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Rice told embassies to limit aid for Obama, McCain

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-22 12:01

These ... trips don't quite fit neatly into something we regularly publish because it happens only every four years," Kennedy said. "So someone said 'Aha, let us do the worldwide notification."

State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said there was nothing unusual about the instructions or their timing, but would not provide the full text.

"I don't have any information to show that it was anything but us providing information to the field about what we're expecting our folks to be doing," Gallegos said Monday.

Gallegos said there was no "specific reason that because he, this specific candidate, is going out that we now have to remind everybody."

Rice's order, first reported by The Washington Times, makes clear that the rules apply to either candidate, and discuss the differences between a congressionally chartered trip and one organized under the auspices of a political campaign.

The orders tell diplomats and bureaucrats overseas to treat the candidates as "members of Congress visiting in personal or semi-personal capacities," but "with additional restrictions based on rules related to political activity."

Under ordinary circumstances, diplomats might meet congressional delegations at the airport, set up briefings with the host government, and arrange sightseeing or shopping tours.

Obama's trip is further complicated by the fact that two fellow senators traveled with him during his visits to Afghanistan and Iraq over the past several days, but Obama will continue solo for other stops in the Middle East and Europe.

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