His first date, apparently, is to talk to a conference of … journalists, surprise surprise.

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama will speak Sunday, July 27 to attendees of UNITY ‘08, here for the quadrennial convention of UNITY Journalists of Color, Inc. Obama’s speech will be the final event of a five-day conference that attracted nearly 7,000 journalists from across the country and will be televised live at 11 a.m. (CDT) from the Skyline Ballroom at McCormick Place West convention center. … Obama will take questions from a panel of journalists moderated by Suzanne Malveaux, CNN anchor, and Romesh Ratnesar, world editor, TIME magazine. The panel of questioners include John Yang, White House correspondent, NBC News, representing the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA); Leonard Pitts, Jr., columnist, The Miami Herald, representing the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ); Dianne Solis, senior writer, The Dallas Morning News, and representing the National Association of Hispanic Journalists; and Brian Bull, assistant news director, Wisconsin Public Radio, representing the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA). UNITY also asked Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, to speak at the conference. The McCain campaign declined the invitation, citing scheduling conflicts.

McCain could do worse than taking some questions from Leonard Pitts.