DENVER—"There's my girl!" Chevy Chase bellowed as Madeline Albright walked into the backroom of the Vanity Fair-Google party on Thursday, August 28. The towering comedian, who was clad in a blazer, T-shirt and jeans, bent down to embrace his old friend. They discussed plans to get together—Mr. Chase promising an e-mail from "his people"—mugged for the cameras, and agreed that Barack Obama had nailed his speech. "If we're seen together, you're in trouble," joked the funnyman.

After a hearty laugh, conversation returned to the speech. Ms. Albright said that while the presidential candidate is incredibly charming in person, she was also pleased with the "diplomacy" of the speech.  read more »

It may ultimately be a good thing for Barack Obama that Wesley Clark stepped into such a mess when he discussed John McCain’s military service this week.

The background of the Clark flap is by now familiar: On CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, the retired general said that “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” a comment that has been portrayed by the right – and by much of the media – as an effort to disparage McCain’s service.

While Obama quickly rebuked Clark, much of the left has rushed to the Clark’s defense, noting that he was merely responding to a question that was almost identically phrased and that he was only drawing a reasonable distinction between McCain’s military service and the experience needed to set U.  read more »

Despite all the feigned outrage fanned by the mainstream media and the right-wing noisemakers, Wesley Clark—retired four-star general, former Supreme Commander of NATO, wounded and highly decorated veteran of ground combat in Vietnam, and a military man to his core—assuredly did not denigrate the war record of John McCain when he talked about the Republican candidate on television last Sunday.

Instead, perhaps naïvely, General Clark stated a very simple fact. Mr. McCain’s service in Vietnam doesn’t prove his aptitude or competence to serve in the nation’s highest office. Or as he told Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer on CBS: “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.  read more »

According to the conventional wisdom that governs the career calculations of most ambitious politicians, there are two ways to get ahead in elected politics.

The simplest way is to run for the office you covet when it comes open and to win it—or, failing that, to wage a noble-but-losing campaign that puts you first in line for the next time around. This approach enjoys a long tradition—renewed this year with John McCain’s nomination—in Republican presidential politics.

And then there’s the other strategy: If there is an unbeatable and immovable force blocking you from the office you desire, yield to that force, embrace it and hope it will favor you with its blessing for the next opening.  read more »

“I grew up in Lousiana and I learned a little bit about milking a cow,” said Lt. Gen. Joe Ballard on a Clinton campaign conference call today, referring to Barack Obama’s record on Iraq. “Just because you recognize the cow doesn’t mean you know how to milk it.”

“No one can tell you how to milk a cow—you have to learn that yourself,” Ballard went on. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he [Obama] can recognize a cow, but there’s no experience that shows me he know how to milk one.”  read more »

Hillary Clinton debuts a not-particularly-timely ad in which General Wesley Clark says she can "avert war with Iran," although his vote of confidence may help her recover from the N.P.R. debate yesterday.

Clark also says in the spot: "I see that Hillary's opponents have started attacking her. That's politics. What this country needs is leadership."  read more »

Hillary Clinton, Wesley Clark and Christie Vilsack just sat down for what can best be called a performance breakfast this morning at the Drake diner in Des Moines.

After greeting a few locals eating in the booths, the trio sat at the counter for coffee and fruit cup in front of about a dozen cameras.

After some niceties ("Well, you still swim everyday," Clinton said to Clark) the discussion took a sharp turn towards energy policy.

Clark talked about the "geology of bubbling carbon dioxide" and spoke about the ability to actually ship the gas between countries.  read more »

Here's former general Wesley Clark stirring up the Hillary volunteers before last night's debate, and shortly before he was verbally assaulted at close quarters by a very angry Obama supporter.

Edwards and Obama leapt at the chance to take Clinton to task for what they said was her inability to talk straight with the American people.  read more »

The value of Mr. Clark’s endorsement falls far short of the standard established by Mrs. Clinton’s husband when he snagged his own surprise military endorsement back in his first presidential campaign..  read more »