McCain Gets Testy in Des Moines

PR firm helped her woo pundits, make case

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin likes to play up her outsider credentials while decrying the media elite, but she’s relied on both throughout her career. Belying her mockery of the “mainstream media,” Palin hired a well-connected PR firm to target East Coast journalists and courted conservative media insiders who eventually championed her VP candidacy. Jane Mayer of the New Yorker looks at a "surprise" nomination that was months, if not years, in the making. More»

Focus back on Ohio, Fla., Penn., Mich., despite Obama plans

(NEWSER) - In the final 50 days, the biggest change in Barack Obama's camp is a return to old political strategy, the Washington Post reports. Partly because Sarah Palin's selection has solidified red/blue divisions of past years, Obama is targeting the same swing states—Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Florida—that determined the past two elections, and have a short list of others that could turn Democrat. More»

Campaign aims to do the opposite of McCain

(NEWSER) - Team Romney’s rule of thumb: Do the opposite of everything John McCain did in 2008, or so reports Politico in a look at the campaign's strategy. The approach applies broadly, say advisers—focus hugely on the economy, fully engage in fundraising, integrate early with the Republican National Committee—but comes most into play in the search for a VP. The campaign doesn’t want to end up with its own version of Sarah Palin, so it is going to great lengths to avoid anyone who could be seen as unprepared. The goal, according to one official: Go with an "incredibly boring white guy." 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»