Oh, El Rushbo.....

Sen. John McCain is spending the weekend at his ranch in Sedona, Arizona with members of his traveling press corps.

The festivities are on-the-record. Or so I am told by two members of the press.

Barack Obama doesn't have the warm and fuzzies for his press contingent and every casual encounter between him and them is painfully negotiated between, usually, the AP reporter and Robert Gibbs.

Aides/strategists/thinkers within Obama campaign have several theories about whether McCain's accessibility will benefit him in a two-person race. One theory holds that Obama's brand is sui generis; the darned press corps is so eager to unfairly parse his every word and bring him to down to earth; less is more.

There are some folks in the Obama campaign who want Obama to speak to the press more often and more casually. These folks have, so far, lost their arguments.

But that could change.

Comments

Or maybe the members of the press are babies who need to be coddled and should just report fairly regardless of how chummy they are with a candidate

Posted by Dan | February 29, 2008 3:10 PM

Right on, Dan. I remember on Valentine's Day watching Hillary Clinton hand out chocolates to the press corps. It gave me the jibblies. W was chummy with the press during his campaign in 2000, too. The media should be treated with deference as a (purportedly) impartial observer, not as a lap dog that needs to be given treats to behave.

Posted by Seth | February 29, 2008 3:25 PM

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Posted by neilrlca | February 29, 2008 3:29 PM

I'd like to see them open up a bit more in the general, because the media absolutely loves McCain for keeping them in business. Is anyone at this media summer camp even going to ask McCain about Hagee, or Donahue's response? Anyone? Bueller?

Posted by John M. | February 29, 2008 3:37 PM

Wow this was a hilarious line:

"One theory holds that Obama's brand is sui generis; the darned press corps is so eager to unfairly parse his every word and bring him to down to earth; less is more."

This is the press corps that has given Obama overwhelmingly positive coverage for the last two years? A non-partisan media group did a study and its now SCIENTIFIC. For whatever reason we haven't heard a word about the Obama-Mrs. Rezko-Iraqi billionaire real estate kick back scheme.

Here is a simple explanation. McCain has nothing to hide - he believes in transparency, honesty, and integrity and never worries because he fights with the truth on his side. Obama, on the other hand, is the greatest achievement in 21st century mass marketing with no substance and has everything to lose if someone points out that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes.

Posted by Jesse | February 29, 2008 3:48 PM

Hey Jesse, how about Paxson? There's some nice truth from his campaign that he had to retract. Have a good long look at George Will's column in the WaPo this week. That's how McCain fights. There's no question that he's a hero and believes himself to always be acting honorably. The question is whether that produces a brittle self-regard that may be manipulated by some of the friendly lobbyists who surround him in droves.

Maybe Obama's gotten better coverage because there's just very little to attack, did you ever think about that?

Posted by John M. | February 29, 2008 3:52 PM

Any politician has to work the press like the hungry bitch that it is. The Clintons got into trouble early on by trying to keep it arms length. Obama is going to need to be smarter, cause if he doesn't give them good stuff they'll just make it up on their own.

Posted by Helter | February 29, 2008 4:08 PM

Marc - I have a genuine question. Would more access to Obama help us (the non-press public), or just help the press, professionally speaking? Or rather, how would it help us?

Posted by Peter | February 29, 2008 4:10 PM

Great question by Peter. Maybe the slumber party weekend is good for McCain, though he shouldn't count on it, and good for the narcissists on the bus, but not the general public.

Posted by AJ | February 29, 2008 5:10 PM