OPENING FOR OBAMA

Could this help Obama get an opening? The Los Angeles Times' Dan Morain: "On June 10, John B. Hess, a top executive at the oil company with his family name, summoned friends to the 21 Club, a former speakeasy in Manhattan, and delivered $285,000 to John McCain and the Republican National Committee. A week later, McCain traveled to Texas and announced his support for offshore oil drilling. Hess Corp. is an East Coast gasoline retailer with major refining and exploration operations, some of which happen to be offshore in the Gulf of Mexico."
Feeling this take hold? "John McCain's contributions from energy industry interests happened to spike right around his Houston speech (and a fundraising tour of Texas)," per the Houston Chronicle.
More in that vein, at a new Website from Campaign Money Watch.