What's The Scoop?

Those in the McCain and Giuliani camps hoping to brand their rival with a moniker like "Made Up Mitt" might want to hold off. Unlike last quarter's most prominent male beauty expenditure, the scoop that Mitt Romney's campaign charged $300 for makeup has failed to pick up any steam. In fact, much of the coverage has focused on why the media is not covering the story in the way it hounded Edwards for his perceived vanity. Politico's Ben Smith, who initially broke the story about Edward's haircut, wonders why there has been no outcry, not even at Huffington Post. He concludes that while there are a number of reasons for the lack of interest, the haircut story exploded like it did because of the Republicans skill and interest in "defin[ing] Democrats with crude popular stereotypes." Marc Ambinder yawns at the story but argues that, although it was overblown, the $400 haircut was a legitimate story because of Edward's focus on anti-poverty and his own working-class roots. Atrios just yawns.

Moving to the slightly more substantive, The New York Times notes that the accelerated primary schedule is forcing the campaigns to spend money on building organizations in states like Florida, Michigan, and California. Traditionally, the focus has been almost exclusively on Iowa and New Hampshire. If these new early primary states are going to be key to winning the nomination, John McCain has yet another sign that he is in serious serious trouble. Southwestern Florida, a former McCain stronghold, donated three times as much money to Giuliani and Romney in the last quarter. Adding insult to injury, ultra long-shot Ron Paul outraised McCain by $30.

On the Democratic side, The Hill uses the campaigns' state-by-state expenditures to determine which states are being deemed the most crucial to winning the nomination. If spending is a chief indicator, the candidates have all concluded Iowa to be the most important of the early states. Beyond that, Obama has targeted South Carolina and its large black population, while Clinton and Edwards appear to be shifting their focus to Nevada, where organized labor and the Hispanic population will play a more prominent role.

The Democrats will have more money to spend in these states because Wall Street is increasingly sharing its riches as disillusionment with President Bush and the Republicans grows. The Top 10 investment banks gave Obama $739,579 and Clinton $424,545 in the second quarter compared to a little over $330,000 for McCain and Giuliani. The newfound attention to Democrats comes amidst rising concerns about the federal budget and America's perception overseas.

The more traditional Democrat money machine in Hollywood is not reaching out to support Clinton over her rivals despite her deep connections in the industry. Longtime friends and prominent donors like Steven Spielberg and Barbara Streisand gave the maximum donation to each of the top-three Democrats.