Update: The Obama campaign Released the Following statement this afternoon, via email:

"Senator Obama had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign. He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

6/24/2008 - When Senator Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign, and offered her "full throated support" to Barack Obama, his future got so bright, he had to wear shades. Now, on the heels of news that she will be campaigning with him in Unity, N.H., this Friday, comes the endorsement that could bounce Obama right into the White House. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the former President of the United States, Mr. William Jefferson Clintoooon! (through a spokesmaaaaan.) From Reuters:

"President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States," Clinton's spokesman Matt McKenna told Reuters in a one-sentence e-mail.

Bill Clinton took a pass on an opportunity to MoveOn and endorse Senator Obama on Sunday, opting instead to shake hands, kiss babies, and effusively praise Senator Obama's energy and environmental policies as, meh, better than the Republicans' anyway.

It was President Clinton's first public appearance since his wife's suspension of her campaign. According to Reuters, when asked whether he would soon be endorsing Senator Obama, Clinton "smiled and shook hands with spectators without acknowledging he heard the question."

Later on at the same event, President Clinton addressed Senator Obama's carbon emissions plan. "Because I believe so strongly in this," he said, "I favor Senator Obama's position, which is to go to 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses over Senator McCain's position, which is to go to 70 percent. But that's light years ahead of where Republicans have been." That statement roughly translates to "Obama and McCain are both light years ahead of Bush, but Obama wins slightly ... I guess."

As Hot Air notes, President Clinton seemed to swear off the campaign trail in a statement earlier this month, saying "I want to say also, that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," at a town hall event June 2. If this latest event is at all diagnostic, I'd say he's keeping to that plan.

North Korean Newspaper displays a marked preference for Obama

The newspaper expressed hope of better ties between North Korea and the United States under an Obama administration, saying that even if McCain won the election, he could not reverse U.S.-North Korea ties.

Pyongyang favors Obama because he has vowed to meet leaders of rogue states, such as the North Korean leader, without conditions if elected.

The report said the campaign shows that the United States has undergone a fundamental change and pointed out the obvious: Hillary is a woman, Obama is black and McCain is old.

Since the media in Kim Jong-il's tightly controlled country can not go far off the leash, it is safe to assume that this is the opinion of Kim himself or a large portion of the country's elite. And it goes without saying that this is a horrible headline for Obama, as it could be played by the McCain campaign, "Dictators feel safer with Obama" is one of the likely taglines to result.

Obama's position on negotiating with dictators is the reason of course. Certainly not his charming personality or ascendant rhetoric. As long as economic issues are big in voters minds this year, this won't be much of a swinger for McCain, but it does help him to paint Obama as a typical, weak-on-foreign policy naive Democrat.

Welcome to Videos of the week. I'm Jay Allbritton, filling in for Tommy Christopher who's on special assignment.

Yesterday former Bush Administration Press Secretary Scott McClellan took his book tour to Congress. Republican Representative Steve King was waiting there to tell McClellan that he should just shut his mouth about the Bush administration.



On Thursday Michelle Obama dropped in on the fine ladies over at The View. Obama says she's focused more on taking care of her kids than she is on the campaign and that she will have no input on the selection of Barack Obama's running mate.

Al Gore came out for Barack Obama last night at a giant rally in Detroit. Some estimates had the crowd at 20,000. The former vice president gave a fairly rousing speech that threatened to overshadow Obama's (where were these oratorical skills back when he was running for president?). Watch for yourself:

What do you think? Does Gore's endorsement mean anything for Obama in the long run?

Al finally gets off the pot...

Just when I thought it was going to be a slow campaign news day, I just heard a report on MSNBC that Al Gore will be endorsing Obama tonight, in person, at a rally in Detroit. The report also states that Gore will request contributors to his Web site, algore.com, so pitch in money as well as time to the Obama campaign.

Obviously, this endorsement would have been better months back, but it can never hurt to have it. I'm not a believer that any single endorsement from any one person can make a difference, but this sort of ties up some loose ends in the march toward party unity.

I'm sure you PUMA's will disagree.

Earlier I told you about certain Democratic members of Congress who are staying as far away from Barack Obama as possible this election season. Well on the other side of the aisle there are a number of Republicans who won't be getting behind John McCain's candidacy. They've been dubbed the "new gang of 14," a reference to the group of lawmakers, including McCain, who broke with conservatives on President Bush's judicial nominations. Not surprisingly, most of them lean sharply right and aren't thrilled with McCain's stances on issues like campaign finance reform, immigration, taxes, etc. One man's maverick is another man's liberal. The Hill has a partial list:

Republican members who have not endorsed or publicly backed McCain include Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Reps. Jones, Peterson, John Doolittle (Calif.), Randy Forbes (Va.), Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), Virgil Goode (Va.), Tim Murphy (Pa.), Ron Paul (Texas), Ted Poe (Texas), Todd Tiahrt (Kan.), Dave Weldon (Fla.) and Frank Wolf (Va.). [Wolf contacted The Hill following publication of the article to correct his staff's error. His staff had said he has "yet to endorse McCain" and did not return follow-up phone calls this week].

Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado went as far as to say publicly, "I don't like McCain. I don't like him at all." But most of them make sure to underline the distinction between endorsing and supporting, saying while they won't take to the streets for McCain they do want a Republican in the White House, even if it's the wrong one.

There are a number of incumbent Democrats in Congress who aren't caught up in the throes of Obamamania. That's because their own re-election hopes may hinge on how much they're able to distance themselves from the presumptive Dem nominee:

Some are counting on Republican votes in their re-election bids. Some are newly minted and in rematches with 2006 opponents. Some may be wary of how their constituents will react to a black presidential candidate. Some, too, have made it a practice of distancing themselves from the national party, fearing the inevitable campaign ad that has their face morphing into Howard Dean, the party chairman, and Obama.

Rep. Dan Boren, the only congressional Democrat in Oklahoma, calls Obama "the most liberal senator" in Congress and says he has no plans to make a public endorsement.

"We're much more conservative" in eastern Oklahoma, Boren said. "I've got to reflect my district."

Boren's among about a dozen other lawmakers who won't be endorsing Senator Obama. But none of them are likely to back John McCain either. Most are in vulnerable seats in conservative districts and they've decided their best bet campaign tactic is to just lay low and not endorse any presidential candidate. As Georgia Rep. Jim Marshall puts it: "I don't think I need to get involved."

This weekend brought us a slew of articles dissecting what happened in the Democratic race for the nomination. But the good people at Slate have put together the definitive post-mortem. For all of you Monday morning quarterbacks, it's worth a look back at all of the incredible twists and turns of this historic contest. Enjoy:

This article neatly summarizes my feelings on Hillary's concession:

She didn't pretend to like or admire Obama. She didn't pretend she believes he would be a great President. She didn't say he was right on the issues. She never said he'd be a good commander in chief or would keep America safe.

...

But she had a job to do yesterday and she did it. Her task was to acknowledge Obama as the party nominee, say repeatedly she was supporting him and would do everything she could to help him win.

...

She made it clear, sometimes painfully so, that she was endorsing Obama only because he's a Democrat. It's business.

Exactly. The main point I took away from the concession speech is that Hillary did the absolute minimum to get the rest of the party off of her back. She didn't surrender her delegates, she didn't promise not to try again, should things go awry. She merely stated that by the rules Obama won. And that's all she said.

In fact, it more than reminds me of McCain's concession to Bush in 2000. At that time McCain said he fully supported and endorsed Bush and would do what he could to see him elected. This was after having trouble saying "endorse". And then he didn't exactly set the world on fire barnstorming to elect Bush, as best as I can recall.

So actions speak louder than words and Hillary may be pulling a full McCain; say the right words and disappear. And while HIllary may be promising to support Obama wholeheartedly, we still are left to wonder if that means anything concrete. To most Obama supporters, it matters little, they've moved on. But are they leaving behind some very frustrated voters?