“Dirty tricks” have long been a staple of American campaign politics – only now they increasingly play out online, reaching millions of voters. Take, for example, the conservative email forward. Christopher Hayes, Washington editor of The Nation, has a few in his inbox.

The Clinton campaign machine has developed a reputation for being adversarial, at best, with the press. Is it a response to a drubbing by the media during her husband’s presidency? Or is it a lesson learned from the Bush administration? The New Republic's Michael Crowley explains the consequences ...

Faux presidential candidate Stephen Colbert is getting as much attention as the serious contenders and even outscoring many of them in the polls. Brooke takes a look at Colbert's White House bid.

In his November-issue report, Harper’s editor Ken Silverstein explains how the former Massachusetts governor has been re-branded for the national market. The question now remaining is – Will you buy the product?

The presidential campaign took another step forward this week as candidates announced their success at out-fundraising each other. But how helpful are these early reports in gauging presidential potential? Political analyst Mark Halperin explains why, in campaign coverage, the horserace is never far away.

The celebrity endorsement is not exactly new to politics, but then there’s never been a celebrity quite like Oprah Winfrey, who, until now, has never publicly backed a politician. USC history professor Steve Ross says that Barack Obama may have won over the most influential ...

Oprah may have an air of gravitas, but what about the campaign coverage itself? National Journal columnist William Powers argues that – for a variety of reasons – the soft feature has become the entrée of political reporting and the hard policy story, the side dish.

If you want to be president you have to have a story to tell, or more especially one that reporters can tell about you. Paul Waldman of Media Matters for America discusses the three-part campaign narrative – from Jimmy Carter in 1976 to Barack Obama today.

In a 5-4 ruling this week, the Supreme Court deemed a key part of the McCain Feingold Act unconstitutional. BYU Political scientist David Magleby explains why the decision is likely to open the floodgates of ad spending by interest groups.

Presidential campaign coffers are bigger than ever, but might the era of the Money Race be coming to a close? New York Times Magazine contributing writer Matt Bai says the ascendancy of the internet is ushering in a new and improved way of politicking.

Earlier this month, Mitt Romney announced he’d raised more money than any other G.O.P. presidential candidate. Richard Ostling, co-author of Mormon America: The Power and The Promise, explains what the Romney moment means for the Mormon Church.

Tired of Iowa and New Hampshire’s clout, many states are moving their presidential primaries earlier in the year. Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne Slater talks about what the new "super duper primary" will mean for political reporters like himself.

Media consultant David Axelrod has gained a reputation for packaging black candidates for white voters. But The Nation's Christopher Hayes says the real challenge may be selling Barack Obama to fellow African-Americans.

We’re in the midst of the earliest campaign season ever. Or are we? Historian Michael Kazin makes the case that not only has permanent politicking being going on for years, but it's actually part and parcel of the electoral system itself.

The first presidential primary is a year away, but that hasn’t kept the press from sizing up the frontrunners’ prospects. So far, the main criterion is not so much policy or fundraising ability as electability. Are the media playing at king-making? We ask Wall ...

Election-night graphics had barely faded from TV screens before the media rushed in to explain what the vote meant. One narrative was that the Republican base turned against its party because it felt betrayed. Another was that the electorate was registering its disgust with the war. ...

’Tis election season - a time for the press to explore the issues, like vote fraud and voter suppression. Only the challenge for newsrooms is how to inform the public about the problems with voting without discouraging them from going to the polls. Michael Waldman is the ...

Whoever ends up running in ’08, observed Paul Waldman on TomPaine.com, Obama offers Democrats a "lesson in how powerful rhetoric can capture and exploit a political moment." Waldman is a senior fellow at the progressive think tank Media Matters for America. He tells Brooke that Obama cannily established ...

A recent gaffe by Virginia Senator George Allen suggested the ubiquity of YouTube may be a campaign liability, but to what extent can it be an asset? Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is trying to find out. He’s been posting videos of his speeches on the video-sharing site. And he’s created ...

Midterm election season is almost upon us, and so we can safely expect that the tenor of TV advertising is about to take a negative turn. Attack ads are regularly condemned as a plague on the body politic, but in a new book, political scientist John Geer argues that negative ...