Good Monday morning. It was a loving and moving tribute to Tim Russert on Meet The Press this weekend (some video here), and the image of the empty anchor chair was stirring. That chair won't be filled for a long time. Here's what a Washington that still mourns is watching today:

-- The Senate returns this afternoon for yet another try at an energy bill that Republicans spent most of last week objecting to. A cloture attempt will come late this afternoon. The House is not in session today. President Bush is finishing up his five-country European tour this morning in Great Britain, and he will arrive back at the White House this evening. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman will address the Bush Administration's efforts to come up with cheap and clean energy sources in a speech in Washington today.

-- On Father's Day, Barack Obama continued a trend he has developed in recent months: Telling audiences what they don't want to hear. Obama called on auto executives in Detroit to raise fuel standards, has urged African American congregations to accept homosexuality, and, yesterday, slammed absentee fatherhood before a black church audience in Chicago, and the AP runs highlights. It's another Sister Souljah moment for a candidate who's already had a few, and is likely going to have a few more in front of his own audiences.

-- John McCain is tacking back to the middle, and hard, holding a Saturday conference call with former supporters of Hillary Clinton, as well as a reception later that day at his Arlington headquarters, Ben Smith reports. RNC Victory chief Carly Fiorina mingled with the crowd as well, and many there seemed openly interested in casting ballots for the Republican nominee over his Democratic rival. Some asked staffers and campaign officials about McCain's positions on judges, others about his stance on same-sex marriage (Answer: A staffer "said it was the same as [John] Kerry's position," Smith quotes one attendee saying).

-- The two campaigns' tactics are reflecting the reality of both parties' positions this year. Obama must rally his Democratic base, including the mythical white working class Democrats who flocked so easily to Clinton during the primaries, in order to win; Democrats are just more excited this year, and there are more of them, but keeping the coalition together, as always with a party that is more constituency-based than identity-based, could prove a challenge. McCain must steal independents and Democrats, either those upset at the primary or ordinarily predisposed to vote for the Arizonan. If he runs a base election, he will lose, because there are just fewer Republicans this year than there are ordinarily.

-- Meanwhile, at least to begin, McCain's efforts do not look like they are panning out, making Obama's campaign breathe a little easier. The vast majority of Clinton backers are flocking to Obama over his Republican rival, the LA Times' Michael Finnegan writes. Clinton-backing groups like EMILY's List, Planned Parenthood and others have slammed McCain for his anti-abortion rights record, and while McCain's other positions should endear him to female voters, the gender gap this year might not shrink in any significant way. It's been a generation of women favoring Democrats over Republicans, and that looks unlikely to change.

-- But it won't be smooth sailing for Obama through the Summer, and especially not for Michelle Obama, who has come under increased fire lately. Unlike Cindy McCain, who has largely stayed at her husband's side on the campaign trail, Michelle Obama has packed in an ambitious number of events, from the earliest pre-caucus days to trips to the final primary states, and she's not the least bit afraid to open her mouth. The Tennessee Republican Party and others have begun taking their shots, especially regarding a video in which she purportedly uses a slang term at her former church. For Michelle Obama, ABC News' John Hendren writes, the worst isn't on the horizon yet, but it's coming. Then again, attacks on a woman candidate helped women rally around her cause; could attacks on Michelle help women voters put her husband in the White House?

-- Finally, it's a small victory, but don't think that the modern GOP has heard the last of Ron Paul supporters. The upstarts have been able to nab a few delegate positions at conventions in Missouri, Nevada and Washington State, among others, and yesterday, despite the fact that their fearless leader is no longer on the campaign trail for himself, Paulites in Idaho successfully beat the incumbent Republican chairman to install their own choice to lead the state GOP. New chair Norm Semanko, who ran for Congress in the state's northern First District in 2006, won with the backing of libertarian-leaning political neophytes and Christian conservatives, the Idaho Statesman writes this morning. It raises the question: Who owns the Republican Party? It's looking like there is little chance of a clear answer.

-- Futile Effort Of The Day: The Associated Press will try to define standards for use of its articles and videos in the blogosphere, the New York Times suggests today, embarking on a potentially dangerous mission to exert at least some control over a virtually lawless set. The amalgamation sent a letter to one liberal blog requesting the removal of seven posts that included AP stories, and more letters are likely. But the initial foray into controlling the uncontrollable ended quickly, with the organization's vice president issuing new guidelines after the first set were criticized by, unsurprisingly, other bloggers.

-- Today On The Trail: Barack Obama will unveil his competitiveness agenda at a local college in Flint, Michigan, starting the second week of his economic tour in a state he's going to need to win come November, and one that McCain has his eyes on. Later, the candidate will head to Detroit for a rally. McCain has no public events today, but he will hold several fundraising events in Texas.