Father’s Day – The US celebrated Father’s Day over the weekend, and NPR looked at the impact McCain and Obama’s fathers had on the two candidates. Barack Obama took the opportunity to challenge African-American men on fatherhood. Politico described him as “talking tough” on AWOL fathers:

“Too many fathers are MIA,” he told a huge African-American congregation in Chicago. “There’s a hole in your heart if you don’t have a male figure in the home that can guide you and lead you and set a good example for you.”

Obama doesn’t make it to the Town Hall – John McCain had proposed a series of “Town Hall” debates with Barack Obama but the first one will go ahead tonight without Obama. He hasn’t declined to participate but said that the proposed schedule of 10 debates wasn’t realistic. — Salon

The Democrat VP – As NPR put it, nothing about 2008 has been conventional, and so a conventional pick by Obama for a running mate would be surprising.

MyDD quotes former Virginia governor Mark Warner as ruling himself out of the VP race, and speculates that we may yet see an Obama/Clinton ticket. Warner has said he’ll just run for the Senate. — My DD

Potential Obama running mate Jim Webb cops a serve from the New Republic: “Jim Webb isn’t a liberal; he’s a reactionary. So why are liberals falling for him?”

The Republican VP – The New Republic looks at the historical significance of VP choices, and how McCain should play it.

What does McCain stand for? – Daily KOS gives McCain a serve for his track record on military issues, saying he uses his status as a veteran to deflect criticism of his record. “McCain has repeatedly voted against amendments in the Senate that would have…covered such important services as improving care at veterans’ hospitals, providing mental health services to soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse problems.” — Daily KOS

Meanwhile, Salon asks what John McCain’s view on social security is. He’s been quoted as against privatising social security, he’s been quoted as saying privatisation is necessary. Obama is set to take on this “curvy talk” in a speech tonight. — Salon

Courting the female vote. There’s been a lot of talk about whether Hillary Clinton’s loss will make Obama vulnerable to losing the votes of her supporters. BlogHer has an interesting feature looking at the “female vote”. “No one thinks Republicans will increase their margins with African-Americans with Obama on the ticket this time, but the GOP’s unexpected inroads with that community show it’s not out of the question with women voters this time around. It’s already happened one time. — Blogher