Daily Presidential Roundup: 6/28/08

» WaPo: Dobson vs. Obama (Peter Wehner)
Former Bush official takes Dobson to task for his delayed, two-years-in-the-making response to Obama's speech on faith ...

If Christian conservatives want to be taken seriously, they need to make serious arguments and speak with intellectual integrity. In this instance, Dobson didn't. He has set back his cause and made some of us who are evangelicals and conservatives wince.

Ed Kilgore has a few other random thoughts on the topic.

» NYT: A Candidate Runs to a G.O.P. Chorus of 'Don't' (Julie Bosman)
The NYT profiles Bob Barr, the Liberterian nominee. Don't bother counting me among those thinking Barr is some kind of spoiler. Neither Ron Paul or Michael Badnarik had any measurable influence in even a portion of Texas in 1988 or 2004. Any assumption that Barr will peel off votes in Georgia begins with the assumption that voters in Georgia know who Bob Barr is. If you want to test this theory, knock on the doors of five of your neighbors and ask them to name one member of Congress from a district outside of your home county. I'll spot you the over/under at zero. Good luck.

» Bloomberg: Hagel, Republican for Now, Says He Has No Plans to Back McCain
The long, desperate flail for relevance continues. If Hagel ends up anywhere in an Obama administration, it would be among his dumber moves.

» Politico: Conservatives warm to McCain's view of the law (Ben Adler)
I bet he's doing particularly well among "conservatives" who are just too embarrassed to call themselves Republicans in this environment.

» Reducing Abortions: Jim Wallis, the Democrats and the reproductive rights debate. (Sarah Kliff)
I don't necessarily see eye to eye with Wallis on the need to battle the religious right with a religious left, but I do tend to agree with the overall premise he offers here.

[NEWSWEEK:] How would you like to see the issue approached this election cycle?
[WALLIS:] Pro-life and pro-choice groups can support abortion reduction. There's common ground in supporting aid to low-income women, preventing unwanted pregnancies, reforming adoption to make it easier. All of that would dramatically reduce abortion. Most people who have different views on Roe v. Wade can agree on these things. ... I don't expect, nor am I calling on, the Democrats to criminalize abortion. They can hold to their pro-choice principles and still commit to abortion reduction.