Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama reflected on last week's Republican convention and speakers' attempts to paint him as inexperienced. Obama said he was confused about comments attacking his work as a community organizer in Chicago.

"Community service work? John McCain has been talking about putting country first and extolling the virtues of national service," said Obama. "That's what I did between the ages of 24 and 27 before I went to law school. I would think that's what we want all our young people to do."

McCain said he thinks Obama's community service was a noble activity, though the Republican feels it doesn't build his opponent's presidential resume. McCain said the comments were reactions to Democratic attacks on the experience of his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

"She's had a long career from City Council to mayor to governor, but the fact is she's kind of what Americans have been looking for and again with all due respect to any critic I think mayor is a very important job nowadays," said McCain.

Palin was absent on the morning programs, but her Democratic counterpart Joe Biden was not. He said Palin's speech last week had little substance to it.

"Her silence on the issues was deafening," said Biden. "She didn't mention a word about health care, a word about the environment, a word about the middle class – that never parted her lips, so I don't know where she is on those things."

McCain says within the next few days, Palin will take questions from reporters for the first time since her nomination.

Senator Hillary Clinton is expected to begin stumping for the Obama-Biden ticket Monday. Clinton was in the city yesterday to back Councilman Mike McMahon's run for Congress. At a rally on Staten Island Saturday, she took the opportunity to blast the Republicans who spoke at the convention in St. Paul this week.

"You know, if I were the Republican Party, instead of having their convention where they made all those speeches, but never told us how to do anything, what they should have done is apologize to America for the last eight years,” said Clinton.

Earlier in the day, the state's junior senator marched in the annual Labor Day parade up Fifth Avenue with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson.