Good Tuesday morning. Nearly halfway through a short week and everyone's left Washington already. Recess is a busy time for campaigning, but up here it's a ghost town. Here's what the stragglers inside the Beltway, and those smart enough to have already left, are watching today:

-- Congress is still on Independence Day recess, and will be until next Tuesday. And while candidates hit the trail, President Bush is doing more to help out Republicans. The president will host a luncheon for the Mississippi Victory Committee and on behalf of appointed Senator Roger Wicker, who already had a tremendous First Quarter, before heading to North Little Rock for a roundtable on consumer credit counseling. Tonight, Bush will attend a reception benefiting that state's Victory Committee in Little Rock proper. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, meanwhile, is visiting a small business recovery center in Cedar Rapids, as the community seeks to bounce back after major flooding.

-- On the campaign trail, retired General Wes Clark dominates the headlines and the blogosphere for a second day after comments Sunday that John McCain's time as a prisoner of war does not make him qualified to be president. Barack Obama's campaign disavowed the comments in a statement yesterday, but Clark isn't giving up, per a statement released last night. McCain's "experience shows courage and commitment to our country -- but it doesn't include executive experience wrestling with national policy or go-to-war decisions," Clark said. "[A]s an American and former military officer I will not back down if I believe someone doesn't have sound judgment when it comes to our nation's most critical issues." (Read the whole statement here and here)

-- Let's break down the comments from the angles of all three involved, beginning with McCain: At the very root, Clark is right that one part of McCain's service does not necessarily qualify him to be president. But McCain has never argued that it does; instead, it's his wealth of experience, from service to country in Vietnam to service as a Navy liaison to Congress to service in Congress, especially on key committees dealing with foreign policy and veterans' issues. Clark's comments have the McCain campaign up in arms, so to speak -- on Sunday and Monday, they sent out eight statements from retired military figures slamming Clark -- and, if they think they can still score points off righteous indignation, more will follow.

-- But maybe they shouldn't get so angry. It was not McCain's being shot down that gives him the experience necessary, it's the whole body of work, he will argue. That point will be a major contrast between Obama and McCain heading into November, and the fact that a Democrat brought it up just gives McCain more incentive. A round of cable and broadcast interviews now, in which McCain politely reminded viewers that it's not the one piece of the pie but the whole thing that makes him more qualified than Obama, could help McCain capitalize on a minor gaffe that might otherwise turn into another melodrama of victimhood that both candidates seem to be playing right now.

-- From Obama's perspective, Clark's comments are an extremely unpleasant detour from the message the Illinois Senator wanted to spread during the week of the Fourth of July. "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and of course he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement last night. But in a speech yesterday in Independence, Missouri, Obama once again had to express his admiration for McCain and his patriotism, valor and service. For weeks more, Obama is going to have to talk up his rival in a hugely positive light to escape Clark's shadow. That's not exactly where one would like to be as a candidate in a general election.

-- As for Clark, the one-time presidential candidate who heavily supported Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, the fallout is clear: Once a vice presidential hopeful who had it all (Former Clinton supporter for unity, military background to shore up an Obama weakness, relative youth but years of experience and at least a footprint in a state, Arkansas, which Obama lost in the primaries), Clark is now likely to sit on the sidelines throughout the general election. What little chance he had of being vice president is now all but gone. And if Obama wins, good luck, General Clark, in getting an appointment past a Senate in which John McCain is looking to reassert his power.

-- One thing for certain, given Clark's comments, Obama's speech yesterday and the impending holiday: Patriotism, once an undercurrent used to spread mistrust of Obama, is now an overt issue in the campaign. Both candidates penned essays for Time Magazine on the meaning of patriotism and love of country, and what was once designed as a way to question Obama's love of country and religion is now, Time almost asserts, a way for both candidates to advance a positive message. And notice the photo they use: Obama sports a flag pin. McCain does not.

-- Ad Of The Day: We don't usually spotlight advertisements, but this early in a general election national ad campaigns are still news. Obama's second general election spot, seen here, focuses not on patriotism but on driving the discussion back to the economy. That's going to be key to Obama's hopes of winning come November; voters favor the Democratic message on the economy by a wide margin, and while they may trust McCain more on the war in Iraq, they will pick neighborhood-building, welfare-cutting, tax-cutting Obama on the economy. The ad, too, is running in the same 18 states as the campaign's first ad ran in, 14 of which President Bush won in 2004.

-- Today On The Trail: McCain begins the day in Indianapolis, where he will address the National Sheriffs' Association's annual conference in Indianapolis, followed by a fundraiser and a media availability. Afterwards, McCain flies to Cartagena, Colombia for meetings with U.S. Ambassador Bill Brownfield, President Alvaro Uribe and a number of Uribe's ministers, the first stop on a multi-day trip south of the U.S. border. He hosts another media availability this evening. Obama will give a major speech today on the role of religion in politics at a community ministry in Zanesville, Ohio.