The Buzz

For the second time in a year McCain has ordered a major shake-up of his campaign structure with the intent of shifting the overall direction and strategy of the campaign during a time of quasi-crisis for the GOP nominee. The current situation is obviously nowhere near as dire as it was exactly one year ago […]

The Buzz

 Don’t forget to listen to our latest “Political Dispatch” podcasts with Jonathan Allen of CQ Politics and Mark Murray of NBC News.

Early concern from Republican strategists and organizers over the ability of McCain’s campaign to find its operating niche and present a solid message against Obama has turned into near-panic as July comes along and […]

The Buzz

The snafu over Obama surrogate Wes Clark’s decision to publicly downplay John McCain’s Vietnam War service and then stand behind that statement in the face of withering outrage from McCain’s camp has become a central issue of the campaign lately. What was initially an eyebrow-raising quip that pulled a potential Veep out of the mix […]

The Buzz

After days of occasional teases about an impending overseas journey for candidate Obama, his campaign has finally confirmed the rumors and announced a grand foreign tour this summer, taking Obama to Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain - Iraq and Afghanistan will come later, with the exact schedule under wraps for security reasons. Overseas trips […]

The Buzz

With Hillary and Obama set to woo ex-Clinton donors tonight and participate in their first joint public campaign rally tomorrow, some final details concerning a seamless merger of the Clinton brand into the Obama campaign and clean-up of some final Hillary baggage is underway courtesy of uber-lawyer Robert Barnett. Hillary wants to unify the party […]

The Buzz

Obama’s “Bush state” strategy is real and is set to be implemented in about 14 red states where George W. Bush won in 2004, according to deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand. And the campaign will spend time and money in other states considered even bigger long-shots for Obama; not for electoral votes, but to pull […]

The Buzz

Obama has spent the beginning of the general campaign in a frenzy of activity, whether it’s brushing off earlier promises along with public financing, showing that he’s ready to compete with McCain in red states, or launching a bold initiative to reshape his public perception with voters and convince the undecided that he is not […]

The Buzz

If the “Country I Love” ad buy in places like Alaska, Colorado and North Dakota didn’t already indicate that the Obama campaign is thinking big when it comes to traditionally red states in the West, than Obama’s scheduled campaign swing through New Mexico and Nevada next week and the campaign’s statement that those two states […]

The Buzz

The McCain campaign is keeping up its terrorism offensive against Obama with another morning conference call leveling some nasty charges at the Dem nominee over his support for the SCOTUS decision to grant Habeas to Gitmo detainees. The call featured McCain national security adviser Randy Scheunemann as well as surprise guest Fred Thompson to speak […]

The Buzz

President Bush has followed the apparent lead of GOP nominee John McCain on offshore drilling and, in a morning announcement from the White House, demanded that the Democratic Congress lift the federal drilling ban immediately - or face the wrath of voters. Bush’s ultimatum comes on the heels of McCain’s switch on drilling, from stiff […]