ON THE TRAIL

May 11, 2008

Representing the military regime in Myanmar has cost the man the John McCain campaign selected to run the 2008 Republican National Convention his post. Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator yesterday - within a few hours of Newsweek posting a story online that his firm was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent the Burmese junta. In a two-sentence statement, the chief executive of lobbying firm DCI Group said he offered the convention his resignation "so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign."

Barack Obama began sketching the outlines of his expected presidential contest against Republican John McCain yesterday, saying the fall election will be more about specific plans and priorities than about questions of political ideology or who is more patriotic. Saying he still has not secured the nomination, Obama nonetheless entertained several questions about the likely outlines of a contest against McCain while campaigning in Oregon. In Oregon, whose primary is May 20, Obama picked up four superdelegate endorsements, erasing Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-substantial lead among the party leaders who will determine the nominee. Barely mentioning Clinton, Obama said he was open to campaigning with McCain in "town hall" events. But he also warned that controversial issues such as McCain's ties to the Keating Five savings and loan scandal are fair game, and he called McCain's proposal for a temporary halt in the federal gasoline tax a pander and a gimmick. He did not mention that Clinton supports a similar plan.