Today on the presidential campaign trail

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - IN THE HEADLINES

Obama says he'd send at least 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan while ending the war in Iraq ... New Yorker cover depicts Obama as Muslim, wife as armed terrorist ... Palestinian official: Obama to visit West Bank during Middle East trip ... Sen. Jack Reed says he's not interested in being Obama's No. 2 ... At Nevada conference, American Indian youth focus on presidential race

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Obama would send 2 more brigades to Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama said Monday that as president he would send at least two more combat brigades to Afghanistan, where U.S. soldiers face rising violence and endured their deadliest attack in three years on Sunday.

The proposed force increase — about 7,000 soldiers — is part of Obama's plan to pull combat troops out of Iraq and focus on the growing threat from a resurgent al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

"As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan," Obama said in an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times, a day before he plans a speech here on his vision for Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there," Obama said. "I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq."

Republican John McCain's presidential campaign said the Arizona senator will be speaking about his plan for Afghanistan on Thursday. His advisers declined to say whether he agreed with Obama's Afghanistan proposal before the speech.

U.S. commanders have said they need up to three more brigades in Afghanistan — or as many as 10,000 additional troops — to both train Afghan forces and battle the insurgency. President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have promised to beef up the U.S. force in Afghanistan next year, but military leaders have made it clear they won't be able to do that until they can reduce forces in Iraq.

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Magazine's 'satirical' cover stirs controversy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama's campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is "tasteless and offensive."

The illustration on the issue that hits newsstands Monday, titled "The Politics of Fear" and drawn by Barry Blitt, depicts Barack Obama wearing traditional Muslim garb — sandals, robe and turban — and his wife, Michelle — dressed in camouflage, combat boots and an assault rifle strapped over her shoulder — standing in the Oval Office.

The couple is doing a fist tap in front of a fireplace in which an American flag is burning. Over the mantel hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. "But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

In a statement Monday, the magazine said the cover "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are."

"The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall? All of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover," the New Yorker statement said.

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Palestinians: Obama to visit West Bank

PARIS (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama will visit the West Bank next week as part of a swing through the Middle East, a Palestinian official said Monday, giving an important diplomatic boost to the Palestinians at a sensitive time in peace talks.

The Palestinians expressed satisfaction over the planned meeting with the presumed Democratic nominee, which comes months after Obama's likely Republican opponent, John McCain, passed on meeting with the Palestinians during a brief visit to Israel.

Obama is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his July 23 stop in Ramallah, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who was in Paris for a Mediterranean summit.

"We welcome this meeting," Erekat said. If Obama is elected, he added, "we hope he will stay the course between Israel and the Palestinians in reaching peace and a two-state solution."

During the same visit, Obama is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli officials. The Obama campaign declined to comment.

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RI Sen. Reed denies interest in vice presidency

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed said Monday he's not interested in being the running mate of Democrat Barack Obama.

Reed said Monday in East Providence that he's a bit surprised with the swirling speculation over whether he could be chosen to run as vice president on a Democratic ticket. That speculation increased after Obama said Reed and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, both military veterans, would accompany him to Iraq and Afghanistan sometime this summer.

Reed said he has not been asked by Obama's campaign to provide information that could be used to vet running mates.

Reed would not give a more specific timeframe for the trip on Monday.

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Young Native Americans mull Obama, McCain at event

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Hundreds of young Native Americans gathering for a five-day conference here are being urged to become politically active because the American Indian vote could make a difference in this year's presidential election.

Jackson Slim Brossy, legislative associate of the nonpartisan National Congress of American Indians, said the Indian vote — which traditionally has been Democratic — is up for grabs this year as Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain both try to woo it.

He said the Indian vote was a factor in Obama's defeat of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in June's Montana primary, as well as in past victories of U.S. Sens. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.

"The vote will go to the candidate who reaches out more to Indian country and has the best policies for Indian country," Brossy told The Associated Press.

Both McCain and Obama tried to do just that with messages for the 1,000-odd attendees at the annual United National Indian Tribal Youth conference in Reno. The gathering ends Tuesday.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Barack Obama speaks at the NAACP's 99th annual convention in Cincinnati.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain addresses the National Council of La Raza in San Diego.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"The Native American vote has been overlooked in the past, but there's a trend of it making a difference and I think 2008 will continue the trend." — Jackson Slim Brossy, legislative associate of the nonpartisan National Congress of American Indians.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

President Bush captured about 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, to Democrat John Kerry's 58 percent, which was down from the 62 percent former Vice President Al Gore got in 2000.

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Compiled by Ann Sanner.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_el_pr/2008_race_rundown [link]