Cliff Schecter

John McCain did his best "Al Qaeda in Iran" impression today, and got Sudan and Somalia mixed up. Hey, they both are in Africa and begin with S! So don't you go judging McCain on this mistake. If he had to bomb an African country that possessed a stockpile of chemical weapons about to be smuggled into the United States, and he knew that is was one of those "S" countries

The word around town (or DC for that matter, not my town, Columbus) is that Sen. McCain may pick his VP just as the Democrats are closing shop in Denver, to limit any Democratic bounce. It looks like it might be Mitt Romney too, which might even be more helpful as his Mormon background might get some positive press in Colorado and surrounding states where there is a large Mormon base--such

As we discussed yesterday, Wes Clark raised legitimate questions about whether John McCain's service had prepared him to be President. He also questioned McCain's judgment on Iraq. I know, how dare he!?! In any case, after the Obama Campaign distanced itself from Clark's remarks (a stupid move for all the reasons I pointed out yesterday) and the McCain Campaign pretended it was an attack on his military record, Clark responded.

As a result of the brouhaha we discussed earlier over General Wes Clark's questioning John McCain's relevant experience to be commander in chief, McCain responded with a conference call. The problem, at least for those who really do expect "straight-talk" from McCain, is on that call he had a former Swift Boater of Kerry's war record.

It is in the 18 targeted states we previously discussed as Obama's current electoral playground--14 of them George W. Bush territory in 2004. It picks up on themes that would seem to be targeting white middle and working class voters--suburban independents and urban/rural Reagan Democrats--centrally focusing on the "dignity" of work by discussing his role in supporting "welfare to work," removing tax incentives to move jobs abroad and tax cuts for

The DCCC is staying on the offensive. And they seem to feel good about their prospects, as many of the districts where they are going up with this ad are not "top-tier" in terms of their competitiveness. Here are the 13 districts where the ad will run: Brian Bilbray (CA-50) Charlie Dent (PA-15) Thelma Drake (VA-02) Shelly Moore Capito (WV-02) Steve Chabot (OH-01) Phil English (PA-03) Scott Garrett (NJ-05)

The strategy is obvious. Republicans have owned this "issue" for a while, because Democrats like World War II fighter pilot George McGovern and Vietnam veteran John Kerry, have let GOPers who avoided service define what patriotism is for the past generation. As the GOP found someone who actually did serve this time around, it is more obvious than ever that they will use some combination of "black," "Muslim," and "anti-American" to

Swing State Project has put together quite a compendium of disaster--also known as the year in GOP scandal, recruitment failures for the House and Senate and the downright bizarre. It will give you a taste of why Republicans are so worried right now. Here is a taste, but you really have to go read the whole thing:2007 January 9:

I guess it's difficult to remember to pay all your real estate taxes when you own like 119 homes: Newsweek is set to publish a highly embarrassing report on Sen. John McCain, revealing that the McCains have failed to pay taxes on their beach-front condo in La Jolla, California, for the last four years and are currently in default, The Huffington Post has learned.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn, in a race within the margin of error currently with Democratic challenger Rick Noriega, put out an ad so comical, so utterly ridiculous, that it had to be spoofed (yes, this ad above was real). So the Noriega team took care of it, by actually pointing out "Big Bad John's" real record while showing his own ad just for comic value. One last point, can we get a