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I'm here at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where they're expecting over 7,000 attendees, as well as hundreds of members of Congress, to show their support for strong ties between the U.S. and Israel. John McCain is scheduled to speak at around 9:30 inside a large darkened auditorium, surrounded by big video screens.

I just read some excerpts of McCain's speech, and it includes several sharp barbs at Barack Obama over his vow to conduct unconditional presidential talks with Iran, his opposition to the bill declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, and his stance against the surge strategy in Iraq. It will be interesting to see how those assaults will be received by the crowd, because it will provide some sense of how big of a hill Obama will have to climb on Wednesday, when he gives a much-anticipated talk to the conference during which he hopes to quell fears about his stance toward Israel. (For added drama, Hillary Clinton will be speaking the same morning, which will be a day after the final Democrtatic primaries in Montana and South Dakota.)

topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Iran, Israel