Obama hits McCain lobbyist purge; also spoke to Kennedy

Carrie Budoff Brown reports that Obama weighed in today on Sen. John McCain losing a fifth member of his campaign team over the lobbying ties and other interests.

"It appears that John McCain is very much a creature of Washington and one of the things that we've said from the outset of this campaign is that if we're gonna change policies, if we're gonna deliver on universal health care or have an energy policy that over the long term can bring down gas prices that we were gonna have to change how Washington works," Obama told reporters Sunday at an ice cream shop in Milwaukie, Ore. "We can't have special interests dictating what's happening there and that's why I said at the beginning I wouldn't take PAC money and I wouldn't take money from federal lobbyists. And it does appear that over the last several weeks John McCain keeps on having problems with his top advisers being lobbyists, in some cases for foreign governments or other big interests that are doing business in Washington that I don't think represents the kind of change that the American people are looking for."

He also said he spoke with Sen. Edward Kennedy this morning and "everybody's optimistic about the prognosis."

"He sounded great, he sounded like his usual ol' self," Obama said. "I am just thrilled that Teddy is back on the mend. And I suspect will be on the floor of the Senate immediately, doing the people's business."