One down, more to go for Republicans aiding McCain

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks at a roundtable discussion about predatory lending at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago Wednesday, June 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

KAUKAUNA, Wis.—Having worn down Barack Obama in one dispute this week, Republican operatives are helping John McCain hit other targets, sometimes without waiting for his cue.

Republican activists see the aggressive efforts as a way to help McCain's presidential campaign -- which some regard as less nimble and opportunistic than it should be -- compete with Obama's superior fundraising and well-regarded national organization.

To be sure, Democratic surrogates are helping Obama, their party's presumed nominee. But Republican activists scored the bigger win this week when they forced a top Obama adviser to step down. They are vowing to use it as a blueprint to hammer Obama on other issues.

The Republican National Committee was quick and relentless in jumping on an article published Saturday in The Wall Street Journal, which questioned favorable mortgage loans obtained by Jim Johnson. A former chairman of mortgage lender Fannie Mae, Johnson was leading Obama's effort to select a running mate.

Obama largely ignored the criticism on Monday and Tuesday. But on Wednesday, Johnson stepped down.

When he did, the RNC increased its criticisms of another member of Obama's vice presidential vetting team, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder. Using e-mails, conference calls and other outlets, the committee challenged Holder's role in a pardon given to fugitive financier Marc Rich in the final days of Bill Clinton's presidency.

Their carpet bombing cleared the way for McCain to jump in Thursday, when reporters in Boston asked him about Johnson and Holder.

"People, media and observers will make a decision as to whether these people, individuals should be part of Senator Obama's campaign," McCain said. "I think it is a matter of record that Mr. Holder recommended the pardoning of Mr. Rich. And all of those things will be taken into consideration by the media and the American people."

The GOP's rapid-response efforts also involve key lawmakers. Some of them have differed sharply with McCain over the years, and he was not their first choice as the nominee. Now largely united in their effort to retain the White House, however, they seized on an Obama statement this week that the McCain campaign ignored for three days.

In a CNBC interview taped Monday in Raleigh, N.C., Obama suggested that the main problem with high gasoline prices is their rapid rise, not their total of about $4 a gallon.

"I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment," Obama said. "The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing." But if the government gives middle-class families tax cuts and encourages the market "to adapt to these new circumstances more quickly, particularly U.S. automakers, then I think ultimately, we can come out of this stronger and have a more efficient energy policy than we do right now."

Even before he saw the video, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was alerted to Obama's remarks by transcripts released by CNBC. With the McCain campaign preoccupied by other matters, McConnell quoted the remarks to reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday, adding: "A gradual adjustment to $4 gas is not an energy plan for America."

The next day, in a Senate floor speech and a news release, McConnell said Obama had suggested "that rising gas prices aren't the problem." Minutes later, House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio issued a similar statement.

It was Thursday before the McCain campaign took up the issue, which many Republicans saw as ripe for exploiting. In a conference call with reporters, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Obama "is out of touch with what Americans are going through."

McCain, meanwhile, gave Obama surrogates a chance to retaliate. Appearing Wednesday on NBC's "Today Show," he said estimating a time for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq was "not too important." It is more important, he said, to reduce U.S. casualties there.

Obama supporters including Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party's 2004 presidential nominee, denounced the remarks in a conference call.

On Thursday, as Obama told a Wisconsin audience about his plan for middle-class tax cuts, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., told reporters by phone that McCain's tax proposals were far worse for working Americans.

McCain's surrogates may have had the better week because of Johnson's resignation. But Obama's friends are bringing new firepower to his hometown of Chicago, where his campaign is headquartered. The Democratic National Committee said Thursday its political and field operations are relocating there, making it easier to coordinate the effort against McCain.

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Jim Kuhnhenn reported from Boston.