GroundHog Deja ClusterF#$%

For those of us who enjoyed giving President George W. Bush a hard time, it's been an interesting time to "re-ass-ess" and eat some humble pie. In other words, this is must see tv. 

Of course, I might remind all, we could've elected - not a card-carrying but a card-playing Republican, if it weren't for a slight 365-to-173 Electoral College, Class of '08 advantage.

Anyway, I give you... the Return of the Daily Show:

Politico States the facts ...

Interesting article on Yahoo's Politico column...a basic, state-the-facts comparison of McCain and Obama:

By Carrie Budoff Brown, Jonathan Martin

To understand the stylistic gulf between Barack Obama and John McCain, first consider their cultural references.

The Republican enjoys a good Henny Youngman one-liner and the 1970s Swedish pop group ABBA. He tells jokes about drunken Irish twins, and the reason he had to join the Navy instead of the Marines: His parents were married when he was born.

The Democrat, meanwhile, professes to “love the art of hip-hop.” He listens to Jay-Z, Beyoncé and old-school favorites like Stevie Wonder on his IPod. Chicago is “ChiTown,” sneakers are “kicks” and knuckle bumps are at times his greeting of choice.

Over the next five months, McCain and Obama will delineate differences not just on substance, but also on style. They are well-cast foes, cutting distinctions on presentation, personality and personal image. One is the master of the arena rally, the other the town hall. One can shrug it off, the other not as much. One can be stylish and professorial, the other corny and occasionally prickly.

McCain, 71, who moved to Washington as a freshmen U.S. House member in the same year that Obama graduated from college, is a consummate extrovert who delights in surrounding himself with people, whether they are Senate colleagues, long-serving aides or “Trotskyites,” as he sometimes calls members of the press corps. He is most confident when he can speak extemporaneously and parry with an audience. A military man from a military family, McCain is a former POW with a quick wit and a short fuse.

Obama, 46, who was in elementary school when McCain began serving in Vietnam, is at his best speaking from a prepared text, and using his gift for timing and diction to make carefully-honed words soar in cavernous arenas and pavilions. The son of a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother, Obama positions himself as the embodiment of the American dream—and of cool, both in taste and temperament. Aides describe him as rarely very high or very low, annoyed but not paralyzed by setbacks. Aloof at times, Obama can show minimal enthusiasm for some of the sillier rituals of campaign-trail life.

There are similarities, to be sure, as both claim to be straight-talking and reform-minded, and both are occasionally self-deprecating. While his rival knows of Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers through his two young daughters, McCain benefits from being the father of teens and 20-somethings; he's hip enough to joust with Jon Stewart and drop a "gaydar" reference on Saturday Night Live. And Obama can sometimes look less than hip, touting a traditional home life centered on children’s activities like sleepovers, bicycle rides and dance recitals.

But from a style standpoint, facing off against Obama is already proving to be a challenge for McCain. On their very first night as head-to-head opponents, McCain’s lackluster speech in New Orleans last week set off a wave of criticism that the Republican is neither as impressive as his opponent nor as polished or energizing.

McCain aides recognize their candidate’s oratory strengths and weaknesses and have sought to frame him in the best possible light by challenging Obama to a series of joint town hall events—the incarnation of the new brand of politics the Democrat promises to deliver.

Obama is open to the joint forums, but has not yet committed to any. Whatever he decides, aides expect Obama, who held down 15-hour days during the primary season, to continue the same pace of massive rallies, smaller policy-focused town hall events and retail stops. The mix plays to his strength (the big speech) and buttresses his weakness (claims of inexperience).

McCain aides expect to keep their candidate in smaller forums where he can display his command of policy and politics—and his sense of humor, a mix of impromptu and well-rehearsed wit that often comes at his own expense.

Holding a panel-style discussion on the environment last month near Seattle, McCain was quick to interject when a high school student mentioned that he wanted to offer a youthful perspective.

“We need that, obviously,” quipped McCain, who often describes himself as "older than dirt" and with "more scars than Frankenstein."

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McCain Trying to Avoid a "Side-by-Side" standing debate?

McCain Trying to Avoid a "Side-by-Side" standing debate?

Did you see this news item on Wednesday? It came about 12 hours after McCain supporters cringed as the Republican nominee PAINFULLY crept through a stump speech that was aired on CNN live. It was ... well, PAINFUL.

McCain's supporters were actually OLDER than him. One CNN pundit mentioned it, stating, "John McCain wasn't the oldest person in the room."

McCain and Republican strategists then tuned in for Senator Obama's speech at St. Paul, Minnesota and realized the HUGE issue in front of them come debate time.

See the AP story on the proposed debate format (which could be good for 2-or-3 public town hall-type debates, but I would negotiate at least three "side-by-side" - Kennedy vs. Nixon type debates for all the world to see.

***

BATON ROUGE, La. - John McCain challenged Barack Obama to join him in 10 town hall meetings with voters before the Democratic National Convention in August. An Obama adviser was receptive to the idea and said the campaign would discuss it.

McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, sent his rival a letter outlining the offer on Wednesday, the day after Obama clinched the Democratic nomination. McCain suggested the first town hall be held June 12 in New York.

"We need to now sit down and work out a way that we can have these town hall meetings and have a great debate," McCain told reporters Wednesday in Baton Rouge.

He credits the more intimate town hall format with his victory in the New Hampshire primary that launched his climb to the GOP nomination. McCain said the style would tell voters more than the typical formal, televised debates.

"I don't think we need any big media-run production, no process question from reporters, no spin rooms," McCain said. "Just two Americans running for office in the greatest nation on earth, responding to the questions of the people whose trust we must earn."

So, who is the Vicki Iseman?

Save yourself some time, as the old Huffinton Post has already surfed the 'net. So, be sure to check out the Huffington web site. The Washington Post came up with this:

McCain's Ties To Lobbyist Worried Aides
Before 2000 Campaign, Advisers Tried to Bar Her

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Michael D Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 21, 2008; A01

Aides to Sen. John McCain confronted a telecommunications lobbyist in late 1999 and asked her to distance herself from the senator during the presidential campaign he was about to launch, according to one of McCain's longest-serving political strategists.

John Weaver, who was McCain's closest confidant until leaving his current campaign last year, said he met with Vicki Iseman at the Center Cafe at Union Station and urged her to stay away from McCain. Association with a lobbyist would undermine his image as an opponent of special interests, aides had concluded.

Members of the senator's small circle of advisers also confronted McCain directly, according to sources, warning him that his continued ties to a lobbyist who had business before the powerful commerce committee he chaired threatened to derail his presidential ambitions.

The New York Times published a lengthy article on its Web site last night detailing McCain's ties to Iseman. "It's a shame that the New York Times has chosen to smear John McCain like this," said Charles R. Black Jr., a top adviser to McCain's current presidential campaign and the head of a Washington lobbying firm called BKSH & Associates. "Neither Senator McCain nor the campaign will dignify false rumors and gossip by responding to them. John McCain has never done favors for anyone, not lobbyists or any special interest. That's a clear 24-year record."

The McCain team issued a statement last night decrying "gutter politics" and saying the story -- which had been reported on the Drudge Report Web site in December -- was a "a hit and run smear campaign."

Iseman, 40, who joined the Arlington-based firm of Alcalde & Fay as a secretary and rose to partner within a few years, often touted her access to the chairman of the Senate commerce committee as she worked on behalf of clients such as Cablevision, EchoStar and Tribune Broadcasting, according to several other lobbyists who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

McCain, after his unsuccessful 2000 campaign, has emerged as the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. His reputation as a crusader for Washington reform -- forged during almost 30 years in the Senate -- is based largely on his stinging critiques of the role played by lobbyists. He routinely decries earmarks, or pet projects, inserted into legislation. He has repeatedly maintained that he has "never, ever done a favor for any lobbyist or special interest group." It was this reputation that McCain's closest aides sought to protect.

"We were running a campaign about reforming Washington, and her showing up at events and saying she had close ties to McCain was harmful," one aide said.

The aide said the message to Iseman that day at Union Station in 1999 was clear: "She should get lost." The aide said Iseman stood up and left angrily.

Iseman could not be reached at her home or office last night. But she told the Times via e-mail that "I never discussed with him alleged things I had 'told people,' that had made their way 'back to' him." The Times reported that she said she never received special treatment from the senator from Arizona or his office.

Three telecom lobbyists and a former McCain aide, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Iseman spoke up regularly at meetings of telecom lobbyists in Washington, extolling her connections to McCain and his office. She would regularly volunteer at those meetings to be the point person for the telecom industry in dealing with McCain's office.

Concern about Iseman's presence around McCain at one point led to her being banned from his Senate office, according to sources close to McCain. Senior McCain aide Mark Salter, in an e-mail, denied that Iseman was ever barred from the office or was even a frequent presence there.

Iseman's bio on her lobbying firm's Web site notes, "She has extensive experience in telecommunications, representing corporations before the House and Senate Commerce Committees."

Her partners at Alcalde & Fay include L.A. "Skip" Bafalis, a former five-term Republican congressman from Florida, and Michael A. Brown, the son of former commerce secretary Ronald H. Brown and a former Democratic candidate for mayor of the District.

Its client list is heavy with municipalities and local government entities, which suggests that its major emphasis is on the controversial business of winning narrowly targeted, or "earmarked," appropriations.

In the years that McCain chaired the commerce committee, Iseman lobbied for Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson, the head of what used to be Paxson Communications, now Ion Media Networks, and was involved in a successful lobbying campaign to persuade McCain and other members of Congress to send letters to the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Paxson.

In late 1999, McCain wrote two letters to the FCC urging a vote on the sale to Paxson of a Pittsburgh television station. The sale had been highly contentious in Pittsburgh and involved a multipronged lobbying effort among the parties to the deal.

At the time he sent the first letter, McCain had flown on Paxson's corporate jet four times to appear at campaign events and had received $20,000 in campaign donations from Paxson and its law firm. The second letter came on Dec. 10, a day after the company's jet ferried him to a Florida fundraiser that was held aboard a yacht in West Palm Beach.

McCain has argued that the letters merely urged a decision and did not call for action on Paxson's behalf. But when the letters became public, William E. Kennard, chairman of the FCC at the time, denounced them as "highly unusual" coming from McCain, whose committee chairmanship gave him oversight of the agency.

McCain's campaign denied that Iseman or anyone else from her firm or from Paxson "discussed with Senator McCain" the FCC's consideration of the station deal. "Neither Ms. Iseman, nor any representative of Paxson and Alcalde and Fay, personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC regarding this proceeding," the campaign said.

Iseman and her firm, which includes high-profile Republicans and Democrats, have also represented a number of other companies that have had issues before McCain and the commerce committee, including Univision, a Spanish-language television network. Iseman clients have given nearly $85,000 to McCain campaigns since 2000, according to records at the Federal Election Commission.

Staff writer James V. Grimaldi and research editor Alice Crites contributed to this report.