The Note: Drilling Down

August 4, 2008 -- With a happy 47th birthday to Sen. Barack Obama (one that might have been a little happier had it come a week earlier), five lessons that arrive as gifts of the August heat:

1. Obama is now running against a real Republican message machine (one that's already earned a tighter race -- in addition to a maybe less-than-welcome rebranding for the GOP candidate).

2. Around the time the lights went out in the House of Representatives, a light went on in the GOP idea factory (and a tire gauge may get a party's message back on the road).

3. Race is in the race to stay.

4. The next policy move belongs to Obama, not Sen. John McCain (but that's not a message by itself).

5. The single most important relationship Obama needs to manage between now and Election Day is with the one Democrat who owes him nothing (and has nothing to gain from having a relationship).

So it is that, when asked by ABC's Kate Snow whether he has any regrets about his conduct during the campaign, former President Bill Clinton cracked open a fascinating window:

"Yes, but not the ones you think. And it would be counterproductive for me to talk about," he told Snow, on "Good Morning America" Monday. "There are things that I wish I'd urged her to do. Things I wish I'd said. Things I wish I hadn't said. But I am not a racist. I've never made a racist comment, and I never attacked him personally."

Is he angry? "I'm not, and I never was mad at Senator Obama," the former president said. "And you know he hit her hard a couple of times and they hit us a few times a week before she ever responded in kind. The only thing I ever got mad about was people in your line of work pretending that she had somehow started the negative stuff. It's a contact sport."

"I will be glad to, as soon as this election is over in January, to have this conversation with you and everybody else. I have very strong feelings about it. But I live out here in the fact-based world." (And Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., is off the Christmas card list. A friend? "Used to be," Clinton said.)

On his impact in the campaign: "Go get yourself a map. Look where I went. And look what the vote was."

Stoking more intrigue: "Next year, you and I and everybody else will be freer and have more space to say what we believe to be the truth" about the primaries, Clinton told The Washington Post's Anne Kornblut. (Anyone think he'll wait that long?)

Writes Kornblut (who reports that 42 and the would-be 44 have spoken a grand total of once since the primaries ended): "Clinton volunteered very little praise of Obama, beyond describing him as 'smart' and 'a good politician' when asked about him toward the end of the interview."

(What does it say about the lines of communication that he still doesn't know what role he'll play at the convention that starts three weeks from Monday?)

The week's big messaging will focus on energy, with Obama trying to go on offense in this last week before the Olympics (and his much-anticipated vacation in Hawaii).

It's offense, too, from Republicans: More antics on the House floor, and more mockery of Obama, this time with his comment about proper tire inflation inspiring fun (and useful) props.

Obama adds meat to his energy plan in Lansing, Mich., on Monday. Per his campaign: "Obama's plan will provide an immediate energy rebate to Americans struggling with high gas prices, create five million new green jobs, and eliminate our need for Middle Eastern oil in 10 years."

He backs up his message with a new television ad, per ABC's Jake Tapper.

"Now Big Oil's filling John McCain's campaign with 2 million dollars in contributions," the ad says, citing the Center for Responsive Politics. "Because instead of taxing their windfall profits to help drivers, McCain wants to give them another 4 billion in tax breaks." As the camera pulls back from the photo of McCain to reveal him standing with President Bush, the narrator says, "After one president in the pocket of big oil, we can't afford another."

McCain campaign response: "The truth is Senator Obama showed bad judgment voting for the Bush-Cheney energy bill that was a sweetheart deal for oil companies."

Obama's got a softening (if not a reversal) that serves as asset/liability: "Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said on Saturday he would support an expansion of offshore drilling as part of a broader bipartisan energy bill," Amy Chozick writes in The Wall Street Journal.

Can a flipper call a flop? "In an attempt to hold on to one of the issues that gives Sen. McCain a political edge, the McCain campaign says that Sen. Obama hasn't shifted his position but is using purposely vague language to appeal to a wider swath of voters," Chozick writes.

About zero chance this frame leads us in the suggested direction: "A day after Senator Barack Obama said he would consider supporting broad energy legislation that would permit some of the offshore oil drilling he had previously opposed, an aide to Senator John McCain said Sunday that he too might support such a compromise package," Brian Knowlton writes in The New York Times.

Look for a tire gauge at a political event (or cable outlet) near you on Monday. Obama's comment last week, about how proper tire inflation could save more gas than drilling could produce, is making for some fun prop work.

Michigan Republicans will be passing out tire gauges at Obama's event in Michigan. And the RNC is distributing tire gauges to reporters on Monday -- engraved "Obama's Energy Plan," a party official tell The Note.

RedState.org's Erick Erickson captures the full messaging glory: "Inflating your tires and getting a regular tune-up sounds more like Obama's plan for ego maintenance than it does for helping American families."

With Obama in Michigan, the challenge from the Detroit News: "It's a good opportunity for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to sharpen the contrast between his energy views and those of the leadership of the Democratic Party."

McCain's best allies will be active Monday on Capitol Hill, where House Republicans have gotten hold of a really good idea that's too visually minded to ignore.

"A group of House Republicans will again take to the shuttered House floor on Monday to protest the decision of House Democrats to adjourn without acting legislatively to combat the rising cost of energy," Jackie Kucinich writes for The Hill.

ABC's Viviana Hurtado reports that at least 30 Republican House members are ready to jump on Obama's newly stated openness to offshore drilling, and will be back in Washington for a "special debate" on energy policy on the darkened House floor. They are expected to meet in the Old House Chamber, where Lincoln once worked, to organize the 10 am ET display.

From the e-mail sent around by Republican Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.: "Leader [John] Boehner (R-Ohio) and Whip Blunt, at the urging of many of you, are asking for an energy 'call to arms' this week, to build on Friday's success."

Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on ABC's "This Week," on the topic of expanded offshore drilling: I'm not giving the gavel away to a tactic . . . that supports the oil [companies], big oil at the cost and the expense of the consumer."

"The scramble over expanded drilling off America's coasts -- ammunition for a weekend of rat-a-tat-tat by the presidential campaigns -- underscores the political power of $4-a-gallon gas," USA Today's Susan Page writes.