By Colin Benedict & Jenny Price All campaigns have them--recognizable people who are supposed to influence our vote simply because they're a fan of John

It seemed like a great way to counter Obamamania. Sen. John McCain would board a helicopter in New Orleans, skim quickly over the Gulf of Mexico and land on an oil rig - a made-for-TV moment to highlight his call for offshore drilling, an issue that Republicans believe will be a big winner in November.
Then came Hurricane Dolly, a Category 2 storm that made a helicopter ride impossible. And then, improbably, a 600-foot oil tanker collided with a barge on the Mississippi River, creating a 12-mile oil slick and causing diesel fumes to waft over the city's French Quarter. The trip - originally planned for today - was off.
f taking office, should he be elected. But as the

TAKING THE SPOTLIGHT: Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, conducts a news conference Tuesday with a cityscape of Amman, Jordan, as a backdrop. With him were Sens. Jack Reed (left), Rhode Island Democrat, and Chuck Hagel, Nebraska Republican. (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
d always laughed harder than anyone when he told it. His hoots covered a multitude of sins in the comedy shtick.
over health care - particularly their own.

DETROIT - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's Campaign For Change invites the public to attend the grand opening of the Detroit headquarters Wednesday.
The doors of the Detroit headquarters on 2875 West Grand Blvd. opened at 5 p.m. and a program including Obama's earliest supporters from across Detroit began at 6 p.m.

By Josh Rogers on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. McCain rips Obama on foreign policy as Illinois Demcract travels overseas. The attacks come as UNH poll finds

By VOA News US Republican candidate John McCain says if he becomes president, once US troops withdraw from Iraq they will not return, because the United

The New York Times' Maureen Dowd points out a visual contrast this week that's going to be remembered for some time. "The image of John McCain in a golf cart with Bush 41 in Kennebunkport â with Poppy charmingly admitting that they were âa little jealousâ of all the Obama odyssey coverage â was not a good advertisement for the future, especially contrasted with the shots of Gen. David Petraeus and Obama smiling at each other companionably in a helicopter surveying Iraq. (Asked by a Democratic lawmaker a while back why there werenât more Democrats in the military, General Petraeus smiled slyly and said âthere are more than you think.â)"
In a separate piece, the New York Timesâ

By Marc Pitzke in New York John McCain has attempted to distract from Barack Obama's tour of the Middle East and Europe by attacking his foreign policy

ABC News' Bret Hovell Reports: The McCain campaign had a small bit of fun in store for the press corps traveling with the presumptive Republican nominee Tuesday night – a press credential playing on one of their themes from Tuesday: that the media is in love with McCain's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama.
After the campaign touched down in Wilkes-Barre, PA, Tuesday evening, the press staff handed out the credential.
ir between the press and Obama.

'The media is in LOVE with Barack,' McCain's camp says in a video that mocks the reporting on the Democrat.
By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
aints about media bias have galvanized conservatives, which could help McCain as he tries to solidify the Republican base. In February, the campaign sought donations by citing a widely criticized New York Times report about McCain's ties to a female lobbyist. That appeal set a campaign record for the amount raised online in one day to that point.