Word: mccain
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...current or former employers. "One of the things I have always believed is, presidential campaigns are unique. They are like MRIs for the soul. You can't hide who you are," said Axelrod at the outset, a line that was either an honest observation or a subtle swipe at McCain...
...point, Ifill asked the McCain team to name the greatest Faustian bargain it had to make. Davis and McInturff both mentioned the burden that McCain endured because of his support for the continued military effort in Iraq, an adventure that American voters soured on years ago. Axelrod chimed in to disagree. "There is no doubt that the war was a complicated issue," he said before adding, "I would argue that the biggest Faustian bargain McCain made was switching his position on the [2001 and 2003] tax cuts ... He essentially tied himself to the Bush economic nostrums...
...Axelrod contended that the general-election campaign was decided between Sept. 15, when Lehman Brothers collapsed, and Sept. 26, the night of the first presidential debate. During that time, Axelrod said, Obama established himself as a "safe change" candidate. McCain, meanwhile, announced a suspension of his campaign and a plan to suspend the debate (which was later aborted), and showed an underwhelming effort in his return to Washington to support the federal bailout package - which led him to cancel an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman. Davis, who approached the event with humor, admitted, "The most damaging thing...
...revelation of sorts. "Look, the last thing I thought I was going to be doing in September was lobbying Congress," he said. Davis, who normally makes a living as a registered lobbyist, had met with members of Congress to talk about the bailout. But at the time, the McCain campaign maintained that the meetings were informational and did not constitute lobbying...
...Asked about the challenge of running against the first major African-American candidate, Davis minimized the issue. "I don't think John McCain or our campaign would have conducted ourselves any other way regardless of who the opponent was," he said, appearing to contradict the assessment of the campaign's ad man, Fred Davis (no relation), who has described in other interviews an atmosphere of extreme caution over racial issues that hampered the campaign's message on topics like Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright...