Today on the presidential campaign trail

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - IN THE HEADLINES

McCain choice to help with veep known for discretion ... As Obama courts evangelicals, key leader Dobson criticizes him for 'distorting' Bible ... Obama campaign says altered presidential seal was for one-time use, will not be seen again

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McCain veep helper is discreet lawyer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The choice for John McCain's running mate is such a mystery that few people even know who is helping in that search.

The Republican is leaning on a consummate behind-the-scenes player in Washington — attorney Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. — for this maximum-discretion, minimal-disclosure assignment. In Culvahouse, a one-time White House counsel to President Reagan, McCain gets someone whose work mostly has been so obscure that he likely isn't recognized outside Washington's Beltway.

Culvahouse has been involved in vetting people for positions at all levels of government for three decades, roles he's gotten partly because of his reputation for under-the-radar maneuvering.

McCain has turned to him in recent weeks as he sorts through a list of some 20 or more would-be No. 2s — not that you'd know it. The Arizona senator, like every nominee-in-waiting, is demanding privacy and trying to keep the search under wraps, including the involvement of the man who goes by A.B.

McCain's advisers, the few in the know, are under strict orders not to even discuss the search. McCain, at times, has violated his own rule, including mentioning he wanted to consult with Culvahouse and disclosing he had a preliminary names list.

When word leaked that three potentials — former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist — were invited to McCain's estate Arizona for Memorial Day weekend, aides were furious and insisted it was a social affair.

Democrat Barack Obama, too, has advocated a private process but, so far, it's been fairly public.

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Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.

The criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization's headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

"Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy — chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.

Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus' teachings in the New Testament.

"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.

"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

Joshua DuBois, director of religious affairs for Obama's campaign, said in a statement that a full reading of Obama's speech shows he is committed to reaching out to people of faith and standing up for families. "Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together," DuBois said.

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Obama campaign retires altered presidential seal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A presidential seal graphically altered with symbols representing Barack Obama's campaign of change was just for one-time use and will not be used again, a spokeswoman for the Democrat's campaign says.

The seal, with its blue background and an eagle in the center clutching arrows and an olive branch, evoked the official presidential version, but had been altered with a new Latin phrase, instead of the original "E pluribus unum," which means, "Out of many, one."

Obama's campaign changed the phrase to "Vero possumus," which can be roughly translated to his "Yes, we can" slogan. The seal also featured his "O" campaign logo covering the eagle's body, instead of a shield.

When the altered seal was unveiled last Friday in Chicago, it raised eyebrows and prompted comments about how presidential it looked. The Republican National Committee gleefully ridiculed it as a prop.

Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for Obama's campaign, said Monday that the altered seal would not be used again. She said it was only intended for that event, in which Obama held a round-table discussion with Democratic governors.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Barack Obama talks to voters about energy in Las Vegas.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain discusses the environment at a stop in Santa Barbara, Calif.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"The fact that John McCain's top adviser says that a terrorist attack on American soil would be a 'big advantage' for their political campaign is a complete disgrace, and is exactly the kind of politics that needs to change. " — Bill Burton, spokesman for Barack Obama.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

Although Hillary Rodham Clinton won the support of 51 percent of the Nevada's caucus-goers in January, Barack Obama gained more delegates — 14 to Clinton's 11 — due to the complicated way delegates are apportioned in Democratic races.

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Compiled by Ann Sanner and Jerry Estill.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080624/ap_on_el_pr/2008_race_rundown [link]