Senator Obama is telling Senator Clinton’s top financial backers that he will help her pay off her debt.

A Democratic official said Mr. Obama is personally donating $2,300 to help cover his former rival’s outstanding expenses.

That is the most he can contribute under federal law, but he’s also asking his top donors to help. Mrs. Clinton has more than $20 million in debt.

Obama made the announcement last night at a meeting with Clinton donors in Washington. Reporters were not allowed inside.

A former congressman of Maryland who attended, Tom McMillen, said Mr. Obama received a standing ovation from the crowd of more than 200 when he said he would enlist his supporters to help pay off Mrs. Clinton’s debt.

SCHWARZENEGGER TWEAKS MCCAIN, CRIST OVER DRILLING

Governor Schwarzenegger of California is going out of his way to scoff at the proposal the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Senator McCain of Arizona, floated recently to allow new drilling for oil off of America’s coasts. “Anyone who tells you that will bring down our gas prices immediately or anytime soon is blowing smoke,” Mr. Schwarzenegger told a climate conference in Miami yesterday. “America is so addicted to oil that it will take years to wean ourselves from it. Finding new ways to feed our addiction is not the answer.”

Mr. Schwarzenegger’s remarks drew notice not simply because they seemed to rebuke his party’s presidential nominee, but also because he was introduced at the conference by Governor Crist of Florida, who has dropped his steadfast opposition to drilling and expressed tentative support for Mr. McCain’s plan.

MCCAIN ESCHEWS WEEKEND WORK

Senator McCain has held just one public campaign event on a weekend since February, when he dispatched his main rival for the Republican nomination in February, Politico reported yesterday. A spokesman for Mr. McCain, Brian Rogers, told the political news outlet there was little point in campaigning on weekends during the intense battle between the rivals for the Democratic nomination, senators Obama and Clinton. Other advisers said the campaign was pacing Mr. McCain, 71, for a long general election campaign and to avoid an illness, which could increase voters’ concerns about his age and health.

COMMISSION WANTS TALK SHOW-STYLE DEBATES

There will be no lecterns at this fall’s debates between senator McCain and Obama, under a proposal unveiled yesterday by a group which has sponsored all such sessions since 1988, the Commission on Presidential Debates, according to McClatchy News. The two men would be seated together behind a table at one session, while they would sit on stools for a third meeting which would have a town hall format, commission leaders told reporters yesterday. Messrs. McCain and Obama are not required to attend any of the the sessions, which are set to take place in Mississippi, Tennessee, and at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. The commission, which was founded in 1987 by former leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties, will also invite independent candidates who have a 15% following in opinion polls.