Posted by Jed Lewison on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 2:21 AM Pacific

Rumblings

Steve Benen flags an article by WaPo's Michael Shearer about John McCain's growing reluctance to kibitz with reporters. Wednesday, for example, while McCain was holding a press conference, most of the national media was stranded at an airport 27 miles away, unaware of what was going on until the very last minute.

This would seem to be a strange turn of events, given the national media's love affair with St. John. So what gives? Steve thinks this might hold a clue (emphasis added):

[A]ccess has been whittled away as McCain became the nominee. The Straight Talk is reserved now as a carrot for local reporters, leaving the national press corps on a charter bus trailing behind.

The new approach may reflect the growing influence of the newly-powerful Steve Schmidt, a top adviser and protege of Bush political guru Karl Rove, who was famous for his desire to control the press’s access to his candidate.

Could it be that McCain is losing his grip on the national media? Nah, probably not. But it's fun to dream, anyway. And even if it just gets a little better, that would be a big victory.

Rumblings

Steve Benen flags an article by WaPo's Michael Shearer about John McCain's growing reluctance to kibitz with reporters. Wednesday, for example, while McCain was holding a press conference, most of the national media was stranded at an airport 27 miles away, unaware of what was going on until the very last minute.

This would seem to be a strange turn of events, given the national media's love affair with St. John. So what gives? Steve thinks this might hold a clue (emphasis added):

[A]ccess has been whittled away as McCain became the nominee. The Straight Talk is reserved now as a carrot for local reporters, leaving the national press corps on a charter bus trailing behind.

The new approach may reflect the growing influence of the newly-powerful Steve Schmidt, a top adviser and protege of Bush political guru Karl Rove, who was famous for his desire to control the press’s access to his candidate.

Could it be that McCain is losing his grip on the national media? Nah, probably not. But it's fun to dream, anyway. And even if it just gets a little better, that would be a big victory.

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