POLITICS

POLITICS

McCain views Iowa flood damage

COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa | Sen. John McCain toured flood-damaged southeastern Iowa on Thursday, walking past half-submerged buildings, washed-out roads and thousands of sandbags filled hurriedly in a vain attempt to hold back the waters.

“I know I speak for all of America. We’ll do everything necessary to try to rebuild their lives,” the Republican presidential candidate said of residents of a town of 1,900 at the confluence of the Cedar and Iowa Rivers.

The town experienced record flooding in recent days, and although the waters have begun to recede, National Guard trucks blocked access to washed-out roads and the municipal water system had not been returned to operation.

Mr. McCain peppered Mayor Dan Wilson with questions as they walked through town looking at the damage. Mr. Wilson said tens of thousands of sandbags had been filled to create makeshift levees that prevented worse flooding.

HONORS

Medal of Freedom recipients honored

President Bush on Thursday presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, to leaders in medicine, government, the judiciary and the military.

In a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Bush lauded and joked with five recipients and Annette Lantos, who accepted the award on behalf of her late husband, Rep. Tom Lantos, California Democrat. The recipients were:

cDr. Benjamin S. Carson Sr.: In 1987, he performed the world’s first successful operation separating twins joined at the back of the head. He is director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore.

cDr. Anthony S. Fauci: An adviser to the government on global AIDS issues, he is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

cMr. Lantos: The Holocaust survivor, who died of cancer in February, was chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is remembered as a champion of human rights.

cRetired Marine Gen. Peter Pace: One of the Iraq war’s military architects, Gen. Pace retired last year as 16th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and first Marine to hold the post.

cDonna E. Shalala: Health and human services secretary under President Clinton and now president of the University of Miami, she helped lead a presidential commission charged with improving health care for wounded military veterans.

cLaurence H. Silberman: Appointed by President Reagan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, he helped lead a presidential commission investigating flawed intelligence about Iraq’s prewar weapons of mass destruction.

POLITICS

Obama releases biographical ad

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to reintroduce himself to voters - and address some of his political vulnerabilities - in his first television ad of the general election campaign.

The 60-second commercial is set to air in 18 states. The ad, called “Country I Love,” is a biographical portrait that stresses his mother’s family’s roots.

“I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents,” Mr. Obama says in the spot. “We didn’t have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up.”

The ad features photographs from different stages of the life of the senator from Illinois. One shows Mr. Obama, who is seeking to be the first black president, as a child in his white mother’s arms. In another, Mr. Obama as a young man sits on a bench between his white grandparents.

Also worth noting are the 18 states in which the ad will run - Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia - an indication of the states the Democrat hopes will be competitive.

The ad is not running in Washington or Oregon, because the campaign thinks Mr. Obama is “better positioned to lock those two down early,” said campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs.

COURTS

Justices restrict self-representation

Mentally ill criminal defendants don’t have the same constitutional rights as everyone else, the Supreme Court said Thursday in carving out an exception to the right to represent oneself.

The justices said that a mentally ill defendant can be judged competent to stand trial, yet incapable of acting as his own attorney. The 7-2 decision said states can give a trial judge discretion to force someone to accept an attorney to represent him if the judge is concerned that the trial could turn into a farce.

“The Constitution permits states to insist upon representation by counsel for those competent enough to stand trial … but who still suffer from severe mental illness to the point where they are not competent to conduct trial proceedings by themselves,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote in the majority opinion.

MEMORIAL

Artists soften likeness of King

Artists working on a planned Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial have submitted changes to soften the likeness of the civil rights icon after concerns that a previous rendering made him look like a socialist leader.

The changes were requested by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and considered at a meeting Thursday. The panel didn’t take formal vote on the changes, but will continue watching progress of the project planned for the Mall in Washington.

In April, the panel had criticized the depiction of King, a proponent of nonviolent political protest, as “confrontational.”

Ed Jackson Jr., executive architect on the memorial project, said they had softened King’s face slightly at the brow and at the mouth. The new look maintains the look of King’s consternation but turns his mouth up to resemble a hint of a smile. King’s arms remain firmly crossed, in part to show his determination.

From wire dispatches and staff reports