Candidates clash on foreign-policy ‘judgment’

He added, “The only guy in America out of step is John McCain. John McCain’s saying, no timeline. They’ve signed on to Barack Obama’s proposal.”

Mr. Obama said while Mrs. Palin has proven to be a “skilled politician,” she represents a continuation of the Bush administration.

“It tells me that he chose somebody who may be even more aligned with George Bush — or Dick Cheney, or the politics we’ve seen over the last eight years — than John McCain himself is,” he said.

On CBS, Mr. McCain went after a chief Obama-Biden line of attack, defending his recent statement that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

He said he made those comments because “I have great confidence and faith in America, in our innovation and our capabilities,” but quickly added: “These are tough times now.”

Asked when Mrs. Palin will hold press conferences, Mr. McCain said he is “strongly recommending” that his running mate — who so far had only spoken to People magazine — come on “Face the Nation.”

Soon after, ABC announced she would do an interview with anchor Charles Gibson in the coming week.

Much of the coverage focused on Mrs. Palin’s introduction at the Republican National Convention.

Mr. Obama said he found it “puzzling” that Mr. McCain’s convention focused attention mocking his experience as a community organizer before law school since the Republican talks about “extolling the virtues of national service.”

Mr. McCain said on CBS he finds community organizing “very honorable,” but thinks the mockery was a response to Obama aides “denigrating the fact that she had been mayor of a small town,” referring to a campaign statement asserting her lack of experience because the town she led before she became governor has fewer than 10,000 people.