Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.

Washington Post national political reporter Lois Romano was online Thursday, July 31 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the latest in political news.

The transcript follows.

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Archive: Post Politics Hour discussion transcripts

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Lois Romano: Good morning everyone. Thanks for joining us today. There are so many good questions already, so I'll get started.

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Oakton, Va.: Hi, I can't help but wonder about McCain's team when I see the new "Celeb" ad. Didn't Reagan prove that good visuals outweigh negative voice over? Because if you just look at the pictures, the "story" is that Obama is a hugely exciting person who even has celebrities come to his events. And then they cut to McCain looking alone... so very alone.

I guess my question is, why is McCain camp so bad with the visuals? First that green screen, then the golf cart with Bush Sr., the German restaurant, the cheese aisle, and now this. It will be entertaining to see what is next, but at the same time you have to cringe at the amateurishness of it all.

Lois Romano: I agree. I came away with the same impression when I first saw the ad-- Obama looks dynamic and young which obscures the message. At this point in the game, McCain is trying various strategies to see what-- if anything-- might get traction.

You will see him tarred as a liberal, an elitist, a novice and a celebrity. So far not much has stuck.

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D.C.: So Lois: tell me how this works. The McCain campaign, staffed with Rove/Bush veterans, puts out ads suggesting that Obama can't be trusted because, essentially, he's arrogant and let celebrity go to his head. The media, while not endorsing the claim, per se, repeats it and repeats it and repeats it. But, where's the media push back? Does anyone an the McCain calls ask how a candidate who wears $500 shoes, has seven homes, has a TV movie made about his life and has flown mostly on private jets over the last couple of years can claim the other candidate is arrogant or out of touch? When will the media do more than repeat the charge but question the sources? Have the Bush years and the snow job they've done on you folks had no lesson? Or, is it that the elite media don't think that $500 shoes, private planes, multiple homes are so out of touch with America?

Lois Romano: Wow - you got a lot into that question. I disagree with your premise.

First of all, I would direct your attention to a story that appear in the Post this week, calling McCain on the carpet for accusing Obama of ducking a visit to the troops.

And secondly, the celebrity ad was widely reviled everywhere and I suspect we won't be seeing much of it.

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Evanston, Ill.: The past couple of election cycles, the National Journal has crowned the Democratic presidential nominee as the "most liberal senator." Each time, this has pretty clearly not been the case. What's going on here? Is it just that campaigning requires so much time away from the Senate that they only return for votes on key liberal issues? If so, why is the NJ comfortable putting out this misleading characterization?

Lois Romano: Obama was labeled the most liberal senator before he started traveling. They analyze voting record using benchmarks set by liberal organizations such as the ADA, or ACLU.

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San Diego: How long can McCain keep running ads like he has been over the last week and a half without tarnishing his straight-talk, reformer image with independents and the media? Is he likely to pull back before the Olympics, having energized the base, or is this Steve Schmidt's plan for the entire fall?

Lois Romano: I do not think they have a plan for the entire fall. Obama is proving to be a very hard candidate to run against because people are so curious about him. That being said, so far McCain has been holding his own in the polls. Despite all the media coverage lavished on Obama, he is running just a few point ahead of McCain in national polls.

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Gettysburg, Pa.: Obama told Sarkozy that he was going to take a week off in August. I assume that this will be a week while the Olympics are on? What will the campaigns be doing, if anything, during the Olympics when even most of us political junkies will be focussed on something completely different?

Lois Romano: Plotting and planning. My guess is that McCain will be getting ready to announce his VP choice -- which he will do after the Olympics. Obama will be getting ready for the convention.

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Downtown D.C.: Dear Lois: thanks for the chat. McCain has put out a series of negative ads. The buys have been very small, the impact has been great because the media -- both MSM and internet -- have picked up the story and run the ads again and again in their effort to "report" and "analyze." The McCain people must be feeling pretty smug, not for the content of the ads but for getting such great free publicity from a media that can't seem to help itself, especially when it comes to negative ads. Can't you folks help yourself? Are you at all concerned that this cycle puts you in the position of doing a candidates work for them? I mean, shouldn't they at least have a massive state, local or national buy before the media bends over and gives them a freebie?

Lois Romano: The media always runs the ads and public decides whether they are effective. I would argue that the media also helps circulate bad ads that backfire.

The latest McCain ad "celebrity" comes to mind. I haven't see any rave reviews about it.

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Boston: The Swift Boats come out during the doldrums of late July/early August. If an attack as patently false as Swift Boats comes out this year, will the media allow itself to be used as it was in '04 when the ad ran once but the coverage was non-stop?

Lois Romano: The power of the 527s -- advocacy groups that are not restricted by FEC rules -- was not apparent until 2004. So I do think they will be approached differently by the media and candidates.

Part of the problem with the swiftboaters was that they had the microphone to themselves for weeks. John Kerry refused to respond to the attacks until it was too late. I don't think you'll Obama sitting on his hands.

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" Obama was labeled the most liberal senator before he started traveling. They analyze voting record using benchmarks set by liberal organizations such as the ADA, or ACLU.": So you agree with this labeling, that somehow he's more liberal than Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an actual socialist? Really?

Lois Romano: I haven't analyzed the voting records so don't play gotcha with me.

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D.C.: Hi Lois. I enjoyed reading your well-written profile of Patty Solis Doyle yesterday. But I felt a bit annoyed at the self-pity (hers) that seemed to seep through, as well as at her denial that she didn't know how she was perceived by the Hillary campaign team. Is she in denial, or just not terribly introspective?

washingtonpost.com: Surviving the Free Fall (Washington Post, July 30)

Lois Romano: I think she's still processing everything. Its been a tough year and she believed she was empowered by Clinton.

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RE: "Media attention lavished on Obama": Can you explain the thinking behind your statement about the media's "lavishing" attention on Obama?

To me this seems grounded in a false assumption, one conveniently being pushed by conservatives: that reporting on Obama = supporting or at least bolstering him. But of course it is the nature of this reporting matters. Non-stop (over-the-top) coverage of Jeremiah Wright is not a good thing for his campaign, whereas scant coverage of McCain's many homes and expensive tastes is a good thing for his campaign.

Lois Romano: All true. I had last week's coverage in mind. By any objective standard, he had a very good media week and McCain did not.

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Washington D.C.: Let's say for the past two months, Candidate A has been running a lot of negative ads, and Candidate B has been running a lot of positive ads. There's no formal study confirming this, but it's obvious to most people playing close attention.

Do you think news outlets have a responsibility to point this out to readers and viewers, on their own initiative? Or do you think it would be too activist-taking sides, and should wait for one of the candidates to raise the issue?

My general point is that in every campaign, I see numerous examples of misleading attacks that are only rebutted by the media if the candidate's campaign pushes back fiercely. The WP's article on McCain's extremely misleading ad was wonderful, but why are these articles the exception and not the rule? What's wrong with taking a candidate's sides for an issue if it's the byproduct of the truth?

Lois Romano: A number of news organizations -- including the WP and NYT -- regularly analyze ads for veracity. You see bigger stories when the campaigns push back because the push back becomes part of the news.

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Rolla, MO: The "town hall" format campaign visit is supposed to be McCain's strength and Obama's weakness. Yesterday Obama came to my little town in the middle of 'red' America and packed a gym with many people turned away. He did as well or better than McCain in any of the town halls I've seen (on the web). His push into rural Missouri (and I gather other rural areas in swing states) shows he's not ceding the territory or format to McCain. My question is whether McCain is also pushing into any Democratic strongholds?

Lois Romano: yes, you will see McCain push into many democratic northeast strongholds because he does very well with independents. As does Obama -- so you will them go toe-to-toe for than demographic. As we all know, elections are decided by only 15% of voters -- swing voters and independents.

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Bethesda, Md.: Do you think someone at Obama HQ is scouring the archives to see if McCain ever canceled or postponed a visit to a military hospital?

Lois Romano: Probably. But I think they are likely putting resources into finding other more powerful contradictions. McCain has been in public life far longer than Obama, so he has a rich history to study. As a newcomer, Obama's trail is short so McCain must look for errors minute to minute.

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Re: celeb ad: McCain has built up a lot of good will with the media by granting them access in the past. Is that why he's getting a free pass on his nasty new ads? What would happen if another candidate ran ads like this?

Lois Romano: You obviously have not been reading the papers and watching TV if you think McCain has been getting a free ride. The NYT all but accused him doing legislative favors for a special female lobbyist, his lobbying ties have been explored thoroughly, and his negative campaigning is being noted.

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Dunn Loring, Va.: Sen. Obama continues to reference his race and, as noted by Jake Tapper at ABC, yesterday implied that Sen. McCain and his campaign was racist. Have you seen anything from McCain and his representatives (not some someone unassociated with the campaign) that justify Obama's claims? Is this just another Obama exaggeration?

Lois Romano: I have not seen anything from McCain's camp suggesting racism. But I did not see Jake Tapper's report so I don't know what Obama did or did not imply.

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San Francisco: If McCain isn't running for Bush's third term, why is he using Bush's re-election team?

Lois Romano: Truthfully, there is a limited pool of true political pros that have been involved in presidential campaigns before. I don't know who you're referring to. But I am referring to people like Steve Schmidt who is a sharp operative -- not a Bush cheerleader.

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Washington, D.C.: Morning Lois, Got a question about campaigns: why do opposing campaigns "go dark" during a political convention? Tradition or by agreement? Thanks

Lois Romano: It's not an agreement, but a long-standing tradition. If something signifiant happens, you will hear from the other side. But generally, its understood that the convention will dominate the news so why waste time and resources to be heard.

Also, the opposition does send high profile surrogates to the conventions to respond to charges etc.

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New York: Lois, what's to be gained by picking the VP's chief of staff before picking the VP? Shouldn't VPs pick their own top people? Thanks.

Lois Romano: Usually done by the campaigns. The VP will be working for the Obama campaign -- he/she does not run a separate operaton. So to ensure that everyone is on the same page and same message, presidential candidates needs a COS who reports to him not the VP. That being said, the VP will bring a few staffers with him/her.

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London, U.K.: "liberal organizations such as the ADA" - Sorry, I know the ACLU but am drawing a blank on the group which is the ADA? I thought that generally refers to the Americans with Disabilities Act or your dental association (if I remember correctly a tube of toothpaste I purchased over there).

Lois Romano: Americans for Democratic Action

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Reading, Pa.: Lois, why isn't Bill Richardson on any of the VP lists being batted around?

Lois Romano: Who says he isn't? Don't believe everything you hear. These talks are quite private.

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Minneapolis, Minn.: They also pick the Veep's COS in advance so that they can hit the ground running without having to worry about building their staff after the announcement.

Lois Romano: Correct. Thanks.

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New York: Steve Schmidt was the Bush-Cheney 2004 Campaign's chief spokesman -- perhaps you have a different definition of "cheerleader" than the rest of us do.

Lois Romano: So? He was Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign manager too -- and George Bush and Arnold don't have much in common.

In my book, that makes Schmidt a pro not an ideologue.

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Re: "free ride": Despite what you say about the press giving McCain more scrutiny, would you not agree that his gaffes -- claiming Iraq and Pakistan shared a border, not remembering his own votes, confusing Shia with Sunni, etc. -- would completely destroy another candidate? Tell me honestly -- if Obama (or Romney or Hillary) had made these mistakes repeatedly, the press would have crucified them, righ? You can't not believe this.

Lois Romano: Good question. I'll leave that for readers to judge. But if you look at the comments on the story (online) a number of readers did note that the story said much about the Clintons.

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Winnipeg, Canada: So far McCain seems to be more error-prone than George Bush, if that's possible. Meanwhile Obama seems to be doing everything right. From this side of the border it's a mystery why McCain isn't about 30 points behind in the polls. Can you explain it?

Lois Romano: Or why Obama isn't ahead 30 points. That is a question many politicos are asking. We haven't seen the poll results yet from his trip overseas- so that could tell us something. His goal was to show himself as statesman in order to give people a comfort level. He would like to see those numbers go up 4 or 5 points.

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Anonymous: Is the gum Obama's chewing Nicorette and does he dye his hair?

Lois Romano: I think I read that it was an anti-nicotine gum. You're on your own with the second part of the question. I don't know and I don't care.

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Lois Romano: Well, its good to see so many people engaged in the process. Thank you for all your great questions. See you in two weeks.

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