This one slipped our attention at first, but it turns there was yet another Republican who continued to push the China-Cuba Oil Myth even after Dick Cheney retracted it: Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama.

By our count, this makes 12 Republicans who have continued to push the story.

In a guest op-ed for the Opelika-Auburn News published on June 16, Rogers wrote:

In December 2006 Congress passed, with my support, a bill that partially expanded drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. But there is still a large area that is off limits to U.S. companies.

Since then, you may have seen China has signed an agreement with Cuba to drill for this oil. That's right: China has set up shop off the coast of Florida and is using oil our country could readily use instead.

Rogers' Congressional office has not responded to our requests for comment.

Republicans struggling to "define" Obama
Leading Republicans are beginning to complain that the McCain campaign hasn't yet settled on a way of "defining" -- a.k.a. "sliming" -- Barack Obama, prompting some to worry that Obama may prove as elusive a target for them as he did for Hillary. It's worth noting that the multiple GOP lines of attack floating around right now clearly contradict each other: One moment Obama's an elitist at a country club; the next he's a "street" organizer; and so on.

Candidates celebrating July 4th
Barack Obama will honor Independence Day with his family by attending a parade and a picnic in Montana. Meanwhile, McCain will be taking it easy in his home state of Arizona.

Poll: Slightly more see McCain as a flip-flopper
New numbers from CNN suggest that a substantial majority doesn't buy the McCain-as-straight-talker narrative. The poll finds that 61% say McCain shifts positions for political reasons, though nearly as many (59%) say the same about Obama.

Six-term GOP Congressman in Virginia suddenly facing competitive challenger
The emergence of a tough and well-funded Democratic challenger to GOP Rep. Virgil H. Goode, Jr., who represents south-central Virginia's fifth district, has prompted CQ Politics to shift its rating of the race from Safe Republican to Republican Favored, essentially declaring the contest a competitive one. Goode's challenger, lawyer Tom Perriello, is expected to run well in and near Charlottesville, especially among liberal academics around the University of Virginia, and will also benefit from Obama's vigorous efforts in the state.

McCain to talk about the economy in key battleground states next week
McCain plans to spend the week following July 4th weekend talking about the economy in important battleground states, beginning on Monday with the release of a jobs plan in Colorado. McCain, who will also visit Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, trails Obama in polls by a substantial margin among voters citing the economy as a top concern.

Obama's national lead over McCain edges up
CNN's latest poll of polls finds Obama leading McCain by six points in the national match-up, up very slightly from his five-point lead last week. A cautionary note: On July 4th, 2004, John Kerry led George W. Bush by four points in CNN's poll of polls, and in the summer of 2000, Bush led Al Gore by six points before going on to lose the popular vote (and becoming president anyway).

Conservative pundits begin lying about Obama's Iraq remarks
Right-wing opinion-makers have begun falsifying Obama's Iraq remarks yesterday, starting with Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post, who has a remarkably dishonest column this morning asserting as fact that Obama has "already begun" his "shift" in the direction of erasing "all meaningful differences with McCain on withdrawal from Iraq." Curiously, there's no mention in Krauthammer's column of the subsequent presser Obama held yesterday firmly reiterating his commitment to a 16-month withdrawal timetable.

Happy fourth, everyone!

The Associated Press is reporting tonight that the Obama campaign is considering a novel idea for staging his acceptance speech at the convention: Don't actually give it at the convention, but at a much larger venue in Denver.

Instead of speaking at the Pepsi Center, which seats 21,000 people, in this scenario Obama would speak at Invesco Field, the site of the Denver Broncos games that holds 76,000 -- an astonishing number for a political gathering. Obama previously spoke to a similar-sized crowd in the run-up to the Oregon primary, and could almost certainly fill the stadium for his acceptance speech.

Franklin Roosevelt began the tradition of nominees directly addressing their conventions back in 1932, and it's been taken for granted ever since then. But the Obama camp's idea, if put into practice, would seriously outdo FDR.

Late Update: As commenters have noted, Invesco Field is not across town from the Pepsi Center, but is in fact right nearby.

Barack Obama held a second presser today to respond to the suggestion that because he said he would "continue to refine" his Iraq policies that this somehow heralded a change in his position on withdrawal from Iraq...

The key line: Obama said that he would "not refine the 16-month timetable."

For the first time, Barack Obama has publicly addressed the group that was formed on his Web site to urge him to change his position on the FISA cave-in bill.

Obama responded with a long statement on his site. He continued to defend his support for the bill by saying it was better than a previous version.

But he gave kudos to his opponents for organizing against it, suggesting that the Obama campaign is hoping to offset the damage supporting the bill has caused by demonstrating a willingness to engage opponents, and by giving props to dissenters and to the idea of dissent -- even on his own site.

"Now, I understand why some of you feel differently about the current bill, and I'm happy to take my lumps on this side and elsewhere," Obama wrote. "For the truth is that your organizing, your activism and your passion is an important reason why this bill is better than previous versions."

"Democracy cannot exist without strong differences," Obama also wrote. "And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That's ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have."

This won't do a great deal to make opponents of the bill happy. But it's a minor victory for those who built this group that Obama ultimately felt the need to respond to it. The rest of Obama's response here.

That was quick. Today on the trail Obama suggested that he would "continue to refine" his Iraq plans in consultation with commanders on the ground, and the big news orgs are already getting this wrong.

Here's the Associated Press headline and lede:

Obama opens door to altering his Iraq policy

Democrat Barack Obama opened the door Thursday to altering his plan to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq in 16 months based on what he hears from military commanders during his upcoming trip there.

That's a reckless distortion. "Alter" is a far stronger word than "refine" is. And worse, when you take the stronger word "alter" and put it next to "plan to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq in 16 months," it makes a far, far stronger suggestion than Obama did. Obama merely said he would "continue to refine his policies." The tone of this lede makes it sound like Obama is preparing a wholesale junking of his withdrawal plan.

Here's The Washington Post's headline:

Obama Softens on Iraq Withdrawal Timeline

This is way overstated. It states as outright fact that Obama signaled that he'd backtrack on the time-line. But that didn't happen at all. The Los Angeles Times used this formulation, too, but it at least had the decency to pose it as a question, and not state this as established fact.

All Obama is doing here is defusing the GOP argument that he'd withdraw recklessly and preserving flexibility for himself as commander in chief. These journalistic errors are matters of nuance. But nuance is hugely important here.

Will Obama in fact change his withdrawal policy at any point? I have no idea. Anything is possible. But he certainly didn't say anything today that's even remotely as suggestive or ominous as this reporting makes it seem.

This quote on Iraq, from Barack Obama on campaign trail today in North Dakota, is getting some attention:

"I've always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed," he said. "And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I'm sure I'll have more information and will continue to refine my policies."

Separately, on MSNBC, Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice said:

"But he has said over and over again we have to be as careful getting out as George Bush was careless getting in. So he will redeploy our forces responsibly, at a rate that our commanders say is safe and sustainable."

These strike me as less a signal of a coming change in his position on withdrawal and more like a combined effort to defuse the charge that he'll withdraw recklessly and to preserve flexibility as commander in chief.

Looks like John McCain is the first out of the box with a "contrast" ad of sorts. He's going up in the swing states of New Mexico and Nevada with Spanish-language radio spot that goes after Obama by saying:

"It seems to me that the other candidate just discovered the importance of the Hispanic vote."

The ad features Frank Gamboa, John McCain's roommate at the U.S. Naval Academy, claiming that McCain "has stood for our community even in the most difficult of times" and "shares our same conservative values and faith in God."

On McCain's claim about the Hispanic vote, the truth is that Obama has repeatedly talked about how he competed aggressively for -- and won -- those voters when he ran for Senate. The audio and English translation after the jump.

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We now have our eleventh big-name Republican spreading the China-Cuba Oil Myth -- the idea that we need to drill offshore because the Chinese are already grabbing our oil in concert with Cuba. Even Dick Cheney retracted this claim three weeks ago.

Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican in a tough race against Al Franken, made the claim yesterday when speaking to a local reporter at an event in Mankato, Minnesota. Here's the video made by the Minnesota Dems' tracker, provided to us by a national Democratic source:

"At the same time, we've got to be producing more -- outer continental shelf exploration," Coleman said. "The Chinese are able to begin operating 90 miles from our shore by working for Cubans. American companies should tap into those resources."

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Steve Schmidt, the former top operative to the 2004 Bush campaign who took control of the McCain campaign in a big shake-up yesterday, is quickly moving to tighten control over the McCain operation, making it much more centralized and coordinated operation than in previous months.

Schmidt announced in a memo to staff today that he'd hired a new political and field director. However, he also made it clear that in some respects yesterday's shake-up doesn't really amount to a complete leveling and rebuilding of the campaign.

For instance, it was reported yesterday that Schmidt would be scrapping the previous campaign structure, which had 11 regional campaign managers across the country, an approach that made message drift and disunity much more likely. But according to his memo, this isn't really true. The system will remain, but those regional operatives will now be much less autonomous and will be controlled from the campaign's central headquarters.

Upshot: Before long, the McCain campaign will look much, much, much more like the Bush operation in 2004.

Another upshot: The Obama campaign will probably not be able to count on the McCain camp's incompetence and inability to gain organizational or message traction for much longer.

We've assembled a time-line of most of Barack Obama's public statements about FISA and telecom immunity.

The Senate could be voting on the FISA bill containing immunity as early as next week, and on June 20th, Obama announced his support for the bill. Obama's position continues to disappoint even some of his supporters, who have formed a surprisingly large group on Obama's Web site to urge him to oppose the bill, and their disappointment has become something of a national story.

In that context, we thought the record of Obama's evolution on the issue should be assembled in one place. Viewing his statements, it's striking how forcefully he argued in the past that the choice between civil liberties and safety is a false one.

If we've left out any of Obama's FISA statements, please let us know and we'll add them. Check out our time-line after the jump

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Oh man. We now have another Republican voicing the silly myth that China is drilling for oil off of American shores -- and not just any Republican, but Rudy Giuliani himself!

As noted by Think Progress, Rudy appeared last night on Glenn Beck's TV show and made the claim.

"You look at Cuba," Rudy said. "Cuba is going to allow China to drill for oil within 80 miles of Florida. And Florida had a 300-mile limit. So in essence, we have China drilling for American oil."

Um, no. China's agreements with Cuba extend only to shoreline areas. Some exploration contracts for deep sea areas have been sold to firms from other countries, but no active drilling is happening as of yet.

Maybe Rudy hasn't heard that the GOP's heavy-hitters have already retired this line -- Dick Cheney himself retracted it three weeks ago, though a few GOP stragglers here and there continue to repeat it.

At a fundraiser last night, Obama shared with his donors a bit more detail about his private chat earlier week with Bill Clinton, saying that the former president indicated he was bullish about Obama's chances in Colorado, one of the Dem-trending western states Obama hopes to win.

From the pool report on the fundraiser:

A collection of western states is changing politically, Mr. Obama said, which could benefit Democrats in the fall. That was one of the topics of conversation with former President Bill Clinton earlier this week, he said.

"I was talking to Bill Clinton this week. We were talking about Colorado," Mr. Obama recalled. "He said, when I ran the first time, it would have been tough to win if Ross Perot hadn't been in the race, but you've seen a seismic shift in attitudes here."

One other interesting tidbit: Obama also told his donors that he needs to improve as a candidate if he is to win. "I'm going to have to be a better candidate," he said.

Full pool report after the jump.

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Yes, this is today's daily FISA post, and yes, you'll get mad about it, but this needs to be flagged.

The networking group set up on Obama's Web site with the sole purpose of urging him to oppose the FISA cave-in bill has now rocketed up to the number one group on his site, with over 14,000 members.

This comes roughly a week after the group was created. Separately, the group continues to get national press coverage, with a story about it in this morning's USA Today.

And with that, you've read the last post this blog will do about the group. Probably.

Wow. A new Rasmussen poll shows that Barack Obama is ahead in Montana, a state that voted for President Bush by a 59%-39% margin in 2004. It's a further sign of just how much the electoral map may be expanding this year.

The numbers: Obama 48%, McCain 43%, with a ±4.5% margin of error. Back in April, Rasmussen put McCain ahead by an identical 48%-43% margin.

Democrats can be very successful at the state level here -- they have the governorship and both Senate seats -- but the presidential vote has historically been much tougher to crack. The state has voted Democratic only twice in the last 50 years: The Lyndon Johnson landslide of 1964, and Bill Clinton narrowly winning its three electoral votes in 1992.

Obama Increases Big-Money Fundraising Events
The Obama campaign is stepping up its focus on big-money fundraisers, with the candidate set to go to a dozen events over the next two weeks -- many of them requiring a $30,000 per person donation to the joint fund set up by the Obama camp and the DNC. This greater focus comes from both the recent decision to opt out of public finance, and from the influx of Hillary Clinton's big-money donors.

Obama In Historically-Red North Dakota Today
Barack Obama will be holding a town hall meeting today in an unlikely place: Fargo, North Dakota. This state hasn't voted Democratic since the 1964 Lyndon Johnson landslide, but has been placed on the Obama camp's target list thanks to polls showing a close race. Obama will be joined by the state's top three Democrats: Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, and Congressman Earl Pomeroy.

John McCain In Mexico Today
John McCain will be wrapping up his tour of Latin America today, meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and stopping at the Basilica de Guadalupe, a Catholic holy site.

Obama Courts Military Times Editorial Board
Barack Obama met yesterday in Colorado with the editorial board of the Military Times, a part of his outreach to the traditionally Republican military constituency. This is a demographic where John McCain is counting on a big margin, thanks to his biography and hawkishness, but Obama has also done well in fundraising among this group.

Obama Camp Considering Shorter Convention
The Los Angeles Times reports that the Obama campaign is floating the idea of cutting the length of the Democratic convention by one day, due to the Republican convention being set to begin just a few days later. The hypothesis is that ending the convention a day early would given Obama an extra day of bounce in the polls, allowing him to build up a bigger lead before the GOP convention.

Poll: What Is Patriotic?
Ahead of Independence Day, a new USA Today/Gallup poll asks respondents what they consider to be patriotic. Supporting U.S. foreign policy is seen as patriotic by 80%, while protesting is also seen as patriotic by two thirds of respondents. The question of protest has a serious partisan divide -- Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to view it as a sign of patriotism.