A Must-Read

I have a reading recommendation today. Robert Draper has a long, but excellent article in this week's New York Times Magazine on the McCain campaign. Specifically, using a wealth of sources in the top eschelons of the GOP campaign, Draper dissects how the many different messages and directions of McCain's campaign have in the end been unproductive and have obscured the best aspects of John McCain the candidate as the general election has gone on.

There are a lot of good sections of the article, but because it is so long and rich I won't cherry-pick any of them here. Just take 15 minutes and read through it all. I think it reads well as a manual of how not to run a presidential campaign. Whereas the highly disciplined Bush 2000 and Obama 2008 campaigns have been relentlessly on message, Team McCain comes across as smart and polished, but far less able to come up with a plan and stick with it. Draper helps make the case that this one of the reasons John McCain finds himself lagging behind today. We agree.