John McCain was trained as a fighter pilot. Fighter pilot training is greatly influenced by John Boyd, who developed the OODA loop theory, which some say General Petraeus has adapted to the ground in Iraq, the real reason "the surge" appears successful. The OODA loop has been applied to business, computer security and now it appears that McCain is applying it to politics with some success. [more inside]
posted by jrishel on Sep 11, 2008 - 97 comments

Like it or not, religion is at the forefront of the 2008 US Presidential elections. The Pew Forum On Religion & Public Life previously cited in MeFi threads examines many of the current intersections of religion and politics, domestic and abroad.
posted by Rykey on Jun 10, 2008 - 31 comments

Unflattering photos from the campaign trail. My personal favorite is this one: NOMNOMNOM
posted by mr_crash_davis on Feb 21, 2008 - 40 comments

The Battle to Control Obama's Myspace
posted by chunking express on May 2, 2007 - 151 comments

How Bush Did It "A team of Newsweek reporters unveils the untold fears, secret battles and private emotions behind a historic election." An in-depth series of behind-the-scenes articles. [via Salon 's War Room, which also says Bush's bulge was a bulletproof vest.]
posted by kirkaracha on Nov 4, 2004 - 55 comments

The Big Picture Yep...one day left. MSNBC.com presents a broadband-only interactive that puts you in the hot seat of a Campaign Adviser. The "Produce and Ad" bit is a hoot.
posted by crunchybird on Nov 1, 2004 - 8 comments

Going for broke. With four days to go before the election, Bush-Cheney '04 finally pulled the last stop and started sending out anti-Kerry mailings using images of the burning World Trade Center. The ads are paid for and officially endorsed by Bush's campaign.
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Oct 29, 2004 - 87 comments

With one week to go, Americans are being inundated by polls. At least 112 have been published for the presidential contest in the last week alone. Democratic pollster Mark Blumenthal maintains that, in the campaign's last hours, we tend to see 'undecided' voters 'break' for the challenger. Testing this theory, blogger Chris Bowers examined presidential poll results since 1976, and calculated that undecided voters broke for the challenger 86% of the time. So, is this really how it's going to turn out? Are the Republicans' attempts to 'steal' another election going to bear any fruit?
posted by acrobat on Oct 26, 2004 - 11 comments

More than rhetoric... As the campaign gets more divisive and time grows short incidents of violence are breaking out more and more often. Shots have been fired on more than one occasion, swastikas burned, intimidation and just plain kicking. Hopefully it gets better from here, but somehow I don't think so.
posted by soulhuntre on Oct 7, 2004 - 73 comments

The campaign website of Alan Keyes , Illinois Republican Party's nominee for the United States Senate. [via Chicagoist]
posted by azul on Aug 17, 2004 - 48 comments

Fundrace. Innovative rankings and maps about presidential candidates. The maps are especially cool.
posted by monju_bosatsu on Nov 10, 2003 - 14 comments

Howard Dean is asking his supporters whether or not he should accept federal matching funds and the concomitant spending restrictions.
posted by monju_bosatsu on Nov 5, 2003 - 38 comments

this election cycle's best campaign website? very nicely done. via the always excellent ugga bugga
posted by specialk420 on Aug 7, 2003 - 15 comments

a little hint of things to come in 2004 from the bush team. slate link with popups
apparently they are still working on content for few areas, specifically: the environment and "more hispanic photos"
posted by specialk420 on Jun 24, 2003 - 10 comments

The First Democratic Debates were last night, but you wouldn't know it from the media's coverage. Barely a story on CNN. Howard Dean stole the night, with over a hundred screaming supporters outside the debates. The only person there with supporters was the blogging Presidential Candidate. There were students there from U.C. Berkley, Washinton, Georgia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. All thanks to the power of blogspot, and meetup. Whether or not Dean gets the nomination, this will be a campaign for the history books. They'll be on c-span all day today.
posted by cjoh on May 4, 2003 - 67 comments

"...the sad truth is there really are no great differences between British and American campaigns."
posted by normy on May 26, 2001 - 1 comment

And now for something different... Or maybe not. Try voting for everybody. Who knows what will happen. Maybe Gore will win finally? (not sure if this was posted before, but found it funny.)
posted by da5id on Nov 28, 2000 - 6 comments

The Campaign Scandal Generator. Just in time for the lightning round of the campaign!
posted by john on Nov 3, 2000 - 6 comments

Gore Campaign Tactics Sink to New Low (via unknown news)
posted by snakey on Nov 3, 2000 - 22 comments

Nader's new television ad parodies those hilarious monster.com ads with the little kids hoping they'll grow up to have crappy jobs. In the Nader ad, the kids hope they'll grow up to have the same crappy politicians, sold out to corporations, with no real change.
posted by daveadams on Oct 31, 2000 - 6 comments

I don't recall this particular promotion showing up in a presidential campaign before, but then what would I know?
posted by chicobangs on Sep 16, 2000 - 3 comments

Nader does good ad. Pair of talking heads on Nader's upcoming TV ad. Interesting analysis, and links to either a transcript or a Windows Media file of the ad.
posted by aurelian on Aug 11, 2000 - 2 comments