Senator Obama, during a phone call with his finance team yesterday, asked his top contributors to help retire Senator Clinton’s more than $10 million in debt from her presidential campaign bid, ABC News reported last night. Mrs. Clinton will appear with Mr. Obama at a fund-raiser tomorrow in Washington, and the two will campaign in New Hampshire together on Friday.

MCCAIN URGES ENERGY EFFICIENCY ON GOVERNMENT

Senator McCain said yesterday the federal government should practice the energy efficiency he preaches, pledging as president to switch official vehicles to green technologies and do the same for office buildings.

Expanding upon his ideas to address the nation’s energy crisis, the Arizona senator also called for a redesign of the national power grid so power is better distributed where it’s needed and the country has the capacity to run electric vehicles that he wants automakers to supply.

“Our federal government is never shy about instructing the American people in good environmental practice. But energy efficiency, like charity, should begin at home,” Mr. McCain said before conducting an energy round-table at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Mr. McCain drives a 2003 Cadillac CTS, a sedan the Environmental Protection Agency says gets between 16 and 24 miles a gallon and emits about 9.6 tons of greenhouse gases annually. When campaigning, he’s ferried by the Secret Service using a fleet of Chevrolet Suburbans, a full-size SUV the EPA estimates gets between 12 and 20 mpg and emits 9 to 13 tons of greenhouse gases.

During the discussion, Mr. McCain made a comment likely to provoke discussion in Nevada, where he campaigns today and is the site of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Mr. McCain long has supported the facility, much to the chagrin of pivotal Nevada voters, although last month he suggested creating a foreign waste repository that might make the mountain site unnecessary.

OBAMA EAGER TO ACCEPT PRESIDENT CLINTON’S CAMPAIGN HELP

President Clinton yesterday offered to help Senator Obama win the White House, although what work he’ll do for his wife’s former rival remained uncertain.

The Obama campaign is still smarting over some of Mr. Clinton’s criticism in the primary race, while the last Democratic president remains a popular political draw. But before the two can work together, they have to speak.

Mr. Obama and Senator Clinton have taken steps to join efforts in the last three weeks — she met with him privately, endorsed his campaign, and will campaign with him Friday. But the former Democratic president and the man running to be the next one haven’t talked since the campaign ended.

Mr. Obama said the only reason they haven’t spoken is because Mr. Clinton is traveling overseas. He praised the former president and said he’s “looking forward to setting up a long conversation.”

“He’s as smart as they come. He’s a great strategist. We’re going to want him campaigning for me,” Mr. Obama said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters as he flew to Los Angeles from Las Vegas for a fund-raiser, Mr. Obama said he was not certain what Mr. Clinton’s role would be, but said he was eager to have the former president’s help and support.

OBAMA DISMISSES EVANGELICAL LEADER’S REMARKS

Senator Obama said yesterday that an evangelical leader, James Dobson, was “making stuff up” when he accused the presumed Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible.

Mr. Dobson used his Focus on the Family radio program to highlight excerpts of a speech Mr. Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal.

Speaking to reporters on his campaign plane before landing in Los Angeles, Mr. Obama said the speech made the argument that people of faith, like himself, “try to translate some of our concerns in a universal language so that we can have an open and vigorous debate rather than having religion divide us.”

Mr. Obama added, “I think you’ll see that he was just making stuff up, maybe for his own purposes.”

In his program, Mr. Dobson focused on examples Mr. Obama cited in asking which biblical passages should guide public policy. For instance, Mr. Obama said Leviticus suggests slavery is okay and eating shellfish is an abomination. Mr. Obama also cited Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, “a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”

MCCAIN LAGS BEHIND OBAMA BY DOUBLE DIGITS IN LATEST POLL

Buoyed by enthusiasm among Democrats and public concern over the economy, Senator Obama has captured a sizable lead over Senator McCain at the opening of the general election campaign for president, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll has found.

In a two-man race between the major party candidates, registered voters chose Mr. Obama over Mr. McCain by 49% to 37% in the national poll conducted last weekend.

On a four-man ballot including independent candidate Ralph Nader and Bob Barr, a Libertarian, voters chose Mr. Obama over Mr. McCain by an even larger margin, 48% to 33%.

Mr. Obama’s advantage, bigger in this poll than in most other national surveys, appears to stem in large part from his positions on domestic issues. Both Democrats and independent voters say Mr. Obama would do a better job than Mr. McCain at handling the nation’s economic problems, the public’s top concern.

In contrast, many voters give Mr. McCain credit as the more experienced candidate and the one best equipped to protect the nation against terrorism — but they rank those concerns below their worries about the economy.