Measuring the Curtains?

"Somewhat bewildered, Mr. Monegan soon determined that Trooper Wooten had indeed volunteered for duty at the fairgrounds -- in full costume as 'Safety Bear,' the troopers' child-friendly mascot."

Guess you could say she was loaded for bear.

" . . . Two years earlier, the trooper and the governor's sister had been embroiled in a nasty divorce and child-custody battle that had hardened the Palin family against him. To Mr. Monegan and several top aides, the state fair episode was yet another example of a fixation that the governor and her husband, Todd, had with Trooper Wooten and the most granular details of his life. 'I thought to myself, "Man, do they have a heavy-duty network and focus on this guy," ' Mr. Monegan said. 'You'd call that an obsession.' "

Question: Does this become a big press story now?

CBS's Dean Reynolds peeled off the McCain campaign to spend some time with Obama, and here is his report:

"The national headquarters in Chicago airily dismisses complaints from journalists wondering why a schedule cannot be printed up or at least e-mailed in time to make coverage plans. Nor is there much sympathy for those of us who report for a newscast that airs in the early evening hours. Our shows place a premium on live reporting from the scene of campaign events. But this campaign can often be found in the air and flying around at the time the 'CBS Evening News with Katie Couric' is broadcast. I suspect there is a feeling within the Obama campaign that the broadcast networks are less influential in the age of the internet and thus needn't be accomodated as in the days of yore. Even if it's true, they are only hurting themselves by dissing audiences that run in the tens of millions every night.

"The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps."

I actually liked the Obama plane. You get food every time you fly!

Instapundit isn't exactly sympathetic:

"It hasn't hurt the coverage, which is why they don't care. Plus this: 'The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.'

"Maybe that should be McCain's new schtick: If we can clean up after the press pool, we can clean up America!"

GOP strategist-turned-pundit Mike Murphy blows the whistle on a television practice:

"I was doing some cable TV duty last night and had the bad luck to follow a segment about a focus group of voters being dial tested during the debate. Dial groups are bad enough, but actually putting this madness on television as a verdict of some kind is reckless. I said as much at the beginning of my segment. First, the sample from one group is far too small to mean much. Second, turning this voodoo into a television spectacular completely distorts whatever limited research value a group might provide."

Kudos to Murphy for his candor. But it would have been more courageous if he'd said he was on MSNBC.