Good Wednesday morning. Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball, branded with an asterisk and all, will be displayed at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the museum reported yesterday, after owner Marc Ecko donated it unconditionally. Debate the legitimacy of the record, but the asterisk is great. Here's what Washington is watching today:

-- The House and Senate remain on July Fourth recess. Still, if you live in a smattering of towns across the country, you can sit in on a committee hearing. Residents of Bismarck, North Dakota can sit in on a Budget Committee hearing, while folks in Albuquerque, New Mexico can take a listen to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. And if you're concerned with northern border security in Havre, Montana, fear not: The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will assuage your fears on the topic.

-- Day Four of Clark-gate, after retired General Wesley Clark said on CBS that John McCain's time as a prisoner of war does not qualify the Republican to be commander-in-chief, and the McCain campaign is keeping the story alive. Yesterday was all back-and-forth, the LA Times recaps, in which the McCain campaign shifted their target from Clark to Barack Obama and even, for a moment, Virginia Senator Jim Webb, and today the scandal shows no signs of going away. That's fine with McCain, who gets to remind everyone that he's a war hero.

-- Playing the victim, which is not the sole domain of the McCain campaign (Obama owns his own piece of the sometimes undeserving victim), seems to be the only consistent message coming out of McCain's Arlington headquarters, and that's seriously starting to worry some Republican strategists, as Politico's David Paul Kuhn writes today. McCain lags far behind Obama in organizational and fundraising structure, and the message of the day seems to come more from McCain's press conferences than from any strategy one might perceive. If McCain is going to win, or even come close, that's all going to have to change, and Republicans are going to have to build one mighty machine.

-- Digging at more Republicans, though, is McCain's lack of fundraising efforts on behalf of down-ballot candidates, The Hill's Aaron Blake writes. Though he has traveled with dozens of candidates in previous cycles, McCain hasn't so much as appealed to his email lists on behalf of the financially struggling NRCC and NRSC, something Obama did early for the DCCC and the DSCC. NRSC flack Rebecca Fisher says the committee "look[s] forward" to an email from McCain, but that no plans are yet in the works. McCain has appeared at fundraisers for candidates, including unsuccessful Illinois House candidate Jim Oberweis, but his appearances for GOP candidates have been rare, with some incumbents preferring to stay in Washington rather than join him in their districts.

-- Not all is rosy in Chicago, either. The Democratic nominee is the latest public figure to be caught up amid questions about favorable rates on his mortgage, the Washington Post reports today. Obama's $1.32 million mortgage loan, on his $1.65 million house (20% down, a wise financial move) came at a 5.625% rate, lower at the time than the Chicago average, though an Obama spokesman insists the lower rate came as a result of a competing offer. That's not unusual, say some experts, but as two other senators and the one-time head of Obama's vice presidential search committee have found out, it's more about the appearance than anything actually wrong.

-- Meanwhile, those three embattled politicos who have been swept into the mess all got their loans through Countrywide, making the company's name something akin to mud in political circles. Countrywide's political action committee is closing soon, the Washington Times reported today, after handing out half a million dollars over the past three years. Some endangered incumbents have accepted money from the company this year, including Reps. Paul Kanjorski, Melissa Bean, Tom Feeney and Shelley Moore Capito, as well as Senator John Sununu. Sit back and watch their opponents call for a return of that money.

-- Finally, Barack Obama will issue a call to service during a speech today in the heart of conservative Christian country, in which he will propose expanding programs like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps. The events will be held in Colorado Springs, The Gazette reports, the home of James Dobson's Focus on the Family. Dobson slammed Obama last week for what he said were incorrect interpretations of scripture, and we think it's safe to assume that the two will not be sitting down for coffee any time soon. But service is another part of Obama's religious outreach, coming after a speech yesterday in Ohio in which Obama called for an expanded faith-based programs initiative.

-- How Not To Win Friends Of The Day: Wesley Clark's chances of serving in an Obama Administration, in any capacity, took a downward tumble with his comments over McCain's service. But if you're really trying to kill your career in government, here's an even better idea: Tell your interviewer that you're actually better than your party's nominee. That's what Rudy Giuliani did on CNN, the New York Daily News reports, telling the network, "I thought I was best qualified, but I thought John was number two." That sound you hear is Giuliani's name being dropped out of consideration for a Cabinet slot.

-- Today On The Trail: Not only is most of Washington seemingly gone, even the candidates have a slow day planned. Obama will give a speech on public service in Colorado Springs, while McCain's only event is a media availability in Colombia, after having met with President Alvaro Uribe after arriving last night. This is day two of McCain's three-day swing through Colombia and Mexico. President Bush's only public event of the day is a statement on this year's G-8 meetings, from the White House.