Every now and then, the New York Times writes a story that requires Cliffs Notes. It is a story that doesn’t exactly say what it is saying, or only says part of what the reporters seem to believe, or seems to be saying something it is not, or something like that. No doubt the story is beautifully written and edited, but one can read the …

Mark Salter, John McCain’s obstreperous senior aide, just responded to Time’s query about the New York Times’s long-simmering McCain-mixed-up-with-lobbyists story.

Speaking from a parking garage in Toledo, where the campaign is overnighting, Salter vehemently denied any improper relationship between the lobbyist singled out in the piece

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Re: That Olbermann-Matthews exchange:

Texas Senator Kirk Watson blogs about his national humiliation at the hands of Chris Matthews (now playing on Youtube):

And my mind went blank. I expected to be asked about the primary that night, or the big one coming up in Texas on March 4, or just about anything else in the news.

Senator, …

• “If speeches could create jobs, we wouldn’t be facing a recession. But it takes more.” [Politico]

• “Olbermann: In defense of Sen. Obama and also in context, can you name one accomplishment of the US Senate in the last seven years? Matthews: That’s a broader question requiring a larger preparation. Olbermann: Yeah, you don’t

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CQ runs the numbers (my emphasis: would like to see the crosstabs on that…):

The number of Americans who disapprove of President Bush’s performance on seven major issues has grown, according to two new polls released Wednesday. A Feb.11-14 Gallup poll says that overall, 65 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s

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A lot has been made in recent days over Barack Obama’s reversal of his pledge* to stay within the federal campaign finance system in the general election. Today’s USA Today editorializes:

Sen. Barack Obama sells himself as the candidate of “change,” the candidate of reform, the man who’ll shake up Washington’s business-as-usual

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A colleague makes a good point:

The funny thing is, the reporters the blogosphere hates the most (exhibit A: Broder) are the ones who spend the most time talking to voters, while the ones they lionize never come out from behind their keyboards.

I think another key lesson is: What happens at campaign “events” is not the campaign. And

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I’ve learned a lot from this first go-round at covering a presidential campaign up close and personal, from the mundane (power outlets are the new pay phones) to the mildly alarming (reporters, on the whole, detest talking to actual voters). One realization that could be either heartening or disappointing, depending on your level of

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• “Trust me when I tell you that the latter is the view in Clintonland. That they have more arrows in their quiver to fire at Obama, charges they believe will cast doubt on the hopemonger, raising the specter (terrifying to many Democrats) that John McCain and the Republican machine will make mincemeat of him. Trust me when I tell you

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And yet I participate.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign knew this one was going to be tough for her. Internal polling has shown for weeks that Obama was headed for a big win, and there were those in her campaign hierarchy who had argued that it was not worth the time and money even to put in a serious effort there. After much back and forth, they finally decided to …