white evangelical Republicans (84%, 85% last October).

"Notably, as was the case during the election, Palin is rated somewhat better by men than she is by women. About half of men (48%) say their overall opinion of Palin is favorable, while 40% say it is unfavorable. Among women, the picture is reversed: 48% offer an unfavorable view, 41% a favorable one. This difference largely arises from gender differences in party affiliation. For instance, among Republicans, men and women express similar views of Palin (73% favorable).

"Palin receives a more favorable rating from those with a high school degree or less (48% favorable, 36% unfavorable) than she does from college graduates (41% favorable, 52% unfavorable). Regionally, she is somewhat better regarded in the South (49% favorable) than she is in the Northeast (39% favorable).''

The Pew survey of 1,502 adults, conducted June 10-14, carries a possible 3 percentage point margin of error.

As U.S. military forces withdraw from the urban front lines of a six-year war in Iraq - and prepare to pull out of the country altogether by 2011 - Vice President Joe Biden said today in Baghdad that Americans "stand ready if asked and helpful'' to help with the political reconciliation that remains elusive there.

"There is a hard road ahead,'' and "it's not over yet,'' Biden, capping a two-day stop in Iraq, said in appearance with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The Iraqi leader saluted "the common partnership and common efforts" between the U.S. and Iraq in defeating al Qaeda.

They stood in the same room where, not long ago, former President George W. Bush had to duck the two tossed shoes of an irate Iraqi as the American who authorized the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 made his final appearance there as president.

Sandstorms prevented the vice president from flying by helicopter into Baghdad. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, made the call, and the vice president's 22-car motorcade made its way toward the Green Zone. The ride took well over an hour because an armored truck carrying reporters could not fit under one bridge so the caravan took a long route.

Biden met with the two vice presidents, al Hashemi and al Mahdi, and other Iraqi representatives in a sandstone building with stained glass windows called the Presidency Diwan. This is a ceremonial building, the place where Zal Khalilzad had president his credentials to President Jalal Talibani after the 2005 elections.

Beau Biden, an Army captain serving in Iraq, had breakfast with his father this morning in the private room where the vice president had spent the night.

Biden, who rode into Iraq for his first visit as vice president in the same sort of Airstream executive trailer-styled home rolled into the belly of a military transport that former Vice President Dick Cheney had used during his inspection of war zones.

"The reason I came is the president wants focus within the White House on the implementation of our administrations plan to both draw down troops in Iiraq,'' Biden told reporters last night, "and also to promote a political settlement on unresolved issues from boundary disputes to the oil law. ''

He wasnted to "reestablish contact with each of the leaders among the Kurds and and the Sunnis and the Shia and talk through them what they think has to be accommodated with regard to the boundary disputes of the north, the oil law...

"But I don't expect to accomplish in this one trip anything other than surveying the terrain,'' he acknowledged. "There's a lot left on the agenda and I think all Iraqis acknowledge that.''

Asked if the U.S. has less leverage now, Biden said, "No, I don't think so. I think the real influence is the Iraqi people have decided, it appears to me, and the Iraqi leaders that they want a unified country. That's the real leverage. ...I think the real leverage is the pressure they have on themselves to reach a political accommodation and obviously we're very deeply involved in Iraq...

"We're going to be involved,'' Biden said. " view our pulling out of the cities as demonstration that the Iraqi people that we meant what we said, we plan on keeping the letter of this sofa this agreement we reached.''

Retired Army Gen. Colin Powell, former secretary of state under the last President Bush and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under the first President Bush, has faced unfriendly fire from within his own Republican Party about the purity of his GOP essence - endorsing President Barack Obama's candidacy last year had something to do with that questioning.

While supportive of Obama, Powell allows that he is "concerned'' now about the breadth of the presdient's agenda and the cost of it all -- "I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them.''

Powell, a guest on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, sat through a replay of his own words from the Republican National Convention in 1996.

"I became a Republican because I believe, like you, that the federal government has become too large and too intrusive in our lives,'' Powell told his party during that failed mid-term attempt to unseat then President Bill Clinton with the then-senator from Kansas, Bob Dole. "We can no longer afford solutions to our problems that result in more entitlements, higher taxes to pay for them, more bureaucracy to run them, and fewer results to show for it..''

The party applauded.

John King, host of CNN's Sunday show, asks Powell this: "Has president of the United States, in that regard, when it comes to financial institution bailouts, General Motors bailouts, spending by government, whether it's health care reform, whether it's the debate now about climate change, when it comes to spending and the reach and role of government, does President Obama meet the test Colin Powell laid out in '96?"

"Well, first, let me say, that was a pretty good statement, I thought,'' Powell replies. "And I believe in all those things. But I also believe that we should have a government that works.

"I don't like slogans anymore like "limited government,''' Powell says. "That's not the right answer. The right answer is, give me a government that works.''

Powell also takes a moment to remember singer Michael Johnson in this interview - recalling the spirit he saw on the stage for the Jackson Five, those "fresh, exciting kids with the 'fros.'' Acknowledging the "challenges'' in Jackson's life, the former chief diplomat for the United States suggests that we all "celebrate his art.''

"The people want their problems solved,'' he says. "And very often, it's government that has to do that. So let's have good government, effective government, whether you call it limited or not.

"Now, I think one of the challenges that President Obama has now is that he's got so many things on the table, and these are issues that the American people find important, health care and so many other issues,''Powell says. "But I think one of the cautions that has to be given to the president -- and I've talked to some of his people about this -- is that you can't have so many things on the table that you can't absorb it all. And we can't pay for it all.

"And I never would have believed that we would have budgets that are running into the multi-trillions of dollars, and we are amassing a huge, huge national debt that, if we don't pay for in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great grandchildren will have to pay for it.,'' he says. "So, I think the president, as he moves forward with his initiatives has to start really taking a very, very hard look at what the cost of all this is. And, how much additional bureaucracy and will it be effective bureaucracy be needed to make all of this happen?

"So, it's early but you're a little worried? Is that a fair way to put it?'' King asks Powell.

"Yes, yes. I'm a little concerned,'' Powell replies. "Concerned would be a better way. I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them.''

Going forward, King asks, what is Powell's relationship with Obama?

"Very good.''

"Talk to him much? Does he seek your advice?''

" I have met with him not too long ago. I don't insert myself. But, we stay in touch..''

Obama didn't have anything personal to say about the passing of musical icon Michael Jackson last week - leaving that to his White House staff, but Powell offers this, when asked about the singer for whom a public memorial will be held next week at the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles, where the Democrats held their 2000 convention.

""He was a great entertainer and he crossed so many lines with his skill and the skill of his brothers.,'' Powell says. "I always remember him most vividly as a young boy with his brothers -- the Jackson Five. These fresh, exciting kids with the fro's in the early '70s and singing those wonderful songs -- "ABC" -- don't ask me to sing it.

"But that is what I remember about Michael. During the heyday when he was doing "Thriller" and the other things I would either in Vietnam or Korea or somewhere. So, he's not quite of my generation, but his art spanned three generations and is worthy of all the tribute that he is receiving for his art.

"Yes, there were some challenges in his life. Yes, there was a great deal of controversy about him. But he's now passed on. Let's celebrate his art.''

The address queue for President Barack Obama's BlackBerry is one of the White House's better-kept secrets.

But the president now has allowed that at least one of his most faithful aides has his number: Joshua DuBois, a former associate pastor and an advisor to Obama in his Senate office and campaign who runs the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

And each morning, Obama says, DuBois delivers a prayer to the president's BlackBerry.

Obama, who still has not found a permanent house of worship for the first family since moving into the White House, spoke with reporters from the religious press this week.

The Brody File has notes on all of it -- including Obama's comments about his relationship with the Catholic Church, in the aftermath of his commencement address at Notre Dame and near the eve of Obama's meeting next week with the pope at the Vatican.

"Joshua does a wonderful service for me, and he actually sends me a devotional on my BlackBerry every morning, which is actually something that he started doing I think when I was really having a tough time during the campaign,'' Obama said in the interview.

Some of that "rough time," of course, had to do with the president's longtime association with a Chicago pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose "incendiary'' words about race and America from the pulpit forced Obama to disavow Wright and ultimately sever his ties with Trinity United Church of Christ..

"I am now disruptive wherever I go,'' the president laments of his attempts to visit churches since his arrival at the White House - he and his wife, Michelle, attended St. John's Episcopal Church, across a park from the White House, at Easter, and created quite a stir in the streets and pews alike.

Obama was asked about his search for a new church - with Time magazine jumping the gun this week with a report that the Obamas had settled on the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, the presidential retreat. It turns out that Obama says the family has been going there, during their infrequent Sundays at the Maryland mountain resort, but they still are in search of a sanctuary.

"That was deeply disturbing to us, and it was disappointing for us personally. It made us very sensitive to the fact that as president the church we attend can end up being interpreted as speaking for us at all times.

"We were also mindful of the fact that the times that we have attended church here, everybody who attends has to go through a mag... and it's a scene. I mean, it's just -- unfortunately, I am now very disruptive wherever I go.

"And so thinking about how to just manage the logistics of that was something that we spent some time talking about.

"We have attended services at Camp David every weekend that we're there,'' he said. "I will tell you, by the way, that it is a wonderful little congregation; the members of Camp David who are up there consistently have their families there, they've got a Sunday school.

" The young chaplain there, Chaplain Cash, is terrific -- as good of a -- delivers as powerful a sermon as I've heard in a while. I really think he's excellent.

"So we will continue to go to services there.

" How we handle church when we're here in D.C. is something that we're still figuring out,'' he said.

"And I think that in the second half of the year we will have made a decision. We may choose, rather than to join just one church, to rotate and attend a number of different churches.

"Obviously that takes away somewhat from the church experience of being part of a community and participating in the life of the church. But as I said, we are resigned now to the fact that we change the atmospherics wherever we go, and it may be more sensible for us to get in and out on any given Sunday and not try to create blockades around places where we attend.

"I miss it, though.

" One of the things I also asked Joshua to do, though, is to -- we've had -- throughout the campaign we had a collection of pastors who were close friends and supporters who pray for us, a pretty eclectic group of people from the Catholic Church, people from mainstream Protestant, Evangelical,'' Obama said. "And so having some of those friends come in and pray with us is something that we're potentially looking forward to''

From sole to soul: The American view of the Russian presidency has fabled moments in modern times: Ranging from Nikita Kruschev's fist- and shoe-pounding at the United Nations general assembly in 1960 to President George W. Bush's discovery of Vladimir Putin's "soul'' in 2001.

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue,'' Bush famously said of Putin during his first year in office. "I was able to get a sense of his soul.''

Yet despite that rapport, relations between the two nations in the years that followed deteriorated into what the sitting Russian president calls a low-point unseen since the Cold War.

Their successors, Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, have not exactly bonded, but they have gotten off to a solid start. As Obama embarks for Moscow in a few days, on his way to a Group of Eight summit in Italy next week, the American president's Russian host has rolled out the Internet Age's equivalent of a red carpet.

(Who knew the president of Russia had a video blog?)

""When I met with President of the United States Barack Obama for the first time in April, we agreed that he would visit Russia in July,'' Medvedev said on his blog this week.

"Today, I want to say a few words not just about what I hope for from these upcoming talks, but also share my vision of the history of Russian-American relations and the outlook for their development.

"Unfortunately, relations between our two countries have worsened over these last years,'' Medvedev said.

"A crisis of confidence, lack of action, unwillingness to take any new steps - call it what you will, but the fact remains that, although our countries' presidents had a good personal rapport, Russian-U.S. relations declined to a level practically on a par with the Cold War era,'' the Russian leader said this week, on the eve of the American president's first visit to Moscow.

It appears, however, that Obama and Putin, now prime minister, still face some reconciliation. In an interview with the Associated Press near the eve of his departure for Moscow, Obama said that, while Medvedev understands this, Putin needs convincing that the U.S. wants cooperation rather than "an antagonistic relationship."

"K's important that even as we move forward with President Medvedev that Putin understand that the old Cold War approaches to U.S.-Russian relations is outdated," he said. "Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new."

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Obama was wrong about the premier. "Such a point of view has nothing to do with a true understanding of Putin," he told the AP, and suggested the reason for Obama's view was simply that he "has not yet spoken with Putin -- they are not acquainted." The two will talk in Moscow on Tuesday.
.
(Presidents Obama and Medvedev are pictured just above at a Group of 20 summit in London. Presidents Putin and Bush are pictured above at a Bush visit to Moscow when the American got to drive the Russian's collectible car.) Photos by AP. See Medvedev's video above and read the rest of his words below.)

"There are problems that we simply cannot resolve on our own, acting unilaterally. This is true above all of international security: the fight against terrorism, extremism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and drugs trafficking.

"These are common challenges and they are our common responsibility,'' Medvedev said. "Our two countries have a great responsibility in this respect, for our relations will have a direct impact on shaping the state of our world over these coming decades.
"No matter who is president of Russia or the United States they will always bear this special responsibility for the decisions they make. They will always be responsible before their countries and the entire world.

"It is my conviction that Russia and the United States do have something to offer other countries. There is therefore only one road to follow - the road of agreement.
If we look back in time, we see that history offers many examples of unity between our countries.

"Diplomatic relations between Russia and the USA go back more than 200 years. This is quite a long time. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Russian government invited American engineers to work on projects to modernise and build the Nikolayevskaya (now Oktyabrskaya) railway line and the first telegraph line in our country.

"In the more recent past we were united in the common fight against Nazism. The Cuban missile crisis marked a dramatic page in our relations, but we managed to take difficult, complex and responsible decisions and came through this difficult moment. Then, of course, there was the period later called the era of detente.

:Today, we are united by the values of our civilisation, the values of respect for human life and human rights and freedoms,'' Medvedev said. "The global crisis is a common challenge before which we are all absolutely equal.

"Today, we all face difficulties that come on top of our own particular experience and current situation. In this situation, it is hard to say who is having a harder time getting through these difficulties. Russia, after all, had only just begun addressing many of its economic problems, while this is the first time in many years that America has been hit by such a serious crisis.

"But now is not the time to say who is suffering more and who is stronger. Now is the time to unite our efforts. We simply must improve our relations in order to put our joint efforts into resolving the numerous problems facing the world today.

"I said at the start that personal relations do not resolve everything, but at the same time, they are a factor not to be underestimated,'' the Russian leader said.

"I hope that President Obama's visit will give him, his family, and his team the chance to get to know Russia better. I hope he will sense here our real interest in improving the relations between our countries and peoples,'' he said. "Precisely for this reason, I hope that my American colleague and I will hold substantial and full-fledged talks that will produce real results.

"I hope that these talks will give us the chance to examine all aspects of our relations. Russia and America need new, common, mutually beneficial projects in business, science and culture. We need to move forward on the basis of a resolutely practical agenda. I hope that this sincere desire to open a new chapter in Russian-American cooperation will be brought into fruition to the benefit of our countries and the entire world.''

Medvedev added this historical note: "President Kennedy, who during the Cuban missile crisis found himself having to make some very difficult decisions, once addressed to the American people words that I think are very wise: "If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."''

Despite a roughly 10-point decline in public job-approval since the high start of his presidency in January, President Barack Obama is "arguably'' still enjoying a "honeymoon'' with the American public, the Gallup Poll's historical review suggests.

Obama, whose job ratings started in the high 60s, have dipped to the high 50s in recent surveys but have "generally been above 60 percent,'' has surfed a wave of public approval longer than most recent presidents. "Recent presidents' honeymoons have typically ended much sooner than those of their predecessors,'' Gallup's Jeffrey Jones reports today, on this American holiday.

There is one benchmark for all: A historical average of 55 percent job approval for post Word War II presidents.

Presidents from Harry Truman through Richard Nixon enjoyed an average of 26 months above the historical average after taking office, in Gallup's long tracking of these matters. But presidents from Gerald Ford through George W. Bush enjoyed an average of just seven months of above-average from their starts.

Dwight Eisenhower enjoyed the longest run: Going 41 months into his presidency with above-55 percent job ratings. Ford and Bill Clinton had the shortest run: Just one month into office.

Since Ford's brief tenure during the mid 1970s, George H.W. Bush has enjoyed the longest early run: 21 months above average.

Obama, nearly six months in, still stands well above average with the low 60's ratings that he has enjoyed - running from an initial 68 percent after inauguration in January to a momentary low of 57 in recent Gallup daily tracking polls - and that daily track is something that Gallup has started with just this president. The most recent job-three-day average for the president: 61 percent job approval.

And the historical average presidential job approval rating through all of Gallup's decades of polling is 55 percent.

"Using this standard, each president from Truman to Nixon had a honeymoon that lasted at least into his 10th month in office. This includes popular presidents such as Dwight Eisenhower, who did not drop to 55 percent approval until his fourth year in office, and John Kennedy, who never did, but bottomed out at 56 percent in September 1963, his 32nd month in office. The president was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

"But only one of the last six presidents -- George H.W. Bush -- had a honeymoon that extended beyond his ninth month in office,'' Jones notes. "Bush's ratings actually climbed for much of his first year and a half in office as the economy remained strong, several communist regimes fell in Europe, and the U.S. military was able to capture Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and remove him from power.

"One reason earlier presidents had longer honeymoons is because they enjoyed much greater public support in the early part of their presidencies,'' Jones notes - meanings the numbers started so much higher than the average.

"The five presidents from Truman to Nixon averaged 74 percent job approval in their first quarters in office, compared with a 60 percent average for presidents from Ford through George W. Bush.

"But the earlier presidents were able to maintain their lofty ratings well into their second quarter; only Truman was unable to maintain or improve upon his first-quarter average approval rating in his second quarter in office. This group includes Nixon, who had a lengthy honeymoon despite starting out with initial ratings near 60 percent -- similar to what more recent presidents have had.

"The six presidents from Ford to George W. Bush were not as successful in maintaining or increasing their average ratings from the first to the second quarter; only Ronald Reagan and the elder Bush were able to do so. Ford and Bill Clinton in particular showed rather steep declines during their second quarters in office.

"Ford's decline was largely the result of his unpopular decision to pardon Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal,'' Jones notes. "Clinton's was the result of a series of early missteps in filling key administration positions, controversy over his attempt to revise military policy toward gays, and the public relations nightmare that resulted from his tying up runway traffic at Los Angeles International Airport to receive a high-priced haircut aboard Air Force One.''

Obama averaged 63 percent during his first quarter in office.

"Because Obama has been able to maintain above-average approval ratings, he is arguably still in the honeymoon phase of his presidency,'' Jones notes. "Now in his sixth month in office, his honeymoon has already exceeded the durations of those for Ford, Clinton, and George W. Bush. If he can maintain ratings above 55 percent through the summer, his honeymoon will match the length of those for Jimmy Carter and Reagan.

"Obama's continuing honeymoon could be considered impressive, given that few of his predecessors faced such trying economic and international conditions upon taking office,'' Jones adds. " He has taken swift action to pass legislation to help improve the economy, but soon Americans will be looking for results and will hold him accountable if they are not there.''

The survey results are based on polls of 1,000 or more randomly selected adults conducted by Gallup from 1945 through this year. Polls from 1945-1989 were conducted mostly in person, and polls since 1990 mostly by telephone. Each has a margin of sampling error of no less than plus or minus 3 percentage points

Access.

Washington runs on it.

And plenty of people will pay dearly for it.

But when the publisher of the Washington Post, a paper that has devoted considerable resources to rooting out and exposing the sale of influence in the nation's capital, learned that access to her own proposed "salons'' with members of the Obama administration and others was going for as much as $250,000, she pulled the plug.

"This should never have happened,'' said Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth.

Who better to tell this tale than the Post's own Howard Kurtz, media critic and star of TV's Reliable Sources:

Weymouth canceled plans for "a series of policy dinners at her home after learning that marketing fliers offered lobbyists access to Obama administration officials, members of Congress and Post journalists in exchange for payments as high as $250,000,'' Mistah Kurtz reports.

"Absolutely, I'm disappointed," Weymouth, the chief executive of Washington Post Media, said in an interview. "This should never have happened. The fliers got out and weren't vetted. They didn't represent at all what we were attempting to do. We're not going to do any dinners that would impugn the integrity of the newsroom."
Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli too was "appalled'' by the plan, and insisted before its scrap that the newsroom staff would not take part in these dinners.

"It suggests that access to Washington Post journalists was available for purchase," Brauchli said.

Yes it did.

Politico broke the story about the Post's retracted sales pitch, which spread through Washington today faster than a brush fire in the windswept hills of Santa Barbara.

It was broken and fixed before the day's news cycle ended.

("Katharine,'' as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, pictured above in the Watergate hunt, might have put it: "Get me Redo.'')

Particpants could pay $25,000 to sponsor a single salon and $250,000 to underwrite an annual series of 11 sessions.

One of the fliers offered this invitation: "Bring your organization's CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama Administration and Congressional leaders . . . Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No. The relaxed setting in the home of Katharine Weymouth assures it."

"We do not offer access to the newsroom for money," Brauchli said, in Kurtz's account of the saga. "We just are not in that business.'' He has reminded his staff: "Our independence from advertisers or sponsors is inviolable."

See the Politico report on the Post's own Postgate, and see the Post's account.

Vice President Joe Biden made an unannounced landing in Iraq today for a two-day series of meetings with Iraqi leaders and U.S. troops.

The traveling pool report from the ground says that Biden "will try to reestablish contact with Iraqi leaders and try to help foster efforts at political reconciliation.''

More to come from that front.

The White House sayys Biden will meet with President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Speaker of the Council of Representatives Ayad al-Samarrai.

"The vice president will reiterate the United States' commitment to fully implement the Security Agreement and the Strategic Framework Agreement and to carry out President Obama's plan to draw down U.S. forces,'' the vice president's office said in a statement issued today. "He will discuss with Iraq's leaders the importance of achieving the political progress that is necessary to ensure the nation's long-term stability.''

This is Biden's second trip to Iraq this year but his first as vice president. It comes as the U.S. has withdrawn its forces from Iraq's cities, leaving defenses there to Iraqi forces.

Biden was greeted at Baghdad International Airport by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abbawi and Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of American forces there.

Friday morning, the vice president will meet and have coffee with Odierno and Ambassador Chris Hill, and get a private briefing.

Biden will meet with the United Nations assistance mission to Iraq and some representatives of non-governmental organizations as well, before meeting with the two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi and Adil Mehdi, Shiite presidents, and then the speaker, Dr. Samaraie.

Then Biden will meet with prime minister al Maliki .

When hunters seed a field, they are guaranteed of getting some birds to shoot. It's considered bad form.

When the White House seeds questions from the public, or from the press, that raises another question of form.

And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was peppered with questions this week about the White House's practice of picking out people whom the president calls on at his so-called "town hall'' meetings, such as the one on healthcare Wednesday in Annandale, Va., and the White House alerting reporters that they might be called on at a presidential news conference - as apparently occurred at the last presser that Obama held.

It's nothing new for a president to walk into a news conference with a script: Former President George W. Bush had a chart on the podium before him indicating which news organizations he would call on for questions. But it's unusual for reporters to get advance notice that they will be called on.

We know at least one reporter asked by the White House before the most recent news conference which member of his or her organization would be attending the event. The reporter, who thought that probably meant the organization would be called on, indeed was called on.

There was no pre-arrangement of the question, however. But the president clearly knew what was coming when he called on the national editor for the Huffington Post, who was relaying a question from an Iranian citizen about the situation in Iran.

Chip Reid of CBS News and Helen Thomas, the seasoned White House correspondent and now columnist for Hearst Newspapers, see a trend in the selection of town hall questioners and advance notice for reporters.

"It's shocking,'' Thomas told Gibbs. "It's really shocking.... It's a pattern.''

"What's a pattern?'' Gibbs asked.

"It's a pattern of controlling the press,'' said Thomas, who has worked the place since Richard Nixon's days and was the first woman to lead a wire service news bureau at the White House in her time.

"How so?'' laughed Gibbs, who found himself mired in a rather contentious argument with Reid and then Thomas. "Is there any evidence currently going on that I'm controlling the press,'' Gibbs asked, with a laugh. "Poorly, I might add. ''

(See the exchange above and see the transcript below.)

It starts with Reid's query about the president's "town hall'' forums and picks up with Thomas on the press.

Q And the audience is all preselected, right?

MR. GIBBS: No, we usually just generally hand out tickets on a first come, first serve basis.

Q Well, I think in this case, the people were invited either by the White House or by the university -- I mean, invited by this community college, as it was explained to us.

MR. GIBBS: Well, if the university is --

Q It just feels very tightly controlled. It feels -- I mean, the concept of a town hall I think is to have a open public forum, and this sounds like a very tightly controlled audience and a list of questions. Why do it that why? Why not open it up to the public?

MR. GIBBS: How about we do this -- how about you can ask me that question tomorrow based on what questions were asked rather than preselecting your question based on something that may or may not come through.

Q But why pre-select? Why not just open it up for people and allow any question to come in?

MR. GIBBS: Well, Chip, I think if you get on your computer from your e-mail address --

Q I have. I have.

MR. GIBBS: Have you sent in your question?

Q I think that would be inappropriate. This is for the public.

MR. GIBBS: I'm sorry, I'm confused -- are you not a member of the public?

Q Well, I think if you were going to allow questions from the press you'd have us in a prominent position over there and allow us to ask questions -- you haven't done that.

MR. GIBBS: Let's not get into the notion of where you'd be sitting -- (laughter) -- if I let you ask a question, but --

Q Well out of shouting range.

MR. GIBBS: Well, but you could e-mail.

Q Would you put my question in there? I don't think so.

MR. GIBBS: Maybe. Have you e-mailed?

Q I mean, this is a town hall.

MR. GIBBS: It's a little -- if you haven't e-mailed.

Q This is an open forum for the public to ask questions, but it's not really open.

MR. GIBBS: I couldn't agree more.

Q But it's not open.

MR. GIBBS: Based on what?

Q Based on the information that your staff gave us on how the audience and the questions are being selected.

MR. GIBBS: The questions are being selected by people that e-mail on Facebook and Twitter.

Q Well, they're not deciding what questions actually get in.

MR. GIBBS: Well, Chip, I appreciate, again --

Q It just feels completely controlled --

MR. GIBBS: I appreciate, again --

Q -- in a way unlike his town meetings all the campaign and --

MR. GIBBS: I appreciate the pre-selected question on your part.

Q Will there be dissenting views --

Q Yes, how about that?

MR. GIBBS: I think that's a very safe bet. But, again, let's -- how about we do this? I promise we will interrupt the AP's tradition of asking the first question. I will let you ask me a question tomorrow as to whether you thought the questions at the town hall meeting that the President conducted at Annandale --

Q I'm perfectly happy to --

Q That's not his point. The point is the control --

Q Exactly.

Q -- we have never had that in the White House. And we have had some, but not --

Q This White House.

MR. GIBBS: Yes, I was going to say, I'll let you amend her question.

Q I'm amazed -- I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency and --

MR. GIBBS: Helen, you haven't even heard the questions.

Q It doesn't matter. It's the process.

Q You have left open --

Q Even if there's a tough question, it's a question coming from somebody who was invited or was screened, or the question was screened.

Q It's shocking. It's really shocking.

MR. GIBBS: Chip, let's have this discussion at the conclusion of the town hall meeting. How about that?

Q Okay.

MR. GIBBS: I think --

Q No, no, no, we're having it now --

MR. GIBBS: Well, I'd be happy to have it now.

Q It's a pattern.

MR. GIBBS: Which question did you object to at the town hall meeting, Helen?

Q It's a pattern. It isn't the question --

MR. GIBBS: What's a pattern?

Q It's a pattern of controlling the press.

MR. GIBBS: How so? Is there any evidence currently going on that I'm controlling the press -- poorly, I might add. (Laughter.)

Q Your formal engagements are pre-packaged.

MR. GIBBS: How so?

Q Well, and controlling the public --

Q How so? By calling reporters the night before to tell them they're going to be called on. That is shocking.

MR. GIBBS: We had this discussion ad nauseam and --

Q Of course you would because you don't have any answers.

MR. GIBBS: Well, because I didn't know you were going to ask a question, Helen.

Go ahead.

Q Well, you should have.

Q Thank you for your support.

MR. GIBBS: That's good. Have you e-mailed your question today?

Q I don't have to e-mail it. I can tell you right now what I want to ask. (Laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: I don't doubt that at all, Helen. I don't doubt that at all.

Q Actually, could you pass along a question to the President from all of us, is he going to support a tax increase on the middle class?

MR. GIBBS: I will -- if you get on your computer you can ask him that yourself.

Q I think you're a more direct pipeline than --

MR. GIBBS: I don't know. I was just told that you guys have a pretty good -- go ahead.''

The nation's unemployment rate edged up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent in June as employers slashed nearly a half-million jobs over the month across a wide spectrum of industries, the Labor Department reported today.

The disappointing report provided fresh evidence that the jobs' market remains deeply troubled despite signs in recent weeks that the economy is climbing out of its worst recession since the Great Depression.

June's jobless rate rose just a notch, from 9.4 percent in May, a much smaller pace of increase than past recent months. But it appeared more discouraged workers had dropped out of the labor force. The unemployment rate for men reached 10 percent.

Since the recession began in December 2007 the ranks of unemployed has doubled to 14.7 million, and the number of long-term unemployed swelled by 433,000 over the month to 4.4 million, the the Labor Department said.

Analysts had expected the economy to lose about 350,000 jobs in June, about the same as in May and half the number of payrolls shed in December. But payroll employment fell by 467,000, with every major sector down, with the exception of health and education services, which added 34,000 jobs over the month.

The latest report suggested that it will be a long, tough slog for unemployed workers. Though their jobless benefits have been extended, in many cases up to a year, there are few signs that employers are hiring.

In another troubling sign, the Labor Department said, the average weekly hours of work in June dropped to 33, a record low, reflecting the shortened hours and furloughs at some companies. That means employers, when they feel confident enough to hire again, will first raise the work hours of existing employees before adding new staff.

If they can remove the word "trillion'' from the table, and add the word "universal'' to it, congressional leaders may have a shot at reviving the healthcare reform debate in Washington.

And Senate leaders say they have done both with a new draft of legislation in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) report a 10-year cost of just over $600 billion on a bill which the Congressional Budget Office says should ensure health coverage for 97 percent of all Americans.

Now, if they can remove the word fee -- read "taxes'' -- from the debate, they may be flying.

Their earlier run at this was priced at about $1 trillion and would have left millions uninsured, the CBO concluded.

They say the relative savings and improved coverage of their newest iteration comes from two initiatives: A government-run health insurance option competing with private plans, and a $750 annual fee for employers for each full-time employee who is not covered with insurance at work, plus a $375 fee for each part-time worker uncovered.

Small businesses - with fewer than 25 employees - would be exempt from that fee.

This fee could generate $52 billion over 10 years, which could be used to provide subsidies for people who cannot afford to pay for health coverage.

Both the government-run option and the fees - which will translate into taxes in the legislative debate - are sure to keep the drumbeat of criticism for the plan going.

The Asssociated Press, which obtained a copy of the CBO letter, contributed to this report.

The White House bills it as a "listening tour," a chance for President Obama's Cabinet to get out of Washington and hear what's on the minds of rural voters around the country.

En route, the White House is making sure it reaches voters in crucial swing districts.

The itinerary laid out by the White House for its just-announced "Rural Tour" includes several politically competitive districts, which would give the Obama administration a chance to make its case to people who voted Republican in past congressional races but are now represented by Democrats up for reelection in 2010.

As part of the tour, 10 Cabinet secretaries are being dispatched to nine states over the summer. Locations include several districts that Republicans are targeting in next year's midterm elections.

The tour is one of several examples of administration officials crisscrossing the country to tout Obama's agenda and foster goodwill.

First Lady Michelle Obama is now part of the act. On Monday, she visited a community health center in Washington, D.C., to announce that $850 million in stimulus money will go to various health clinics.

See the full story on the White House rural 'listening tour' in Tribune newspapers and here in the Swamp:

Vice President Joe Biden made an appearance, announcing that $4 billion in federal stimulus money would be made available nationwide to help bring broadband service to areas that lack coverage.

In an interview afterward, Dahlkemper said that stimulus funds could be an important tool in winning over rural voters, showing them that the federal government is pumping resources into their regions.

The stimulus money "is helping rural areas, which tend to lean politically more to the right," Dahlkemper said.

The administration's roadshow comes as support for some of the president's policies is softening. Although Obama still enjoys strong personal approval ratings, more people are worried about the deficit and are skeptical that the $787-billion stimulus will improve economic conditions. Another concern for the president is that the unemployment rate is expected to worsen; Obama has predicted it will top 10%.

In this climate, deploying Cabinet members throughout the country serves important political purposes, some Democratic strategists said.

Appearing in swing districts gives political cover to Democratic members who may be worried that they risk a conservative voter backlash if they support Obama's healthcare and global warming plans. The visits also could boost the reelection prospects of potentially vulnerable Democrats.

The locations picked for the tour were "not an accident at all," said Joe Trippi, a veteran of Democratic presidential primary campaigns. "They're sending them to districts that are swing districts."

White House spokesman Shin Inouye said the itinerary was not shaped by political considerations.

"We choose locations that represent broad geographical diversity for rural America and themes that are appropriate for each location," Inouye said.

One administration official said that a third of the states chosen for the tour were won by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in last year's presidential race -- proof, the official said, that the White House was not excluding red states that may be cool to Obama's message.

On July 18, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will appear in Ringgold, Va., to talk about plans for renewable energy. Ringgold is part of a southern Virginia district represented by Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello, who narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Virgil H. Goode Jr. last year.

Republicans are targeting Perriello for defeat in 2010. On Monday, the National Republican Congressional Committee announced it was mounting an advertising blitz against more than a dozen Democrats, including Perriello, who voted for the Obama-backed energy bill meant to curb global warming.

Told of the visit to Perriello's district, Ken Spain, a spokesman for the Republican campaign committee, said: "The president is clearly engaged in damage control. Both he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked a number of Democrats to walk off a cliff."

On Aug. 16, Vilsack and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will stop in Zanesville, Ohio, in a district represented by Democratic Rep. Zack Space. Space won the seat in 2006, ending 12 years of Republican control.

The GOP is hoping to recapture the seat next year. The National Republican Congressional Committee included Space in the ad campaign that also targets Perriello.

The day after the Ohio visit, Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are to appear in a North Carolina district held by freshman Democrat Larry Kissell. In 2008, Kissell defeated a Republican who had first been elected 10 years earlier.