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Obama pledges support for Afghanistan ... McCain raises more than $21 million in June, spends more than he raises as part of strategy ... Pentecostal minister planning Democratic convention promotes party members' faith and values
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Obama meets Afghan president, troops
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)—Barack Obama pledged steadfast aid to Afghanistan in talks Sunday with its Western-backed leader and vowed to pursue the war on terror "with vigor" if elected, an Afghan official said.
Obama's meeting with President Hamid Karzai came after he had breakfast with U.S. troops.
On the second day of an international tour designed to burnish his foreign policy credentials, Obama and other U.S. senators held two hours of talks with Karzai at his palace in the capital city of Kabul.
Obama has chided Karzai for not doing more to build confidence in his government, whose grip remains weak after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the senators discussed issues including the painstaking rebuilding of the country's government and economy, the security situation and corruption with Karzai.
The Afghan presidency said Obama's message was positive.
"Sen. Obama conveyed ... that he is committed to supporting Afghanistan and to continue the war against terrorism with vigor," said Humayun Hamidzada, Karzai's spokesman. Both Democrats and Republicans "are friends of
Obama has made Afghanistan a centerpiece of his proposed strategy for dealing with terrorism threats.
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McCain paying down primary funds in advance of cap
WASHINGTON (AP)—Faced with a spending cap for his fall campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain is aggressively spending more money than he is raising during summer months and methodically reducing his cash reserves.
McCain raised more than $21 million in June and spent nearly $26 million, the campaign reported Friday night. McCain eroded his cash on hand, ending the month with $27 million in the bank. He began the month with $31.6 million in hand.
According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, McCain spent more than $16 million on advertising during the month, about three-quarters of his total raised in June. That was five times more than he spent in May, when the Democratic presidential primary was still being contested by Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3.
McCain plans to accept public financing for the general election—an $84 million infusion that prevents him from raising private money for his fall campaign. That means he has to spend all the money he raises between now and the Republican national convention in early September.
Obama has decided to bypass the public finance system and raise his own money for the fall.
"Our strategy is that we will pay down all our primary funds toward the end of August to the point where we we'll have no more primary funds available," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said last week. "Up to this point we have been accumulating capital; now we will start spending down that capital."
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At the Democrats' party, a Pentecostal minister
DENVER (AP)—The request befuddled Leah Daughtry. The experienced political hand in charge of planning next month's Democratic National Convention—a self-described "black chick from Brooklyn" and ordained Pentecostal minister who keeps a Bible in her purse—didn't know what to tell the atheists.
Daughtry, 44, was preparing for an Aug. 24 interfaith service that will open the Democrats' gathering here—a first for a party that hasn't always gotten God. Before her was an angry letter from a secularist group that wanted to know whether atheists would be on the podium.
"Atheists speaking at an interfaith service ... does that work?" Daughtry asked this week. "I don't quite know. But they're part of the party, you treat them with respect. I'll give them an answer."
On a larger scale, it's what Daughtry and a growing number of Democrats of faith are setting out to do: hold together and grow their party by claiming ground on religion and values that Republicans have successfully mined for years.
The presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, has incorporated faith themes and outreach into his campaign since the primaries began. A new political action committee, Matthew 25, is running pro-Obama ads on Christian radio. "People of faith" will have a caucus of their own at the convention, just as blacks, Hispanics and military veterans do.
Such efforts come with challenges, including answering nonbelievers, Democrats uncomfortable with any mingling of church and state, and religious Americans at odds with Democratic positions on social issues.
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THE DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama is traveling abroad; no public schedule.
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THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain has no publicly scheduled events.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"For some of us, values come from faith. For others it comes from what your parents taught you, what your grandmother taught you on the porch in the summertime. These are values that make us Democrats. We all have them."—Leah Daughtry, planner of the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver.
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STAT OF THE DAY:
Just 16 percent of respondents in an AP-Ipsos survey said the country is heading in the right direction.
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Compiled by Ann Sanner and Ronald Powers.
