Stephen Dinan

EXCLUSIVE: McCain lambastes Bush years

John McCain on Wednesday blasted President Bush for building a mountain of debt for future generations, failing to pay for expanding Medicare and abusing executive powers, leveling his strongest criticism of Bush to date.

October 23, 2008

Exclusive: McCain interview on Straight Talk Air

Sen. John McCain on Wednesday said the Democratic presidential campaign has made clear that the world would be a more dangerous place if Sen. Barack Obama is elected.

October 22, 2008

McCain picks World Series favorite

Sen. John McCain has decried his rival's lack of leadership and experience, and today he punctuated the point.

October 22, 2008

Libertarian Barr says he scares McCain

Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr says Republicans are so afraid that he will spoil things for Sen. John McCain that the Republican presidential nominee is shadowing him, scheduling appearances in battleground states to match Mr. Barr's own campaign events.

October 21, 2008

Dukakis hits changed McCain

Former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis said Friday that it was "pretty pathetic" of Sen. John McCain to choose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate and questioned the Republican candidate's use of a Karl Rove protege to run his campaign.

October 18, 2008

Campaigns swap voter-fraud charges

A Democrat-allied group's voter-registration efforts have brought "a cloud of suspicion" over the elections, Sen. John McCain's campaign said Friday, as he and Democrats exchanged accusations of voter fraud and suppression.

October 18, 2008

Dukakis: McCain’s Palin pick ‘pretty pathetic’

UPDATED -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis had some fighting words for Sen. John McCain during a live chat with The Washington Times on Friday. "I don't know if it is because he is getting older and this is his last shot at the presidency, but I don't think the John McCain of old would have hired a Karl Rove protege to run his campaign. ..."

October 17, 2008

Joe the Plumber steals final debate

Joe the Plumber dominated the presidential campaign Thursday, with Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain saying the everyman from Toledo, Ohio, exposes Democratic tax-and-spend plans and Democrats trying to make the plumber's story crack under counterattacks.

October 17, 2008

McCain accuses Obama of class warfare

Sen. John McCain declared his independence from President Bush in the final presidential debate Wednesday as he fired off attacks on Sen. Barack Obama. Obama countered that McCain would continue the course set by Bush.

October 16, 2008

Immigrants hear mixed messages

Immigration ties politicians in knots.

October 16, 2008

Clinton looms over presidential debate

She's the most important political figure not on the stage Wednesday in the final presidential debate, yet Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been mentioned just once in the first three presidential and vice-presidential debates.

October 15, 2008

Hispanic voters wage brutal ad war

Think the campaign's nasty in English? Try it en Espanol. For the first time, both presidential campaigns are engaged in a brutal, almost completely negative war in Spanish-language commercials, all but overwhelming their other messages to Spanish-speaking voters.

October 14, 2008

Backers offering nastiest attacks

Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday praised his Republican presidential opponent Sen. John McCain for trying to tone down the recent bitterness of the campaign, but that tone took an ugly turn when a prominent Democratic congressman compared the Republican ticket to one-time segregationist George Wallace.

October 12, 2008

Senators disown McCain mortgage plan

Welcome to a presidential campaign dominated by senators seeking to manage a Wall Street crisis that is confounding Washington policymakers.

October 10, 2008

McCain ratchets up attack ads

Being dramatically outspent by Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain went almost 100 percent negative in his campaign commercials last week.

October 9, 2008

McCain goes on offensive early

It took just 10 minutes for the Republican senator to fire off his first real shot at Barack Obama in Tuesday night's debate as he blamed him "and his cronies" for the housing crisis that sent Wall Street spiraling.

October 8, 2008

McCain hits Obama’s past before debate

Sen. John McCain challenged Sen. Barack Obama's honor and honesty on the eve of Tuesday's presidential debate, injecting a personal tone heading into the showdown as he refocused the race on character.

October 7, 2008

Lawmakers reverse bailout votes

Boosted by the tone of the angry calls to their offices, enticed by added tax breaks or just scared by Monday's stock market plunge, nearly five dozen lawmakers switched votes to pass a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street.

October 4, 2008

Alaskan delivers folksy message

From her opening greeting to her Democratic opponent in the vice-presidential debate - "Hey, can I call you Joe?" - to her pledge to deliver "straight talk" to voters, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin never looked out of her depth.

October 3, 2008

Biden gets veep role wrong

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared to incorrectly outline the constitutional role of the job he's seeking in Thursday's debate.

October 3, 2008