From the Billings Gazette’s coverage of Barack Obama’s visit to Butte:

America is a “shining beacon” that all the world looks toward for its independence and freedom, he said, and it’s time to come together to reinforce that ideal.

With that, Obama ended his brief speech and declared: “Now, I’m going to go and have a hot dog.”

Hot dogs seem to be a staple of Obama’s campaign food…

Seems a lot more graceful than John McCain, at the least.

Of course, in the end, both will have to answer to a higher authority.

Nothing gets by those sleuths in the media.  Turns out, John McCain’s new right-hand man HAS NO HAIR!

• Politico’s Jonathan Martin: “cueball-headed, barrel-chested Steve Schmidt”
• Los Angeles Times: “The bald and tough-talking consultant has never run a presidential campaign”
• CNN’s John Roberts: “Steve Schmidt walks into a room, you kind of pay attention to him, bald head, barrel-chested. He’s a tough guy to miss.”
• CNN’s Don Lemon: “All right, so, he’s bald, he’s barrel- chested and pulls no punches. And now he is John McCain’s right-hand man.”
• Newsweek’s Andrew Romano: “So what should we expect from Schmidt? A bald, barrel-chested ‘partisan pugilist’”
• New York Daily News: “Schmidt - an imposingly barrel-chested, bald-headed tactician”

In case you missed the subtlety in the coverage, here’s a picture of Steve Schmidt.

Ooops.  Sorry.  Wrong picture.  Here he is.

Best case we’ve heard yet for John McCain to pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running-mate. From “Fox News Sunday”:

BILL KRISTOL: You have to go for the gold here with Sarah Palin. She’s great. She’s a reform governor.

JUAN WILLIAMS: Mother of five, I believe.

KRISTOL: Mother of five. Ethics, incredible record of cleaning up — she took on her own corrupt Republican Party in the state, cut spending.

CHRIS WALLACE: Of course, they’d have a problem on ANWR, since she’s for drilling in ANWR and he’s against it.

KRISTOL: And she could persuade McCain to take the last step to the sensible position on energy and gas, which is to be for drilling…

WALLACE: Can we please get off Sarah Palin?

KRISTOL: … for drilling in ANWR.

UPDATE: What would a McCain-Palin ticket look like?  Perhaps this.

The pundit battle continues: Is Virginia really up for grabs in November?
On C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” this morning, Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) shared this insight with host Steve Scully:

SCULLY: Virginia for Barack Obama?

FORBES: At the end of the day, I think McCain wins Virginia.  I remember in June [1996] when Bob Dole was behind, everyone was saying then that Virginia was going to be lost, he came back and won the state.  I think at the end of the day, Virginia goes for McCain.

SCULLY: But haven’t demographics changed in Northern Virginia and elsewhere?

FORBES: They have changed somewhat, but I think a lot of instances people underplay the     role that candidates have. Still, Virginia is a heavy military state, a state with a lot of veterans, and I think that when all the smoke clears at the end of the day, McCain still wins in Virginia.

We’ve been spending quality time watching the media go ga-ga over an Obama-Webb ticket.  But there’s an equally fascinating phenomenon on the GOP side: rampant speculation over McCain picking Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Who?).

Take, for instance, Wolf Blitzer on Sunday’s “Late Edition”:

• “Coming up in our next hour, by the way, we’ll be speaking with the Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty. He’s being mentioned as a potential vice presidential running mate for John McCain.”
• “We’ll access McCain’s campaign with a potential running mate, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota.”
• “Also, coming up next, John McCain’s campaign: What advantages does he have over Barack Obama? We’ll talk about it with one of the potential running mates for John McCain, the Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. He’s standing by, live.”
• “Joining us now from St. Paul, Minnesota, the site of this summer’s Republican National Convention, is Minnesota’s governor, Tim Pawlenty.  He’s the national co-chairman for the McCain campaign. He’s also been mentioned frequently as a potential prospect for the vice presidential slot on the GOP ticket.”

Imagine McCain and Pawlenty together.  Literally.

Which came first, the chicken …

… or the egg?

John McCain takes his lumps for being a really old guy.

But seniority can have benefits.  Particularly when it gives you license for making references to  yellowing figures from history — like that treasure Dean Acheson.

From a McCain speech today to the Economic Club of Toronto (supplied by RealClearPolitics):

Long before NAFTA, America received one of its most valuable exports from Canada in the form of a great statesman, Dean Acheson. He was descended from a great Canadian distilling family and a man who knew Canada well. As secretary of state, Acheson liked to drop by the home of his great friend Hume Wrong, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, for consultation and advice over a quiet drink. As I said, Acheson came from a distilling family.

No telling what material McCain has lined up concerning John Foster Dulles.  Or maybe McGeorge Bundy.

Marc Ambinder reports that the Secret Service code name for John McCain is “Phoenix.”

Which makes us wonder, what does the Secret Service keep secret anymore?

Or, perhaps more accurately, CONSERVO-plasty?

A loyal reader spots this at Republican Market:

UPDATE: Take that!