Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton finally got together on the campaign trail today. At 1:20 p.m., the two stepped to the podium placed on an outdoor stage in Unity, N.H., with arms around each other, whispering in each other's ears and smiling. It was the picture of a unified party leadership, the symbolism this event was supposed to deliver.

Clinton spoke first -- with Obama sitting just to her side -- and mentioned the downballot Democratic candidates running for Congress in the state: freshman Democratic Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, and Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen, the former governor who is challenging GOP Sen. John Sununu. Clinton said Obama will need as many Democratic senators as possible when he's president.

"Today we are coming together for the same goal," Clinton said. "To elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States. I was honored to be in this race with Barack, and I am proud we had a spirited dialogue." That last line brought laughter from the crowd, to which Clinton appeared to ad-lib: "That was the nicest way I could think of phrasing it," which brought on even more laughter.

"We are one party," Clinton said. "We are one America. And we are not going to rest until we take back our country and put it once again on the path to peace, prosperity and progress in the 21st century."

Clinton delivered a one-liner, tying John McCain to Pres. Bush. "Senator McCain and President Bush are like two sides of the same coin, and it doesn't amount to a whole lot of change." Clinton then needed just one line to get across the message that was the central theme of the event. "To anyone who voted for me and is now considering not voting or voting for Senator McCain," Clinton said, "I strongly urge you to reconsider."

After Clinton's speech, Obama took to the podium, thanked Clinton, and made clear that he valued the contributions of both Clintons. "I know how much we need both Bill and Hillary Clinton as a party and as a country in the months and years to come. They have done so much great work...The American people need their service and their vision and their wisdom."

"It's fitting that we meet in a place called Unity," Obama said, "because the truth is, that's the only way we can solve the challenges facing this country."

Obama noted a number of issues that Clinton and he agree on, such as health care. "You can go with John McCain's plans to do nothing, or you can stand side-by-side with me and Hillary Clinton, and finally, once and for all, provide the health care that every American needs in this nation."

The Obama campaign released a statement on two new members of its domestic policy team, including one former Clinton adviser:

CHICAGO, IL -- The Obama Campaign today announced that Melody Barnes, currently Executive Vice President for policy at the Center for American Progress, will serve as Senior Domestic Policy Advisor and Neera Tanden, former Clinton Campaign Policy Director, will serve as the Domestic Policy Director. Barnes and Tanden will help coordinate the domestic policy process under Heather Higginbottom, the campaign's Policy Director.

Melody Barnes is stepping down from her role as the Executive Vice President for Policy at American Progress where she coordinated the integration of all of the Center's policy work from the policy departments, fellows, and the Center's network of outside policy experts. Barnes also served as Chief Counsel to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that role, she helped to fight for civil rights, women's health and reproductive rights, shape commercial law and religious liberties laws, and review executive branch and judicial appointments.

Neera Tanden most recently served as Policy Director for the Hillary Clinton campaign, where she directed all policy work and coordinated work with policy advisors. Tanden previously served as Senator Clinton's Legislative Director and was the Deputy Campaign Manager and Policy Director for Clinton's Senate campaign. She was formerly Senior Vice President for Domestic Policy at the Center for American Progress and served as the Issues Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

A new one from McCain focusing on his energy proposal:

The other night on Special Report with Brit Hume, Mort Kondracke ripped the press for soft-balling Obama Wednesday in Chicago:

KONDRACKE: That press conference today in Chicago was a joke. There were no hard questions--

HUME: To Obama.

KONDRACKE: To Obama--no substantively hard questions at all. So as far as the media is concerned, I don't see the scrutiny coming.

Now, I don't consider myself a "reporter" per se, but given that I attended Wednesday's press conference and was called on by Obama to ask a question, I find myself in the curious position of defending the media.

Yes, Obama did get some questions that might be considered "easy" - in so much as they dealt with the back-and-forth of the campaign as opposed to hard core policy issues. For example, Obama was asked what he was going to do to help retire Hillary's debt, whether he was disappointed by Bill Clinton's tepid endorsement, what he's looking for in a Vice President, and what he thought about recent comments by Ralph Nader and McCain aide Charlie Black. Given that those are all topics that pundits (including the estimable Kondracke himself) have been "chattering" about, it's hard to knock the press for asking those questions, even if the public good might have been better served with questions focused on Iraq or trade instead.

But Obama did get asked a question about energy policy, two questions about his decision to opt out of public financing, a question about the Supreme Court decision on the death penalty for child rapists, a question on the impending Heller decision (which he sidestepped by saying he would wait until the Court issued the decision before commenting), and a question about changing his position on FISA.

There were also, as you might expect, a few questions dealing with local issues like the price of gas and the wave of violence currently gripping Chicago, particularly in the African-American community.

Could there have been more policy related questions and could they have been phrased more aggressively? Yes. But I wouldn't call Wednesday's presser "a joke," nor would I argue the press totally abdicated its responsibility.

For the record, the question I asked Obama was this: "Senator, back to your decision on public financing. It was widely criticized as being a flip-flop and/or broken promise. Do you accept this characterization as fair, and are you concerned that the decision might jeopardize your credibility on other pledges you've made during the campaign on issues like trade, health care and withdrawing troops from Iraq?"

Not the best question in the world, admittedly, but not what I would consider a soft ball either.

Michael Isikoff of Newsweek asked a question on FISA that was even more strongly worded, I thought, hitting Obama on a contradiction over his support of the current FISA compromise with a speech Obama gave in January where he vowed to support a filibuster over the issue of retroactive immunity for telecoms. Again, a fair question that attempted to get Obama to explain/clarify/confront a specific decision on a specific (and important) issue.

Let me digress for one final observation that circles back to the valid part of Kondracke's criticism. The idea that the junior Senator from Illinois is a teleprompter-dependent gaffe machine, which has been floated by more than a few Obama critics, is a canard. That is not to say Obama doesn't make mistakes or fall off message on occasion, but in a press conference setting without notes or a prompter, it's obvious that he has a good and wide ranging grasp of subject matter, is nimble on his feet, and, perhaps most importantly for a politician, is very effective at appearing to answer a question without actually (or fully) answering the question.

Because of this, the press will have to up its game and be thoughtful and diligent in its questioning of Obama if they hope to pin him down on issues or get things out of him in the future.

A new Time Magazine national poll (June 19-25, 805 RV, MoE +/- 3.5%) has Obama with a slight lead over McCain. Including undecided voters leaning in one direction or the other, Obama leads by 4 points, just outside the margin of error. Obama leads among Hispanics (51%-34%) and women (45%-39%), and McCain leads among Catholics (57%-43%). They split independents, with 44% supporting Obama and 43% for McCain.

Obama 47
McCain 43

Obama leads by 6.3 points in the RCP National Average

On RCP this morning, Heather Wilhelm reviews "Grand New Party," the new book by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. She also conducted an interesting discussion with Douthat about the book. I highly recommend both.

Here's an excerpt from the interview with Douthat:

RCP: What inspired you to write "Grand New Party"?

DOUTHAT: The initial inspiration came when we were coming off of the 2004 elections. Bush had pulled off a really narrow victory, and yet there was a lot of Republican triumphalism about the whole thing. Reihan and I were looking at that same political landscape, and, rather than reasons to celebrate, we thought there were a lot of significant, deep-seated weaknesses in the Republican brand. Many of these problems had to do with the voters Bush had counted on to bring him through in 2004--working-class Americans.

Unfortunately for us as Republicans, the events that have occurred since we embarked on the project seem to have vindicated our sense of pessimism.

RCP: The political dynamics of the 2008 election are still unfolding. Any recent developments that you wish you could have included in the book?

DOUTHAT: We finished the book before the primary season began, and, looking back, nothing in the primaries really undercut what was already in the book. In fact, a lot of what happened in the primaries tends to support the idea of the struggle for this working-class base. You have the surprising rise of Mike Huckabee, for instance. I think the Huckabee campaign really vindicated the idea that there is a real, solid base for a different kind of Republican. And, of course, you have the example of how the Democratic primary came down to a battle for working-class votes in places like Pennsylvania.

We argue in the book that the 2006 elections sort of left the country teetering between the two parties--and, since then, I have to say I've become more pessimistic about the GOP's chances in 2008. Politically, I think Republicans may be in even worse shape than when we started writing.

Read the rest here.

In the Headlines

"McCain backs gun decision, Obama straddles issue" (Liz Sidoti, AP) - John McCain welcomed a Supreme Court decision invalidating a District of Columbia handgun ban. Barack Obama sought to straddle the subject by saying he favors an individual's right to bear firearms as well as a government's right to regulate them.

"Obama Leads McCain in Key Battleground State" (June Kronholz, Wall Street Journal) - Four states that are expected to be pivotal in deciding November's presidential election are trending comfortably toward Barack Obama, with independents giving him wide support over John McCain, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com.

"McCain, GOP unleash anti-Obama plan" (Jonathan Martin, The Politico) - Republicans might have a reason to smile: John McCain and his allies seem to have finally settled on a way to draw a stark contrast with Barack Obama. After weeks of criticism from Republicans about the leisurely pace at which they seemed to be preparing for the general election, McCain's campaign has apparently settled on a highly personal campaign theme that aims to differentiate McCain and Obama on both character and issues.

"Obama, Clinton take first public step toward unity" (Beth Fouhy, AP) - When Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton step onstage in their first joint campaign appearance in New Hampshire, it will be the first public display of a rapprochement between former rivals hoping to set aside differences and unify the party while helping each other.

On the Morning Shows

Morning Joe - Susan Rice, Obama foreign-policy adviser, on North Korea giving up nuclear program: "It's an important but modest first step... Direct diplomacy can yield modest results.... But we would not have gotten this far if the Bush administration had not belatedly ... come to negotiations."

On giving the Bush administration credit for no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11: "What we have to acknowledge is that while we haven't been attacked we are less safe. "

From Late Night

Letterman:

In the Headlines

"McCain backs gun decision, Obama straddles issue" (Liz Sidoti, AP) - John McCain welcomed a Supreme Court decision invalidating a District of Columbia handgun ban. Barack Obama sought to straddle the subject by saying he favors an individual's right to bear firearms as well as a government's right to regulate them.

"Obama Leads McCain in Key Battleground State" (June Kronholz, Wall Street Journal) - Four states that are expected to be pivotal in deciding November's presidential election are trending comfortably toward Barack Obama, with independents giving him wide support over John McCain, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com.

"McCain, GOP unleash anti-Obama plan" (Jonathan Martin, The Politico) - Republicans might have a reason to smile: John McCain and his allies seem to have finally settled on a way to draw a stark contrast with Barack Obama. After weeks of criticism from Republicans about the leisurely pace at which they seemed to be preparing for the general election, McCain's campaign has apparently settled on a highly personal campaign theme that aims to differentiate McCain and Obama on both character and issues.

"Obama, Clinton take first public step toward unity" (Beth Fouhy, AP) - When Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton step onstage in their first joint campaign appearance in New Hampshire, it will be the first public display of a rapprochement between former rivals hoping to set aside differences and unify the party while helping each other.

On the Morning Shows

Morning Joe - Susan Rice, Obama foreign-policy adviser, on North Korea giving up nuclear program: "It's an important but modest first step... Direct diplomacy can yield modest results.... But we would not have gotten this far if the Bush administration had not belatedly ... come to negotiations."

On giving the Bush administration credit for no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11: "What we have to acknowledge is that while we haven't been attacked we are less safe. "

From Late Night

Letterman:

Head on over to the VP Watch blog for all the recent news about the running-mate search, including why some conservatives and libertarians could have a problem with John McCain choosing Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Head on over to the VP Watch blog for all the recent news about the running-mate search, including why some conservatives and libertarians could have a problem with John McCain choosing Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty.