Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) meets Friday with the Dalai Lama (Denver Post) in Aspen, Colorado.

AFGHANISTAN: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) defended Sen. Barack Obama’s plan to redeploy troops to Afghanistan in a USA Today op-ed Thursday.

IRAQ: Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), recently returned from a congressional delegation to the Middle East with Obama, called on both candidates to stop debating the success of the troop surge in Iraq and to “project forward” (AP).

LATINO VOTE: A new Pew poll surveys Hispanic voter attitudes toward the presidential race.