'Sgt.' Schmidt Hones McCain's Pitch

Steve Schmidt, brought aboard in July, has made daring part of McCain campaign

(NEWSER) - While pundits might disagree about results, there’s no doubt John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin and his move to suspend his campaign over the bailout are huge gambles that can be traced to strategist Steve Schmidt, the Los Angeles Times reports. Nicknamed “Bullet” by strategist Karl Rove, Schmidt is recycling tactics he used in leading George W. Bush’s “war room” in 2004. More»

And Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin is still pretty scary: reactions

(NEWSER) - If you thought Julianne Moore's Sarah Palin was terrifying in the first Game Change teaser , wait until you see her in the full trailer, where she utters lines such as, "We have to win this thing. I so don’t want to go back to Alaska." Watch below, then read on for some reactions:

• This will clearly be "a Frankenstein-esque story about McCain’s staffers coming to regret the choice they made in bringing a little-known governor into the limelight," writes Jon Bershad at Mediaite . "The full trailer ... gives us even more famous actors getting their turn to stare in horror at the 'monster' they’ve created."

HBO debuts first teaser

(NEWSER) - For all of you who have spent the past nine months wondering how Julianne Moore’s Sarah Palin impersonation will stack up against Tina Fey’s , you finally have your answer. HBO debuted its first teaser trailer for Game Change, the film due in March that's based on the Mark Halperin-John Heilemann book about the 2008 presidential election. Neither Ed Harris as John McCain nor Woody Harrelson as top adviser Steve Schmidt sound much like their real-life counterparts, notes David Jackson in USA Today , but Moore’s Palin is spot-on: Numerous publications including People , New York , the Huffington Post , and Jezebel are fairly impressed. More»

Twin NYT reports on both sides' strategy for the midterms

(NEWSER) - As Republicans eye the keys to both houses, Democrats are taking the gloves off: Candidates around the country are opening an earlier-than-ever round of attack ads assailing opponents as anything from a "dishonest used-car salesman" to a "predatory real estate speculator." Starting with five weeks to go could backfire, some worry, but many feel their backs are up against the wall and there's no choice but to go all-out, reports the New York Times . More»

Beware her gigantic feet!

(NEWSER) - Nancy Pelosi is going to beat your head in with a baseball bat. Or at least, that's what North Carolina Republican House candidate Harold Johnson says in one of his ads, adding, “If you're a small-business owner, you put your helmet on.” But hey, it could be worse. In a recent Pennsylvania ad, Pelosi becomes a 50-foot monster crushing entire houses underfoot. The speaker has, in other words, become the rallying point/boogeyman for Republicans across the country, the Washington Post reports. More»