GOP Looks to Rain on Convention Parade

The days of the parties giving each other a breather during convention week are long gone, the New York Times reports. As Democrats reveled in Denver yesterday, the Republicans began popping balloons--launching attack ads, holding press conferences underscoring the Clinton-Obama divide, and trotting their candidate out on the Tonight Show. The Dems, for their part, plan to be just as aggressive during the Republican National Convention.

While even John Kerry accepted his 2004 nomination in relative peace, Barack Obama's campaign was busy yesterday responding to the GOP barrage with two ads pillorying McCain. Insiders say the modern news environment, by presenting more avenues of attack and reducing the news cycle to minutes, has done a lot to keep the game of hardball going. “Any time we can get our side of the story out,” says one GOP strategist, “that’s a good thing.” (More negative campaigning stories.)