Jacob Meister, a Democrat, announced before a crowd of supporters  his intention to leave the race. He then endorsed Democratic frontrunner Alexi Giannoulias.

Meister made it clear he believes in Giannoulias dedication to LGBT-related issues and is holding him to his promises.

“I’d like to think I helped to set the dialogue that’s been going on in the campaign, as the other candidates came forth with LGBT platforms,” Meister told EDGE. “I think we need, as a community, to make sure we hold [Giannoulias] to his promise and agreement to be a leader for us. Unless the LGBT community is willing to go to bat for itself, no on else will.”

He added: “Alexi has given me very absolute assurances that he is deeply committed to LGBT issues and is willing to burn political capital and take a leadership role on them in the U.S. Senate.”

“Nobody’s being cocky, I can tell you that,” said Pat Peard, who has been a leader in many of the LGBT community’s ballot battles in Maine over the past decade.

“Personally, I’m extremely cautiously optimistic,” said Peard. “We have done very well raising money, and we have these endorsements, but the poll numbers mean nothing to me.”

The latest poll, released Tuesday, shows voters evenly split—48 percent to 48 percent, with four percent undecided and a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percent. The firm of Public Policy Polling surveyed 1,130 “likely voters” between October 16 and 19. Prior to that, a poll conducted between September 30 and October 7, showed 51.8 percent of “likely” voters in November would vote “No” on Measure 1, 42.9 percent would vote “Yes,” and less than 6 percent were undecided.

Measure 1 seeks to repeal the state’s newly approved law allowing same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses the same as straight couples.

The conventional wisdom among pollsters on ballot measures is that, when the “No” votes –against a ballot measure— fall below 50 percent, the proposal loses –at least seven times out of 10.

Del Ali, a pollster with Research 2000 who has surveyed in Maine and other states with anti-gay marriage measures, says the numbers look good for gay civil rights supporters in Maine right now. But he, too, was cautious about relying on the so-called “50 percent rule.”

“On any other ballot measure, there is no question that the ‘No’s’ would win,” said Ali. “But on this issue, it’s hard to say for sure. I think it’s close.”

Opponents of California’s Proposition 8 could toss in a large measure of caution, too. In October 2008, two weeks out from voting, only 47 percent of all voters said they’d support Proposition 8. But then, on November 4, 52 percent did and the measure passed.

Still, the polling numbers in Maine this month are an improvement over last month. In early September, Research 200’s poll of 600 likely voters found “Yes on 1” with a thin lead: 48 percent were ready to vote yes, and 46 percent to vote no, with 6 percent undecided.

That’s the thing about polls: They tell only what the temperature is in the voting pot at that moment; not whether there’s about to be a fire ignited or put out and, thus, change the political temperature dramatically and quickly.

One fire that the “Yes on 1” campaign is now stoking is a television ad –similar to one used for Proposition 8 in California— that warns parents that allowing same-sex marriage will mean that gay marriage and “gay sex” will be forced into the curricula of public schools.

The “Yes on 1” ad most recently hitting the airwaves uses a broadcast from the well-respected National Public Radio to make it’s point.

In the 30-second spot, an NPR reporter says that, four months after gay couples could marry in Massachusetts: “Already, some gay activists are working on a gay friendly curriculum for kindergarten and up.” She talks to a Brookline, Massachusetts, teacher, Deb Allen, who tells her the debate around gay marriage has prompted kids to ask a lot more questions, “like what is gay sex.”

The reporter then says Allen answers the students’ questions “thoroughly and explicitly.”

The television ad shows a Maine teacher listening to the NPR segment then turns to the camera and says, “Vote yes on Measure 1 to prevent this from happening in Maine.”

(The Stand for Marriage website no longer carries the television ad, indicating, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by National Public Radio.” However, it can be viewed on youtube. In the search window, type in “Yes on 1 tv ad” + “give me a break”).

It’s a powerful tactic for the anti-gay marriage side, one that has gotten considerable traction in California and elsewhere. A poll in Maine this month of 401 “likely voters” found it was gaining some traction there, too. The poll showed that 75.6 percent of those prepared to vote “Yes” to repeal the state’s new marriage equality law said they believe the law would require gay marriage to be taught in the public schools. (Of those prepared to vote “No,” only 23.9 percent believed gay marriage would be taught in schools.)

“We knew this was coming,” said Peard, “ and we prepared for it.”

The “Yes on 1” campaign in Maine is being run by the same public relations firm, Shubert Flint, as was the pro-Proposition 8 campaign in California. “So, we knew a lot of the California ads were being recut and used again,” said Peard.

When the “Yes on 1” “gay sex” ads started airing, “No on 1” quickly prepared and rolled out their counter-ads. Those ads, showing a wide variety of family configurations –straight and gay— and urges voters to use their “common sense” — that “Maine schools wouldn’t allow something inappropriate to be taught.”

The ad also highlights an October 17 endorsement for the “No on 1” campaign from the well-respected Bangor Daily News, which called the fears about school curricula “baseless.” And it noted that the Attorney General on October 15 issued a report saying the marriage equality law has “no impact” on school curricula.

The counterpunch was also helped by a youtube message posted October 11 by Belinda Carlisle, former lead singer for the Go-Gos, who asked voters, “as a mom” of a gay son, to reject Measure 1 and donate to “No on 1.”

The Bangor Daily News endorsement said Maine’s new marriage equality has “moved Maine toward tolerance and fairness.”

“Repealing this law,” said the paper, “would move the state backward while denying guaranteed rights to a small minority.” It went a dramatic step further, too –chastising the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland for attempting “to force its views on all Maine’s residents, whether they are Catholic or not.”

The Diocese is currently the largest funder behind the “Yes on 1” campaign. According to the most recently filed campaign disclosure statements, the Diocese has contributed $634,367 in cash to the campaign –38 percent of the $1.7 million cash raised. The second largest chunk has come for the National Organization for Marriage, which is under investigation for alleged violations of campaign disclosure laws. NOM has reported donating $340,000 –or 20 percent of the “Yes on 1” campaign coffers.

Campaign finance reports show that the “No on 1” campaign has raised significantly more cash: $3,747,646. Its largest contributor is the Equality Maine group and political action committee –which has funneled $924,515 into the campaign, representing 25 percent of “No on 1” cash. The Human Rights Campaign is the second largest contributor to “No on 1,” with $229,347, or 6 percent.

Absentee voting has already begun around the state, and “early voting” –when voters can go to town hall and cast their votes on a voting machine—begins October 26.

“We’re assuming nothing but that this race is going to be a tight race,” said Peard, “and that we’re going to have to do everything in our power to turn out our voters.”

© 2009 Keen News Service

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday in Pasadena, Calif., on whether signatures collected to repeal a domestic partnership law passed by the Washington Legislature during the last session should be released.

R-71 asks voters to approve or reject a new law expanding domestic partnerships for gay couples.

The referendum’s conservative sponsors want to keep their signed petitions out of public view, because they fear harassment from gay-rights supporters.

A federal judge in Tacoma granted the sponsors’ request in September. But the state is appealing, citing its open-government laws.

The group, called NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality, also reported that it has spent $2.2 million on its campaign to preserve the law.

Meanwhile, Stand for Marriage Maine, which petitioned to get the repeal measure on the ballot, reported it had collected $1.1 million and spent more than $941,000 on its campaign. The group also said it has debts of more than $419,000. No on 1 reported no debts.

The figures were disclosed in campaign finance reports that were due to the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices Tuesday night.

Gov. John Baldacci signed the same-sex marriage bill in May. But the law has not gone into effect, pending the outcome of the Nov. 3 election. With the popular challenge, Maine has become a testing ground for the legal validation of gay marriage, which has been allowed in six states.

The amounts raised are above average for state ballot measures and are likely to grow as the campaign continues, said Christian Potholm, a government professor at Bowdoin College in Maine.

“This is a huge national issue coming after defeat of gay marriage in California, and Maine is where the defenders of gay marriage are making their stand,” Potholm said.

Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for NO on 1, said the figures show the amount of support is “amazing, and folks are excited about the opportunity to protect marriage equality for our citizens.”

A message left with a Stand for Marriage Maine spokesman was not immediately returned.

Stand for Marriage Maine has drawn criticism from a group active in last year’s successful gay marriage referendum in California. Californians Against Hate claims some organizations contributing to the repeal campaign are circumventing state law by not reporting the names of the donors. The ethics commission is investigating the complaint.

NO on 1 said less than half the money it raised came from Maine donors. The group also said 29 donors gave more than $10,000 each, and 18 of them are Maine residents who contributed a total of $515,000.

Most of the NO on 1 contributions ranged from $25 to $500. The group reported nearly $42,000 in in-kind contributions from Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.

Stand for Marriage’s report listed numerous contributions in the $100 to $500 range. Among its biggest contributors were the National Organization for Marriage of Princeton, N.J., which accounted for about $425,000, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which gave more than $270,000.

Republican Roger Wicker and Democratic former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove are longtime friends who shared an apartment while serving together in the state Legislature. They’re competing in a Nov. 4 special election to fill the final four years of Lott’s term in heavily Republican Mississippi.

Lott retired last December to become a lobbyist, and Republican Gov. Haley Barbour moved Wicker from the U.S. House to replace him temporarily.

Republicans want to keep the seat that’s been theirs since Lott first won it in 1988. Democrats hope significant turnout for presidential candidate Barack Obama will boost Musgrove.

The 30-second spot, which is not posted on Wicker’s campaign site but can be viewed on YouTube, portrays Musgrove as beholden to liberal interest groups and shows an actor playing a Democratic operative taking campaign cash. The ad was paid for by Wicker’s campaign and started running this week in local television markets.

Musgrove’s campaign called it a “desperate political trick” and said Musgrove has never taken money from the groups depicted, which include the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League and the Human Rights Campaign PAC, a gay rights group.

Those groups have, however, contributed to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is running ads on behalf of Musgrove and other candidates nationwide.

“We just thought it would be in good fun to show Mississippians who’s paying for these ads,” Wicker campaign spokesman Ryan Annison said Wednesday.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee also is pumping money into the race on Wicker’s behalf.

Musgrove’s campaign manager, Tim Phillips, said Musgrove has a long record of opposing abortion and same-sex marriage.

“Roger Wicker must think Mississippians are pretty dumb,” he said.

The Human Rights Campaign PAC is represented in the ad by one man dressed as a cowboy and another in black leather in the style of the 1970s disco group the Village People.

The ad also touches on a scandal left over from Musgrove’s time as governor. It ends with the Democratic operative taking money from a costumed cow, representing the Mississippi Beef Processors LLC plant that opened and closed during Musgrove’s tenure.

Two executives of the company that designed and built the beef plant pleaded guilty this year to giving Musgrove an illegal $25,000 “gratuity” during his 2003 gubernatorial re-election campaign. Musgrove, who has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case, has said repeatedly that he had no direct oversight over the beef plant project.

During interviews with 123 donors in 11 countries, The Associated Press found contributions Obama accepted from at least three foreigners. Just five of the donors checked, three for Obama and two for McCain, said the campaigns asked to see copies of their current U.S. passports – as instructed by the Federal Election Commission to avoid legal problems.

Obama’s campaign said it would refund the money to the foreign donors the AP identified.

One donor, Tom Sanderson of Canada, made clear his $500 contribution came from a foreign source. He included a note that said, “I am not a American citizen!” Obama’s campaign took the money anyway, even publishing Sanderson’s cautionary statement about his citizenship in its official finance reports.

Democratic hopeful Obama and Republican rival McCain portray themselves as meticulously abiding by campaign finance laws. But the fundraising review of hundreds of thousands of donations – involving AP bureaus around the globe – found clear evidence that both campaigns took money first and asked questions later, if ever. Shining a light on a weakness in the nation’s campaign finance laws, the review turned up a smattering of illegal foreign donations to Obama as well as missing details from both Obama and McCain in federal paperwork the law requires.

Only American citizens or green card holders are legally permitted to give campaigns money, a longtime ban intended to protect U.S. elections from foreign meddling and influence. The Federal Election Commission instructs that candidates ask to see an overseas donor’s current U.S. passport, considered the strongest safeguard against illegal foreign money. Screening donors can be a daunting task in a presidential race, especially one with record sums and millions of dollars coming in over the Internet.

Obama has raised at least $2 million abroad, far more than McCain’s total of at least $229,000, according to the AP’s review of campaign finance records. The amount reported flowing in from outside the U.S. is a small percentage of the roughly $390 million raised so far by Obama and the $167 million by McCain. But few contributors contacted by the AP said the campaigns asked to see their passports.

“I donated to the Obama campaign because I was so excited and thrilled to hear him speak,” said Sanderson, a property manager in Calgary. “I like what he says and I like what he represents, and it’s a world stage today for any political leader.”

Sanderson said he donated money using Obama’s Web site and doesn’t remember checking a box certifying he was a U.S. citizen, instead noting next to his address that he wasn’t. After the AP contacted Sanderson by phone, he asked the campaign for a refund: “It was an error of me to give the donation, and it was an error that it was accepted,” he said.

A spokesman for Obama, Ben LaBolt, said campaign workers “consistently review our procedures to make sure that we are taking every reasonable step to ensure that the contributions we receive are appropriate and follow FEC guidelines, and we will do so again in light of this new information.”

McCain’s campaign said it was impractical to ask Internet contributors for copies of their passports. “We’re always looking for ways to best comply with all provisions of campaign finance regulations, and obviously take swift action anytime flags are raised regarding potentially problematic campaign contributions,” spokesman Brian Rogers said.

The AP analyzed 1.27 million campaign contributions to Obama and McCain to identify 6,948 contributions from people who appeared to live outside the United States and who were not obviously in the U.S. military. The AP contacted 123 donors in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland and interviewed them about their citizenship and donations.

Obama has far more overseas donors than McCain, and that was reflected in the number of interviews: the AP was able to reach 116 Obama supporters, six McCain backers and one donor who gave to both.

Australian Richard Watters gave Obama’s campaign $1,000 over the Internet, entering a fake U.S. passport number – a random jumble of numbers and letters – so the site would take his money. He said he also checked a box stating that he was an American living overseas, “because I could see it wasn’t going anywhere if I didn’t do that.”

Watters was surprised when a reporter told him it was illegal for foreigners to donate to U.S. presidential campaigns, but he said he was still glad he gave.

“I wouldn’t give up, because I believe in the man – I really do,” said Watters, 76, of Sydney, a stock market trader. “Maybe I just feel he can put a smile back on the face of the world.”

Swiss citizen Gilles Massamba gave Obama at least $436 and received campaign souvenirs. He said the campaign didn’t ask whether he was a U.S. citizen.

Just three donors to Obama and two for McCain told the AP the campaigns asked to see their passports. One Obama donor, in France, was asked to show her U.S. driver’s license at a fundraising event. Others said if they did anything, they checked a box on the campaigns’ Web sites affirming they were U.S. citizens or were asked to provide their passport numbers, or both.

A spokesman for the FEC, Bob Biersack, said it was prudent for the campaigns to ask online donors to check a box confirming they are U.S. citizens, but obtaining copies of U.S. passports from overseas donors is the only protection against enforcement action.

In dozens of instances, the AP could not determine whether donors had foreign addresses since their addresses were missing from campaign finance reports. Other key information also was missing. McCain and Obama each omitted information identifying the employers for at least 10,000 contributions in their most recent donor data. In most cases, the campaigns appear to have asked supporters to provide those details.

The ramifications of accepting foreign money can vary from political embarrassment to federal investigations: The last major foreign money scandal, a 1996 Democratic case involving Asian money and the Clinton-Gore re-election effort, resulted in record FEC fines totaling $719,000 and probation for some of those involved.

Sometimes the foreign connection comes from who collects the money rather than who donates it. McCain’s campaign announced this month it will return $50,000 solicited by a foreigner and business partner of a McCain volunteer fundraiser in Florida.

The candidates are supposed to disclose detailed information about donors who give $200 or more, including their addresses, employers and occupations. At a minimum, if donors give more than $50, the candidates are expected to record their names.

No donor names appeared in Obama’s campaign finance reports for a handful of donations over $50. In dozens of cases, there were names but no addresses. “Anonymous,” “999 Anonymous Street,” “XX” or “Info Requested” are listed for roughly 200 donations to McCain.

The requirement to include employers is intended to let the public and news media see who is giving and help identify favors that donors or their employers may receive.

The FEC expects campaigns to follow up with donors to seek missing information, but they do not have to try very hard: One attempt, such as a postcard sent to the contributor’s address, is considered due diligence under fundraising rules.

In Canada, Sanderson left a message with Obama’s campaign and sent an e-mail after learning his donation was illegal. He said he hoped his contribution wouldn’t “rustle any feathers.” Sanderson considered a mischievous move to neutralize the political value his donation might have, but in the end, just asked for a refund.

“I was going to donate to McCain last night,” he said, “and my wife talked me out of it.”

The campaigns made their decision known on the same day that a group backing community service on that day called on the candidates to refrain from partisan campaigning. The group, MyGoodDeed.org, wants Sept. 11 to become a national day of voluntary service and asked that Obama and McCain perform acts of community service instead.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said McCain did not plan to advertise at all on the anniversary. “Nine-eleven is not a day for politics,” Rogers said.

The Obama campaign said it plans to stop airing anti-McCain commercials on Sept. 11.

“We hope Sept. 11th is a day when Americans come together and reaffirm our resolve to address the common challenges we face together,” Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said.

Both campaigns have been running tough ads against each other, with negative commercials outnumbering their positive spots.

MyGoodDeed.org is also among a number of organizations and families of Sept. 11 victims who plan to hold a ServiceNation Summit on Sept. 11-12 in New York. Sponsors invited Obama and McCain to attend a presidential candidates forum on Sept. 11.

McCain has agreed to appear. Obama’s campaign said it is talking with event sponsors about the possibility of an appearance.

In a letter to both candidates Tuesday, MyGoodDeed.org founders David Paine and Jay Winuk noted that the country seemed to forget partisan differences in the days after the attacks and were unified by a sense of compassion. The group planned to announce their appeal to the candidates on Wednesday. The campaigns revealed their intentions when contacted by The Associated Press.

“We ask you to help us rekindle that sense of unity by suspending your campaign activity on 9/11, and engaging in your own personal expression of charitable service in honor of those who perished and those who rose in service to help rebuild our nation,” Paine and Winuk wrote to the candidates.

Paine, the president of the group, runs a marketing firm in California. Winuk’s brother, Glenn Winuk, was a lawyer and volunteer firefighter who died after rushing to the World Trade Center to assist victims.

In an interview, Paine said: “We didn’t feel that it was appropriate for those individuals who want to lead our country to engage in divisive political activity on 9/11. Nine-eleven needs to be a day that is forever preserved as a day of unity and day of remembrance and day of compassion when we put aside our differences and we think about how we can help others in need.”

Jerome Corsi’s anti-Obama book, “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality,” claims the Illinois senator is a dangerous, radical candidate for president. The book is a compilation of all the innuendo and false rumors against Obama – that he was raised a Muslim, attended a radical, black church and secretly has a “black rage” hidden beneath the surface.

In fact, Obama is a Christian who attended Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

The Obama campaign picked apart the book’s claims in a rebuttal titled “Unfit For Publication,” to be posted on the Obama campaign’s rumor-fighting Web site, FightTheSmears.com. The title is a play on the book Corsi co-authored against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s military service called “Unfit For Command.”

“Jerome Corsi is a discredited liar who is peddling another piece of garbage to continue the Bush-Cheney politics he helped perpetuate four years ago,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor. “His is just one of what will likely be many more lie-filled books rushed to print this election cycle, which are cobbled together from debunked Internet sources to make money and advance a partisan agenda. We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal.”

Corsi’s book is off to a swift start and is No. 1 on The New York Times’ hardcover nonfiction best-seller list, even though Obama’s campaign would argue the book should be listed as fiction.

Obama’s campaign says the book is full of factual inaccuracies that include the wrong date for the Obamas’ marriage. Corsi also writes that Obama left much of his family background out of his autobiographies – his father’s polygamy and alcoholism, his sister’s birth in Indonesia and that his then-fiance Michelle accompanied him on a visit to Kenya – but the campaign points out page numbers from “Dreams From My Father” where Obama discussed all those things.

In “The Obama Nation” – the title is a twist on the word abomination – Corsi catalogs various allegations that have haunted Obama on right-wing blogs and anonymous e-mails.

Corsi suggests, without a shred of proof, that Obama may be using drugs today. Obama has acknowledged using marijuana and cocaine as a teenager but says he quit when he went to college and hasn’t used drugs since.

Corsi makes an issue of the fact that, before he quit smoking cigarettes, Obama didn’t want it widely known that he smoked. “If Obama takes pains to hide his smoking from us, what else does he take pains to hide?” Corsi asks in the book.

Corsi also dwells on Obama’s mother marrying Obama’s African father and later marrying someone from Indonesia – whom Corsi describes as “a second man of color to be her mate.” The Obama campaign says the description is one of many examples of Corsi’s “offensive language” in the book.

He claims Obama received extensive Islamic religious education as a boy in Indonesia, education that was only offered to the truly faithful. Actually, Obama is a Christian and as a boy he attended both Catholic school and Indonesian public schools where some basic study of the Koran was offered.

He accuses Obama of wanting to weaken the military even though Obama’s campaign calls for adding 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Corsi defended raising the issue of drugs without any evidence.

“I don’t need more,” he said. “I’m putting this question forward. I’m putting the evidence forward. Voters can make up their own minds.”

Corsi writes for World Net Daily, a conservative Web site whose lead headline Thursday was “Astonishing photo claims: Dead Bigfoot stored on ice.”

In a series of Web posts several years ago, Corsi said Pope John Paul II was senile and unconcerned about sexual molestation of boys, referred to Islam is “a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion” and suggested Kerry was secretly Jewish.

Corsi apologized for the remarks and now says he didn’t mean them and was simply trying to provoke discussion.

“Obama Nation” is published by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster that is run by Mary Matalin, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Corsi readily acknowledges the political goal of his book. He considers Obama a “radical leftist” who should not be elected president. Corsi said he has no plans to work against Obama with groups comparable to 2004’s Swift Boat Veterans for Truth but said he would be willing to consider it.

Kerry has set up his own Web site, http://www.truthfightsback.com , to push back against accusations from Corsi and others.

No more.

With a dozen weeks to go, McCain’s campaign has notably limited his exposure to national reporters and even voters, devoting more time to private fundraisers, interviews with local journalists and events designed for TV cameras.

This week, for example, McCain conducted only one large “town hall” event and one full news conference, but at least seven fundraisers and a string of interviews with reporters mostly from local newspapers, radio and TV stations.

From here on, “you’ll see a campaign that is better at staying on message,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close associate who probably travels with McCain more than anyone outside his staff and family.

McCain will still hold town hall forums and take questions from national journalists, Graham said in an interview aboard the campaign plane Thursday. However, he said, “our problem is to keep these interactions to a manageable point.”

McCain’s advisers have long struggled for ways to keep him more disciplined and focused without entirely sacrificing his rambling talks with reporters on his bus and voters in gyms and meeting halls. McCain thrives on such activities, and they often show an appealing, impish side.

But they also subject him to questions of all sorts, making it impossible to focus on a chosen message. Worse, they sometimes prompt McCain to ponder the questions with a long, puzzled expression – as he did last month when a Los Angeles Times reporter asked about insurance coverage for Viagra and birth control – that opponents love to distribute on the Internet.

In response, the campaign recently stopped opening the “Straight Talk Express” bus to the roughly two dozen journalists who travel with him regularly. McCain still calls on them in news conferences, as he did on Wednesday, but those, too, have become less frequent.

“It’s not like it used to be,” Graham acknowledged. “But what we’re learning is that once you become the nominee, every word is seized upon,” and the campaign spends valuable time trying to extinguish brush fires.

Now, Graham said, “his day is more structured, focused on getting the message out.”

Advisers also appear to be slowing McCain down a bit and giving him some rest, especially this week, when many Americans are distracted by the Olympic Games and summer vacations. Democratic opponent Barack Obama is vacationing in Hawaii, further reducing the pressure on McCain to fight for attention.

On Monday, McCain spoke to the traveling media about Russia, but took no questions. His largest event was before about 100 manufacturing employees in Pennsylvania, where he spoke for nine minutes and took questions for 15, ending ahead of schedule.

On Tuesday, he addressed more than 2,000 enthusiastic people at a town hall meeting in York, Pa., and rounded out the day with several one-on-one press interviews, two fundraisers and a few photo ops, including a visit to a high school football team practicing in Manheim, Pa.

On Wednesday, McCain held the week’s only full news conference, plus three fundraisers in Michigan. Thursday started a pronounced slowdown.

Sandwiched between three fundraisers in Colorado, McCain attended an economic forum at the Aspen Institute, where he displayed the shoot-from-the-hip tendency his aides want to tame. He chastised Congress for going on recess “while people are paying $3.75 a gallon for gas.”

The audience of 800 began hooting and laughing, yelling out that gas is selling for nearly $5 a gallon in the Aspen area. McCain recovered with a well-received crack about plans to “soak the rich.”

McCain was scheduled to have no public events Friday, when he will meet with top aides, and only one on Saturday: a televised forum on faith, in California, where Obama is to appear separately.

Campaign sources said McCain is likely to spend a few days next week huddled with advisers, possibly working on his vice presidential decision.

McCain spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace said the workload is not significantly lighter. “We have a full schedule,” she said.

But Graham said aides and friends are trying to pace McCain and the campaign. “What you have to realize is that this is a marathon,” he said, “not a sprint.”

Polls show a tight race between the McCain and Obama.

Graham said the retooled campaign mode “is kind of a consensus” rather than the work of one or two top advisers. “If someone didn’t intervene,” he said, “I think John would do a town hall meeting that would last for days.”

Graham said his advice has been, “John, don’t wear yourself out. Make sure your message resonates visually.”

That goal, he said, is behind McCain’s increased use of photo opportunities in which reporters and microphones are sometimes barred. At a breakfast diner in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., for example, McCain sat down Thursday with what the campaign called “four women facing everyday economic struggles.” But all reporters and microphones were hustled from the room before they began talking, so no one beyond the four women know what McCain said about their struggles.

That’s not a big problem, Graham said, contending that the campaign is doing much better with “visuals.”

“If you see John on an oil rig,” he said, “you know what that story is about.”

Referring to an infamous McCain speech whose setting was widely panned, Graham said: “We’ve come a long way from the New Orleans puke-green background, to a much crisper campaign.”