Posts by Ana Marie Cox

Though this election cycle has held the interest of Americans at unprecedented levels, fatigue has also set in. But there is a group of close observers whose interest has remained high, and for whom each day is a revelation. I speak, of course, of the foreign press that is covering the U.S. election.
Sen. Barack Obama’s [...]

Pittsburgh, Pa. — Today, the McCain campaign sent its candidate out into Pennsylvania’s suburban centers for the second time in as many days, raising questions about what exact strategy the team was following. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has turned out to be huge asset in the state’s rural areas, but state polls continue to show [...]

I’m in the air right now, on my way to Sen. John McCain’s first stop of the day in Tampa, Fla. Next comes Blountville, TN. Then we’re off to Moon Township, PA. — sadly, not the home of a “Moon Township Victory Rally” but rather a final stab at Pittsburgh. That ends at 2:30 p.m., [...]

Well, at least there are bales of hay in the background. But the scariest thing about this vaguely Halloween-themed rally in Columbus, Ohio, wasn’t anything that Sen. John McCain said. It was the long, prison-themed introduction provided by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After first boasting that he wanted to “beef up” Sen. Barack Obama’s “skinny legs,” [...]

After my deep reading of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s rhetorical skills Tuesday, I confess I wasn’t quite up to scrutinizing her talk on national security issues for deviations from the point. But, not wanting to totally fail those interested in continued examination of Palin’s style, I took a look just at the remarks as prepared [...]

Below, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s energy policy speech as delivered. The remarks she added — that weren’t on the prompter or in the speech as it was sent out to the media — are in bold.
PALIN: Have a seat and we will just get to talk about one of these most excited issues, in my [...]

Bowling Green, Ohio
We’ve just wrapped up the second Palin campaign event of the day, a “Victory in Ohio” rally whose highlight — aside from the rather off-key selection of “Big Ol’ Jet Airliner” as pre-rally music — was the introduction of Joe the Plumber. Or, as the press corps has come to call him, JTP.
I [...]

TOLEDO, Ohio — The McCain camp has pushed back hard on the notion that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is operating independently from the senator’s campaign — or, in the colorful parlance of a typically unnamed staffer, “gone rogue.”
Having observed the McCain campaign for almost two years, I’m inclined to believe Palin’s less-scripted moments are, in [...]