ABOARD “STRAIGHT TALK AIR” - Republican John McCain, who basically cut off contact with his traveling press corps in the last two months of the presidential race, walked to the back of his campaign plane on Tuesday to say goodbye.

“We’ve had a great ride, we’ve had a great experience, and it’s full of memories that we will always treasure,” the Arizona senator told reporters, who crowded into the aisle and the front of the plane’s press section to hear.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together, some, we’ve been together for almost two years,” he said during a flight from New Mexico to Arizona. “I wish you all every success and look forward to being with you in the future.”

McCain, who appeared subdued, said he was looking forward to the night’s results.

“I’m feeling good and feeling confident about the way things have turned out,” he said, with his wife Cindy at his side.

And that was that. McCain did not take questions, returning instead to the front of the plane, after which a brown curtain was drawn to separate reporters from the candidate and his staff.

McCain developed a brand for himself by holding long sessions with reporters on the back of his Straight Talk Express Bus during both of his presidential campaigns, but he stopped that practice in the last months of the 2008 campaign as his aides sought to keep him to a tighter message.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain talks to reporters on his plane)

WASHINGTON - What a popular guy.  
 
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is so popular that some “tough decisions” had to be made about which members of the press corps would fly on his plane during the final days of the campaign.
 
Off the plane this weekend will be the Dallas Morning News, New York Post and Washington Times. Among those taking seats will be staffers from the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, according to a campaign official.
 
Flying with the candidate is crucial because it expedites getting to campaign events, eliminating the hassles of commercial travel, as well as provides access to the candidate or other officials on the plane.
 
“Unfortunately, demand for seats on the plane during this final weekend has far exceeded supply, and because of logistical issues we made the decision not to add a second plane,” said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki. 
 
“This means we’ve had to make hard and unpleasant for all concerned decisions about limiting some news organizations and in some cases not being in a position to offer space to news organizations altogether,” she said.
 
A campaign official said adding a second plane would have cut a city a day from the schedule and that also larger news outlets were facing new limits on the number of seats on the plane, such as for columnists and extra correspondents.
 
Conservative outlet DrudgeReport highlighted the fact that all three newspapers losing their spots on the plane endorsed Republican rival John McCain for president.

The Dallas Morning News said it had no evidence of a connection to its endorsement, blogging its explanation here. The New York Post wrote its response here, suggesting it was not in the news business to be “liked”. The Washington Times said it was unhappy with the decision which it noted came two days after it endorsed McCain. A campaign official said the Times was told before it made its endorsement. 
 
Psaki said the campaign would still help correspondents not on the plane with hotel reservations, space on the buses and ensuring they receive the information that is given to the reporters on the plane.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (luggage and equipment belonging to the press corps is laid out for a security sweep)

Media coverage of the U.S. presidential race has not so much cast Democratic candidate Barack Obama in a favorable light as it has portrayed Republican opponent John McCain in a negative one.

That' s the verbatim conclusion of a new report from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism that analyzes the way the press has covered the campaign.

The report shows that negative stories about Arizona Sen. McCain has been decidedly unfavorable and has worsened over time, with negative stories about him outnumbering favorable Obama stories by more than three to one.

That and many more interesting details are available in the 35-page report, but what caught our attention, being a business-oriented news service, was a graph charting the tone of press coverage devoted to both candidates and how it changed after the bankruptcy filing of investment bank Lehman Brothers.

When Lehman collapsed, the percentage of negative stories about Obama plunged from 30 percent that week in September to just under 10 percent a week later. It scooted back up to 45 percent by early October and has been down again since then. Negative stories about McCain eased to 50 percent from... well, just a bit over 50 percent. Since then it's surged to nearly 70 percent.

After Lehman collapsed, the reported noted that McCain tried to seize the initiative on the economic crisis.

According to the report:

In doing so, he became a dominant actor in the campaign drama, generating more coverage than any other presidential or vice presidential candidate for the first time in the general election season.

But as McCain did so, the media narrative about him grew increasingly negative.

There's no doubt numerous factors could have affected the tone of the media's campaign coverage, but it looks like Lehman's collapse had at least some effect, at least according to the PEJ's data. What do you think?

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (McCain and Obama at the 2008 Alfred E. Smith dinner)

Media coverage of the U.S. presidential race has not so much cast Democratic candidate Barack Obama in a favorable light as it has portrayed Republican opponent John McCain in a negative one.

That' s the verbatim conclusion of a new report from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism that analyzes the way the press has covered the campaign.

The report shows that negative stories about Arizona Sen. McCain has been decidedly unfavorable and has worsened over time, with negative stories about him outnumbering favorable Obama stories by more than three to one.

That and many more interesting details are available in the 35-page report, but what caught our attention, being a business-oriented news service, was a graph charting the tone of press coverage devoted to both candidates and how it changed after the bankruptcy filing of investment bank Lehman Brothers.

When Lehman collapsed, the percentage of negative stories about Obama plunged from 30 percent that week in September to just under 10 percent a week later. It scooted back up to 45 percent by early October and has been down again since then. Negative stories about McCain eased to 50 percent from... well, just a bit over 50 percent. Since then it's surged to nearly 70 percent.

After Lehman collapsed, the reported noted that McCain tried to seize the initiative on the economic crisis.

According to the report:

In doing so, he became a dominant actor in the campaign drama, generating more coverage than any other presidential or vice presidential candidate for the first time in the general election season.

But as McCain did so, the media narrative about him grew increasingly negative.

There's no doubt numerous factors could have affected the tone of the media's campaign coverage, but it looks like Lehman's collapse had at least some effect, at least according to the PEJ's data. What do you think?

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (McCain and Obama at the 2008 Alfred E. Smith dinner)

NEW YORK- Former presidential contenders Gary Hart and Bob Kerrey on Wednesday weighed in on media coverage of the 2008 U.S. presidential race, agreeing that certain weaknesses in contemporary coverage are the result of the prolific new forms of media while others are simply timeless.

Hart, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, said he wished media outlets would send reporters with specialized expertise to cover candidates delivering major policy speeches.

“Do not send your political reporter to cover the speech. Send your foreign policy reporter or your economic reporter or your defense reporter,” said Hart, whose second presidential bid was derailed by a sex scandal.

Hart, a former Democratic senator from Colorado, and Kerrey, a former Democratic  senator from Nebraska, appeared at a press forum in New York sponsored by the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, The New Yorker and Conde Nast Publications.

Kerrey, who ran for president in 1992, said his biggest frustration with the media was “short memories.”

But he added: “It can work to your advantage as well as to your disadvantage.”

Hart also noted that with access to the Internet and the growth of new media, “everybody’s a journalist.”

But Kerry quickly disagreed. ”I would say that everybody is writing and putting stuff out there, but that doesn’t make them a journalist in my view, ” he said.

Kerrey, who is president of the New School in New York, recalled reading letters written during the 1860 presidential campaign by President Abraham Lincoln while seeking the same job more than a century later.

“His complaint was ‘I have to say the same thing over and over and over,’” Kerry said. “He’s basically complaining about having to stay on message.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credits: Reuters/Shaun Heasley (Kerrey in 2004, top; Hart in 2004, bottom)

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Political rallies are usually ideal for reporters to chat with party activists, but the campaign of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin took an unusual step by appearing to limit access to her supporters.

At Monday’s rally in the battleground state of Florida, reporters were barred from wandering around the area where the Alaska governor’s supporters had gathered. 

About 20 seconds into an interview I attempted with Brent McDonald, 52, I was stopped by a Palin campaign worker in mid-sentence. “The press is not allowed out here,” she said. 

I asked why. “I”m just telling you what they are telling me,” she replied.

A St. Petersburg Times reporter wrote that a campaign worker said that in the past negative things had been written.  “The campaign wanted to avoid that possibility Monday,” the reporter wrote on the newspaper’s “This Just In” blog.

In my case, I thought there might be an easy explanation that had little to do with media control. As a Reuters correspondent, I typically travel in what is called a “press pool” — a group that sticks closely to the candidate and rides in the motorcade. We go where the candidate goes. 

The “pool” is searched or “swept” by the Secret Service in the morning. Once that’s done, protocol requires we generally don’t mix with the public. That means staying clear of the big throngs at rallies. Otherwise, we’ll need to be searched again by the Secret Service — a tricky task when a motorcade is about to tear out of a rally.

But on this ocassion, I made it clear to Palin’s campaign that Clearwater was my last stop. There was no need to “sweep” me again. I wouldn’t be traveling with the pool for the remainder of the day. That freed me to mingle with the crowd.

So, I continued in my attempt to interview McDonald, who was starting to explain that his family were Democrats but that he was going with the Republican ticket. 

“I can trust them. McCain fought for us and it’s pretty hard not to trust a woman who is a mother of five,” he said. But as he was about to launch into another thought, a second Palin campaign worker interrupted us, asking me to leave the area.

I jotted down McDonald’s name and was ushered into an area gated away from the main group of Palin supporters.      

The crowd, estimated by police at around 5,000 people, feted the 44-year-old self-described “hockey mom” like a rock star. The crowd was especially enthusiastic in an area that was tightly organized with one section of supporters all dressed in blue shirts, another in red, and another in white. Standing together, they formed a human American flag. 

Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank reported that some Palin supporters at the Clearwater rally turned on reporters in the press area, shouting abuse after Palin blamed CBS News anchor Katie Couric’s questions for her “less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media.”

“Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, ‘Sit down, boy’, Milbank wrote.  

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Szep (Palin supporters with their outfits form a U.S. flag behind the stage)

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is happy to discuss her views on social issues like abortion and homosexuality, but reluctant to list what she usually reads to keep up on world events.
 
That’s the takeout from a series of interviews the Alaska governor did with CBS anchor Katie Couric, which aired on Tuesday night.
 
Palin, whose opposition to abortion rights has ignited support among social conservatives, some of whom were wary of presidential nominee John McCain, discussed whether rape or incest victims should be allowed to have an abortion.
 
“Personally, I would counsel the person to choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances that this person would find themselves in,” she said. “If you’re asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having an … abortion, absolutely not.”
 
When asked about her views on homosexuality, Palin talked about a close friend who is gay.
 
“One of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly,” Palin said. “She is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice I would have made. But I am not going to judge people.”
 
Palin has faced criticism for lacking experience in foreign policy. Before becoming governor some two years ago she was the mayor of a small town.
 
Couric asked Palin what newspapers and magazines she read regularly before becoming McCain’s running mate “to stay informed and to understand the world.”
 
Here is her response, according to a transcript provided by CBS:
 
Palin: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media. 
 
Couric: What, specifically?
 
Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years. 
 
Couric: Can you name a few? 
 
Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

Photo credit: REUTERS/Stephen Mally

MONROE, Mich. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Monday the pregnancy of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter was not relevant to the campaign and reporters should back off of it.

Obama also said he was offended by a suggestion from an unidentified McCain aide that his campaign might have had a hand in spreading rumors about Palin and her family.
 
“People’s families are off-limits and people’s children are especially off-limits,” Obama told reporters following a campaign event in Monroe, Michigan. “This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories,” he added.

There was no evidence Obama’s campaign had any role in stoking a rumor that Bristol Palin was actually the mother of Palin’s four-month-old. Reporters traveling with the campaign had been fascinated by the talk for days. Obama’s press aides even told reporters the rumors seemed far-fetched and they would have nothing to say about them.
 
Palin has been the subject of a rumor mill among liberal bloggers who have speculated that Palin faked her own pregnancy in order to cover up for her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol. These bloggers speculated that Sarah Palin’s fifth child, born in April with Down’s syndrome, was actually Bristol Palin’s child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother. To rebut those rumors, Palin and her husband released a statement, first reported by Reuters, saying that Bristol was five months pregnant.
 
A senior McCain campaign aide was quoted in the Reuters story as suggesting that Obama’s campaign was linked to the bloggers who were spreading the rumors.
 
“I am offended by that statement,” Obama said when asked about it by a reporter. “There is no evidence at all that any of this involved us. Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be,” he added. “And if I ever thought there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they’d be fired.” 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

 Photo credit: Reuters/Matt Sullivan
 

SEDONA, Arizona - Taking a few days off from the presidential race, Sen. John McCain nonetheless keeps the media on its toes with a daily, early morning trip for coffee.

The Republican presidential candidate, who is staying at his comfortable home in the hills near Sedona, has been driven with staff, Secret Service, reporters, photographer and a television crew in tow to a Starbucks.

There, he quickly gets a cup to go and returns home.

On Friday, the six-vehicle motorcade — four SUVS and two vans– drove him 19 miles roundtrip to a Starbucks in Sedona.

On Thursday, the entourage of nine vehicles made a similar trip to a Starbucks in Cottonwood and back.

Members of the media are kept well away, confined inside the two vans, where they occupy themselves determining what McCain ordered, whether Cindy McCain’s shorts were white or khaki, how much fuel the trips consumed or why the candidate doesn’t just send an aide out for the coffee instead. 

For the record, on Thursday McCain had a cappuccino. Mrs. McCain’s shorts were khaki on Friday. The questions of fuel consumption and why an aide doesn’t fetch the coffee remained unanswered.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Mark Avery (Make-up artist tends to McCain at forum in California)

MEXICO CITY - Rain may ruin a parade, but it won’t ruin a press conference - at least not for John McCain.

The Republican U.S. presidential candidate closed up his short swing through Colombia and Mexico on Thursday with a “media avail” in a hangar, against a background of helicopters and fast police cars.

A media avail, for the uninitiated, is short for “availability” - another word for a news conference. And the Arizona senator likes to give them.   

But Thursday’s had an unexpected glitch from Mother Nature: pouring rain pounded down on the hangar, drowning out the journalists’ questions and the senator’s answers.

So he paused to wait it out. But there were schedules to keep, and once it seemed clear the clouds were not closing up soon, McCain motioned for the journalists to move up close to the raised platform where he stood.

So they did - sitting on the floor and tossing questions upward, which McCain answered over the noise. Odd venue or not, he didn’t make a lot of news, commenting on drug trafficking and a recent shake-up in his campaign staff.

Asked for his take on the campfire-like scene, McCain said it was “certain the most unusual” press conference he had ever held.

Photo credit: Reuters/Daniel Aguilar.  Arizona Sen. John McCain and his wife Cindy smile during a press conference in Mexico City.