In a television commercial released today designed to improve voter's perception of him as a kindly bipartisan and to immunize himself from attacks by Democrats during the culminating night of the Democratic Convention, John McCain looked directly at the camera and promised Barack Obama that he would not engage in...

In a television commercial released today designed to improve voter's perception of him as a kindly bipartisan and to immunize himself from attacks by Democrats during the culminating night of the Democratic Convention, John McCain looked directly at the camera and promised Barack Obama that he would not...

In a television commercial released today designed to improve voter's perception of him as a kindly bipartisan and to immunize himself from attacks by Democrats during the culminating night of the Democratic Convention, John McCain looked directly at the camera and promised Barack Obama that he would not...

Following Barack Obama's official nomination last night, delegates formerly pledged to Hillary Clinton have struggled to formally, as well as personally, bring closure to a historic and emotional chapter in American political history. At a suburban Denver hotel this morning, one group of Clinton delegates from the Oregon delegation took...

The obsessive media focus on the Presidential election makes it easy to forget that thousands of elective offices will be decided on the same day. All 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for reelection; one-third of the Senate is on the bubble; governorships, state senators and representatives,...

Two of the more colorful characters in Denver this week are "Fox News Guy," who carries a large, hand-lettered sign on cardboard bragging about the excellence of Fox News, and "Right Wing Deprogrammer," who carries a nicer sign and a "right wing dunce cap" and tries to rebut conservative memes....

Signs of the Democratic Party's efforts to hold a "green" Convention show up everywhere in Denver this week. DNC officials drive hybrid Chevy SUVs; there are official emails encouraging media to ride public transportation, shuttles from major hotels to convention venues, even signs put up by Convention sponsor Coors/Molson boasting...

By M.S. Bellows, Jr. and Gabriel Beltrone

Yesterday John McCain, eager to garner youth and Latino votes, grinningly accepted the endorsement of Puerto Rican music star and sex symbol Daddy Yankee (real name: Ramon Ayala) at a Phoenix, Arizona, high school while teenaged girls swooned, gasped and giggled in...

By M.S. Bellows, Jr. and Mayhill Fowler

Back in June, during a flurry of telephonic press conferences by both campaigns on national defense issues featuring John Kerry (Dem-MA) for Obama and Joe Lieberman (Vichy-CT) for McCain, one of us (Bellows) wondered: is it possible that Obama already has chosen...

The Obama campaign just issued a press release containing a letter to the DNC Credentials Committee asking that the Democratic National Convention delegations from Florida and Michigan be seated with full, rather than half, votes. That request brings the contentious "early primary" dispute over those two states full-circle: Hillary Clinton's...

The Presidential campaigns' and political parties' press releases have never been completely devoid of snark -- one would think that missives sent to professional political journalists wouldn't talk down to them, but both sides occasionally lapse into the kinds of spin and transparent manipulation usually reserved for the least-knowledgeable strata...

In politics, a gaffe is when you accidentally reveal what you really think. In a press release last Friday, the McCain campaign unveiled a new TV ad that is intended to reach Latino voters by honoring their contributions to the United States but that instead commits a telling gaffe by...

In telephone conference calls with reporters this week, the McCain campaign complained bitterly about Democratic attacks on John McCain's military credentials, while at the same time trotting out even worse attacks on Democrats' military credentials, even reviving the "swiftboat" attacks leveled in 2004 against John Kerry.

Obama's surrogates' recent jibes...

UPDATE BELOW (June 27, morning)
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Original Post, June 26: In a press conference call this morning, John McCain surrogate Sam Brownback (R-KS) pointed at Barack Obama and essentially called him a spineless panderer -- and welcomed it, saying he expected Obama to cave in on Iraq...

Dennis McDonough, a foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign, said in a conference call this morning that legislation expanding presidential power to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans' communications is acceptable to Senator Obama because the United States Inspector General will ensure accountability.

In other words, the Obama campaign's...

Following on a run of strong showings in recent polls and the announcement that it will not use public financing for the general election, the Obama campaign yesterday released its first general election ad and began committing staff and key personnel to new battleground states.

Momentum...

At a time when the McCain campaign is awkwardly trying to court former supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Obama campaign has just sent up a powerful signal that Clinton herself will likely not be on the Democratic ticket in November.

An Obama press release issued shortly before...

In a "virtual town hall" Saturday ^fn. designed specifically to boost his standing with independents and disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters, John McCain did his best to project a moderate, bipartisan image - but wound up enunciating policy stances that sharply conflict with positions held by Clinton -- and by...

(Update: initial post-town-hall report on this special "Independents and Clinton Supporters" event here.)

Given how beaten up the Republican "brand" is these days -- wars and rumors of wars, recession, foreclosures, joblessness, floods, and record low approval ratings for the President aren't helpful for the party in power --...

Proxies for John McCain and Barack Obama -- including former Democrat (now McCain ally) Sen. Joe Lieberman (V-CT) and former Democratic Presidential candidate (now Obama ally) Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) -- engaged in dueling press releases and conference calls today concerning John McCain's timetable (which either is or isn't important,...