Our guest blogger is Daniella Leger, the Vice President for Communications at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

During her speech last night to the Republican National Convention, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) made a point of highlighting how Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has stood up to lobbyists:

Sen. McCain’s record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency — from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.

Perhaps Palin should have vetted the McCain campaign before she spoke. If she had, she would have realized that the McCain campaign has more than 159 lobbyists working and raising money for it, and their influence is seen in his foreign and economic policy.

A prime example is Senior Campaign Advisor Charlie Black, whose clients include big oil, drug companies and banks. Given Black’s influence in the campaign, it is no wonder that McCain has no real solution to the housing crisis and his policies favor oil and drug companies.

So, before Palin comes to clean up Washington, D.C., maybe she should swing by her campaign office and get the McCain/Palin house in order.

Our guest blogger is Daniella Gibbs Leger, the Vice President for Communications at American Progress Action Fund.

Last week I attended the UNITY Conference in Chicago. Along with over 7,000 journalists of color, I was wondering why Sen. John McCain would pass up the opportunity to speak to such a large gathering of reporters, and now we have our answer. He was busy getting ready to flip-flop on affirmative action. On ABC’s This Week, McCain reversed himself and came out in support of Ward Connerly’s attempt to end affirmative action in Arizona.

Ten years ago, McCain called a similar ballot initiative “divisive.” But back then he wasn’t running for President, trying to appeal to wary conservatives. McCain’s explanation for this flip is that he “doesn’t support quotas.” That’s great. But that’s not what Connerly is trying to outlaw.

Connerly is on quest to not allow public institutions to “…grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin, in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.” That’s not about quotas, Sen. McCain.

Perhaps he didn’t read the referendum first. But as the Senator from Arizona, I would expect him to know the details of such a controversial ballot initiative in his home state. I look forward to hearing the Maverick McCain explain his way out of this one.

Our guest blogger is Daniella Gibbs Leger, the Vice President for Communications at American Progress Action Fund.

Today, John McCain is scheduled to speak in Memphis on the 40th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To most, this probably seems like an un-extraordinary event –- a presidential candidate is paying tribute to one of our nation’s heroes.

But it is a big deal to me. McCain was against a federal holiday recognizing MLK in 1983. And while his position evolved –- he eventually came around to supporting the holiday in a 1990 Arizona referendum that failed –- it is a problem to me that he voted against it in the first place.

This happened in 1983. It wasn’t like it was the 60’s. By that time people around the world understood the significance that King had on moving our nation peacefully out of the days of segregation. But in 1983, McCain didn’t. That’s bad enough, but he also consistently sided against the interests of the African American community while in the House and Senate, including the 1990 Civil Rights Bill, affirmative action, and raising the minimum wage. And his stance on the Iraq war is completely out of tune with not just African Americans but the entire country.

McCain has an opportunity today that I doubt he’ll take. He has an opportunity to embrace the goals that King was fighting for the day he died –- the improvement of the lives of every day American workers. He can embrace an economic policy that works for all Americans, not just the wealthiest; he can embrace universal health care coverage; and he can embrace ending a war that King most certainly would have spoken out against. I am sure none of that will happen, but today –- of all days –- a girl can dream.