Today on the presidential campaign trail

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - IN THE HEADLINES

Former President Clinton says he'll do whatever he can to help Obama become president ... AFL-CIO leaders preparing to endorse Obama for president ... McCain choice to help with veep known for discretion

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Bill Clinton offers support to Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Clinton said through a spokesman Tuesday that he is committed to helping Barack Obama become president, his first comments in support of his wife's former rival since their primary ended three weeks ago.

Relations between the last Democratic president and the candidate who wants to be the next one are frosty — they still haven't spoken in the aftermath of the heated campaign. But Bill Clinton extended an offer to help in a one-sentence statement from spokesman Matt McKenna.

"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," McKenna said.

It's not clear what Obama might ask him to do. The campaign wasn't specific when asked.

Bill Clinton was an outspoken critic of Obama during the primary race. He said Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale" and raised questions about whether the first-term Illinois senator had the experience to lead the country. During one debate Obama snapped at Hillary Clinton, "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes."

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AFL-CIO getting ready to endorse Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) — The AFL-CIO is preparing to give its stamp of approval to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

The leaders of the nation's largest labor organization started voting Tuesday on whether to endorse the Illinois senator. The election, which is being done by fax, is scheduled to end on Thursday.

Obama's name is the only one on the ballot sent to the AFL-CIO's 56 unions.

The AFL-CIO's endorsement is virtually certain now that Obama is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. It has already started its campaign against Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and its biggest rival, the Change to Win labor organization, already has endorsed the Democratic senator from Illinois.

A strong AFL-CIO endorsement could help Obama with blue-collar workers and union members in industrial states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. The AFL-CIO expects to spend about $200 million on the presidential and congressional elections, much of it on Democrats.

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McCain veep helper is discreet lawyer

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

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 in 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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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:

"A unified Democratic Party is going to be a powerful force for change this year and we're confident President Clinton will play a big role in that." — Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

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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.

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