Back after an emergency week off…

• The Obama vs. Hillary race might be over in the press, but facts on the ground show a stubborn Clinton campaign and extended network fighting hard and the Obama camp deciding to scale back their victory lap and remain “focused” on finally putting down HRC. This isn’t worrying about any chance that Hillary could still win the nomination. No, that issue has been dead for some time. The math is impossible and even the slim shot she has would be contrived and disastrous for the party. The game plan for Obama is still consolidating the Clinton backers who have accepted the inevitable and have decided to move on to November and desperately try to woo the die-hard and unbelievably angry Hillary militants who not only rabidly oppose Obama’s nomination but will also either not vote for him or actively work for McCain in the general. These are the Dems - mostly working class or elderly women - who rail against the “biased” media and complain that Obama has been unfairly playing the race card against HRC, silently calling out those who vote against him as racist hicks. It’s a deep-seated feeling across the country and the party. Will Obama be able to quiet these fears and stand up against McCain at the same time?

• Obama’s looming trouble with pro-Hillary female Dems is even more painfully apparent as the NY Times talks to ex-Hillary adviser (dropped, very publicly, after her faux pas in which she gave credit for all of BO’s success to his race) Geraldine Ferraro about the end of the road for her favorite gal and whether or not Obama stands a chance with her and other Hill-raisers. The answer was far from what Obama’s camp wanted to hear. No burying the hatchet; no attempt at reconciliation: “I think Obama was terribly sexist.â€�

• Part of Obama’s attempts at coalescing the party involves appeasing an entire state. Florida is unquestionably a major player this fall, but Obama’s (and all of the Dem candidates) absence from the campaign scene before the January primary and then his campaign’s hostility to Hillary’s quest to count that barely legitimate vote have put the DNC and Dem brass on edge. Outside of the usual young voters and African Americans, there is very little excitement for what FL Dems and swing voters consider a no-show punk who has bloodied their chosen political family, the Clintons. Obama is making a very wise trip to the Sunshine State later this week, scratching originally scheduled closed fundraisiers for at least one of his trademark mega-rallies, in Tampa on Thursday. How will he play in the retirement communities teeming with GOP-leaning moderates and Hillary’s Dem crowd?

• The first blatantly dirty attack ad of the probable general match up has been unleashed - and target Obama (and family) is furious. The Tennessee GOP released a web video blasting Michelle Obama’s controversial “proud of my country” remarks from earlier this year. We all knew this was coming, a conservative/GOP group slamming these “unpatriotic” comments. But so soon? Obama responded with vigor this morning on GMA, calling the video “low-class” and taking offense at the choice of target: “If they think they’re going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful,” he said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Because that I find unacceptable.”

• The Tenn. GOP video clearly brings into question of how far McCain and his campaign is willing to go to keep dirty ads out of their general fight. No response to speak of from Camp McCain on the anti-Michelle spot as of yet. This could bring bad pub if JMac doesn’t step up soon.