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political-buzz.com — We are happy to bring you another edition of our “Political Dispatch” podcast series from PoliticalBuzz.com. “PD” is a weekly series bringing you insight and analysis from the best political journalists and strategists as well as exclusive interviews with top politicians and campaign staffers.

This week we talked with…

Robert Borosage - president of the Institute for America’s Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America’s Future. He also writes occasional columns for the Huffington Post blog.

Robert has been a frequent guest on the program and returned today to chat about the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s recent controversial remarks about Barack Obama and what, if any, rift has developed between Obama and the liberal/progressive base of the Democratic Party as the Dem nominee makes a subtle shift to the center for the general.

guardian.co.uk — WASHINGTON (AP) - Health care is returning as a campaign issue, with special interest and advocacy groups preparing to spend at least $60 million to push politicians to embrace universal access to medical coverage.

The efforts, one by a coalition of labor and liberal groups and another by AARP, also include direct appeals to the presidential contenders and congressional candidates to change a system in which millions of people are without coverage.

A coalition of labor unions and Democratic-leaning organizations called Health Care for America Now on Tuesday was announcing a $40 million campaign to promote affordable health care coverage for all. The group is spending $1.5 million on a national cable ad, and print and Web advertising. It also plans to spend $25 million on advertising through the end of the year. The effort will concentrate on key congressional districts in 45 states, where the coalition also plans to deploy 100 organizers.

— John McCain weighs in on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which Isaiah pithily describes here, and demonstrates the utter inadequacy of E. coli conservatism to grasp, well, reality:

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."... "They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it's hard for them to leave their families when they don't have somebody to take care of them.

Of course, as this document shows, average educational attainment has been higher for women than for men for ten years now. Read here for the definitive demonstration that, yes, women make less than men for the same jobs, and yes, the only possible way to explain that is discrimination.

Doesn't matter. The Senate's conservative minority just filibustered fair pay for women—or, as the AP laundered this shameful action, "killed the bill Wednesday night on a 56-42 vote that denied the measure the 60 votes needed to advance it to full debate and a vote."