By: Kathryn Carlson In Thursday's edition of Trail Mix: Call off those prayers for rain, and judging by late-night gags, it looks like the joke's on John McCain.
The Joke's on McCain: Late-night Comedians Lay Off ObamaTop of the Ticket
Los Angeles Times
By Andrew Malcolm
A study of late-night political comedy shows found that between Jan. 1 and July 31, Obama was the butt of only 169 jokes, compared with McCain who was the laughing stock at 328 -- and Bush who (shocking!) landed a whopping 428 gags. The study, due to be released today, covered jokes in monologues by Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert. As noted by Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times' Top of the Ticket, "Jimmy Kimmel was not deemed funny enough to be included, which should give his writers some ammo for tonight's show." The study, by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, "finds that only cable's Comedy Central, whose primary comedians, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, more closely follow the day's headlines -- which have been dominated by Obama -- has slightly more jokes about the freshman Illinois senator," according to Malcolm. Check out Top of the Ticket for the breakdown of which shows mocked which political celebs most -- and which topics offered the most ammunition.
Rain-at-the-Convention Prayers Go OnThe Swamp
Chicago Tribune
By Katie Fretland
"Remember when that guy made a video asking people to pray for rain during Barack Obama's outdoor speech at the convention next week?" asks Katie Fretland at the Chicago Tribune's The Swamp. Well his name's Stuart Shepard and he's from Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group. In case you missed that little ditty, Shepard asked for torrential rain to pour down from the skies during the Democratic contender's planned acceptance speech at the DNC. While some people of Focus don't agree with praying for other's misfortune, Shepard apparently made the video because he disagrees with Obama's stance on hot-button issues like abortion. According to Fretland, Shepard took down his "pray for rain" video under pressure from the organization -- but you can still check out the apology video at The Swamp.
Clinton's Virginia HQ a Costly BurdenThe Trail
The Washington Post
By Matthew Mosk
As Matthew Mosk of The Washington Post's The Trail points out, "the early overconfidence of those working on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign has been much documented." One of the most recent pieces of evidence of this overconfidence is property records for the Arlington building where Clinton's camp was headquartered last year. According to Mosk, Clinton aides signed the lease in April 2007, and "saw fit to rent out five whole floors of the nondescript Ballston building through March 30, 2009." Mosk goes on to say that "in light of the sizable debt that the Clinton campaign has been forced to contend with during the aftermath of the campaign, this decision has proved a financial drag. The latest rent payment recorded in finance reports shows the campaign spent $109,461 for use of the spacious building in June, even as Clinton's campaign for the presidency came to an end."
Sharing the DonationsThe Caucus
The New York Times
By Leslie Wayne
Money-wise, July was a good month for McCain. According to Leslie Wayne at The New York Times' The Caucus, the Arizona senator "achieved his best fundraising month in the campaign -- $27 million -- in July, and the credit goes in part to a strategy of holding joint fundraising dinners with other Republican Party committees." Wayne points out, however, that McCain is "lagging in campaign cash-on-hand. While the Obama campaign has reported that it raised $51 million in July for Senator Barack Obama and had cash on hand of $65.8 million, Mr. McCain had $21.4 million left at the end of July." Take a look at Wayne's post to find out just how much dough those dinners raked in last month.
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