Obama, McCain enlist former lobbyists

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By Jim McElhatton

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are relying on Washington insiders and former lobbyists to scrutinize possible vice presidential candidates, even as they campaign against lobbyists as a corrosive force in the nation's capital.

Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, on Tuesday derided as a "game" inquiries into his decision to name former Fannie Mae chief executive James A. Johnson to lead his search for a running mate.

Mr. Johnson, a former lobbyist, is drawing scrutiny over ties to subprime-mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., which Mr. Obama has railed against on the campaign trail.

"I would have to hire the vetter to vet the vetters," the Illinois Democrat told reporters at a news conference in St. Louis. "I mean, at some point, we just asked people to do their assignments."

Mr. McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, has reached out to Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., White House counsel in the Reagan administration from 1987 to 1989, to head his search.

Mr. Culvahouse is chairman of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, which has a powerful Washington lobbying office. A former lobbyist, he has represented Lockheed Martin, Fannie Mae and British Steel, according to Senate and Justice Department filings.

The running mate-search picks are providing fodder for both campaigns, as the candidates are being forced to defend their reliance on the same sort of Washington insiders they have crusaded against for months.

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds on Tuesday said Mr. Johnson's appointment by Mr. Obama reflected "a growing presence of ties to the very industries that he speaks out against on the campaign trail."

"There's no greater hypocrisy," he said.

But Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said the McCain campaign "is run and paid for by Washington lobbyists," adding that Mr. Culvahouse's firm had represented disgraced Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling, the company's former CEO convicted in 2006 of multiple federal felony charges relating to Enron's financial collapse.