Newsweek's Special Election Project (aka campaign "secrets")

[Guardsman Bass]

I thought I'd post this, since it looks kind of interesting. From what it says, this is the type of stuff that was released to Newsweek Reporters on the condition that it not be released until after election day. Here is the segment that describes what the project is (the first installment has come out):

Newsweek

The computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were victims of a sophisticated cyberattack by an unknown "foreign entity," prompting a federal investigation, NEWSWEEK reports today.

At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus—a case of "phishing," a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised. A top McCain official confirmed to NEWSWEEK that the campaign's computer system had been hacked and that the FBI had become involved.

Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions—information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.) A security firm retained by the Obama campaign took steps to secure its computer system and end the intrusion. White House and FBI officials had no comment earlier this week.

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

A Palin aide said: "Governor Palin was not directing staffers to put anything on their personal credit cards, and anything that staffers put on their credit cards has been reimbursed, like an expense. Nasty and false accusations following a defeat say more about the person who made them than they do about Governor Palin."

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

The disclosures are among many revealed in "How He Did It, 2008," the latest installment in NEWSWEEK's Special Election Project, which was first published in 1984. As in the previous editions, "How He Did It, 2008" is an inside, behind-the-scenes account of the presidential election produced by a special team of reporters working for more than a year on an embargoed basis and detached from the weekly magazine and Newsweek.com. Everything the project team learns is kept confidential until the day after the polls close.

Among the other revelations from the special project:

* The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.
* On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers—Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons—met to decide whether to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."
* The Obama campaign's New Media experts created a computer program that would allow a "flusher"—the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day—to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.
* Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.
* McCain also was reluctant to use Obama's incendiary pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as a campaign issue. The Republican had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism. Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons). And before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).
* Obama was never inclined to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate, not so much because she had been his sometime bitter rival on the campaign trail, but because of her husband. Still, as Hillary's name came up in veep discussions, and Obama's advisers gave all the reasons why she should be kept off the ticket, Obama would stop and ask, "Are we sure?" He needed to be convinced one more time that the Clintons would do more harm than good. McCain, on the other hand, was relieved to face Sen. Joe Biden as the veep choice, and not Hillary Clinton, whom the McCain camp had truly feared.
* McCain was dumbfounded when Congressman John Lewis, a civil-rights hero, issued a press release comparing the GOP nominee with former Alabama governor George Wallace, a segregationist infamous for stirring racial fears. McCain had devoted a chapter to Lewis in one of his books, "Why Courage Matters," and had so admired Lewis that he had once taken his children to meet him.
* On the night she officially lost the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a long and friendly phone conversation with McCain. Clinton was actually on better terms with McCain than she was with Obama. Clinton and McCain had downed shots together on Senate junkets; they regarded each other as grizzled veterans of the political wars and shared a certain disdain for Obama as flashy and callow.
* At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Palin was completely unfazed by the boys' club fraternity she had just joined. One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. "I'll be just a minute," she said.
* The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

It's not all "dark secrets" and shit - some of it was pretty banal. Overall, though, it was an interesting read.

[Guardsman Bass]

Oh, for fuck's sake, I fucked up the damn quote again! I forgot to put the second apostrophes in the top quote box.

I abase myself before the moderators, and beg that they fix that tiny oops on my part.

[sketerpot]

Neat stuff! As if getting Obama elected wasn't enough, now we get to throw dirty laundry around.

* Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.

Wow. I knew Palin sucked, but I didn't know she was this big of a screw-up.

* On the night she officially lost the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a long and friendly phone conversation with McCain. Clinton was actually on better terms with McCain than she was with Obama. Clinton and McCain had downed shots together on Senate junkets; they regarded each other as grizzled veterans of the political wars and shared a certain disdain for Obama as flashy and callow.

I KNEW IT! Hillary was a lot like a Republican candidate.

* The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

I have my new sig quote.

[FSTargetDrone]

No, not a screw-up. Palin acts like a spoiled teenager who's just been given Daddy's credit card. She's next to a goddamn thief, if you ask me. One whiff of The Big City and she's spending like there is no tomorrow.

Some credit might be given to McCain for not acting like a total turd, but quite frankly, he should have known damn well what he was getting into before he decided on this totally unsuitable running mate.

Beyond all that, to hell with Palin for stirring up the crowds:

The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.

This is just, this is so far beyond the pale...

Please, you 2 or 3 people here who supported Palin, want to refresh me again as to why you thought she was such a good choice? She is morally reprehensible.

[Phantasee]

I still think she's hot.

I'm not saying I would have voted for the GOP ticket, if I was able to vote, of course.

Her spending story is quite hilarious to me, and I look forward to seeing some more of this banal dirt.

[Guardsman Bass]

I still think she's hot, too. I wonder what the instant reaction of Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter was when she did this-

After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. "I'll be just a minute," she said.

I wonder if it went something like this-

"I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.”

[Bounty]

Some credit might be given to McCain for not acting like a total turd, but quite frankly, he should have known damn well what he was getting into before he decided on this totally unsuitable running mate.

The more I read about the GOP campaign the more it sounds like they were running three campaigns at once: McCain, trying to do things at least somewhat civilized; the GOP itself trying to do a repeat of Bush and the Palin circus doing whatever the hell it wanted. I mean, this:

[McCain] had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism.

and this:

Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue.

makes it abundantly clear there were at least two very different views on how to handle attack ads, and a disturbing lack of communication.

Does anyone else find the Lewis thing a bit heartbreaking?

[CmdrWilkens]

I do and I don't (the Lewis bit). I do because it is a sad moment when an idol crushes the hopes of thedevotee but at the same time McCain had this one coming once he decided to allow (or decided not to disallow) the hate that was filling his rallies to bubble over. I have a hard time ratcheting up my sympathy meter when McCain could very easily have defused this before it began to gestate. Instead he let things run wild to the poitn that even his rather stirring concession speech was marred by rascist and derrogatory shouts from the crowd.

[Mr Bean]

Oh please Palin run in 2012, oh please, I can tell already your not going to learn. Please let her be the Rep nominee in 2012. This woman is shall we say... short sighted?

[Darth Wong]

Some credit might be given to McCain for not acting like a total turd, but quite frankly, he should have known damn well what he was getting into before he decided on this totally unsuitable running mate.

The more I read about the GOP campaign the more it sounds like they were running three campaigns at once: McCain, trying to do things at least somewhat civilized; the GOP itself trying to do a repeat of Bush and the Palin circus doing whatever the hell it wanted. I mean, this:

[McCain] had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism.

and this:

Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue.

makes it abundantly clear there were at least two very different views on how to handle attack ads, and a disturbing lack of communication.

Does anyone else find the Lewis thing a bit heartbreaking?

It only underscores his unsuitability to be president, if he can't even muster enough leadership to keep his own campaign in line.

[FSTargetDrone]

McCain needed to get on top of the racist catcalls and other nonsense quickly and loudly. I have no doubt he heard about it from someone. He should have made a clear and firm statement that such things were not going to be tolerated. And he needed to give that message himself, not a press release or a statement read by a functionary. He needed to give a press conference and bring it up himself, right away.

Anyway, the more that comes out about Palin's behavior and contradictory statements, the more it is obvious that McCain had no idea what he was getting into. And that says a lot about how he might choose others to be part of his administration. If he can bungle the relatively unimportant position of Vice Piesident so badly, what kinds of decisions was he going to make for Secretary of ___? He met the woman twice before signing her on and apparently there were no deep conversations between them. If he really did choose her primarily to try and soak up some of the disaffected Clinton voters, well that didn't work either as most of those people ending up voting for Obama in the end.

Just imagine if McCain won the election and she continued this behavior. You cannot have a vice president who garners more attention than you (as president) do. And it certainly cannot be embarrassing or contradictory behavior. She was making policy comments that he wasn't.

Setting aside her atrocious lack of awareness of what the vice president's role actually is, or her ignorance of the countries comprising NAFTA (it's like it's a list of 30 minor states) or her confusion over Africa being a country or a continent, she is probably one of the worst choices anyone has ever made to run for Vice President, at least in recent times.

[FSTargetDrone]

Whoops, that should be: "it's not like it's a list of 30 minor states."