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July 25, 2008 10:41:22 PM CDT

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McCain's Lead Dog Isn't Afraid to Bark, or Bite

Posted May 15, 08 6:08 PM CDT in Politics 

(Newser) – Mark Salter has the honor of being John McCain’s “chief creator, shaper and enforcer,” the Wall Street Journal reports of a man who rides the press corps hard and thinks he knows Barack Obama’s soft spots. A McCain confidant of two decades, the goateed, chain-smoking Salter has co-written five books with the senator and is an often strident defender of his boss.

Salter, 53, says he’ll argue McCain's as much a “change candidate” as Obama is, will build distance with President Bush on Hurricane Katrina and climate change, and will slay Obama on trade and “empty optimism.” The Journal also gets inside Salter’s feuds with the media and with his rival’s aides—in which the adviser is described as “biting,” and his rapid-response tactics deemed “bizarre rants.”

Source Wall Street Journal

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Senior advisor Mark Salter, left.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
Mark Salter, right, and Steve Schmidt, center, senior advisers to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., second from left, speaks to advisors Mark Salter, left, Charlie Black, right, and press secretary Brooke Buchanan.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Mark Salter, senior adviser to Republican nominee-in-waiting, Sen. John McCain.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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Barack Obama  • John McCain  • climate change  • media  • Hurricane Katrina  • Mark Salter


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