Newsweek’s Special Election Project

Apparently, for every election since 1984, Newsweek sent a special team of reporters to cover the campaigns on an “embargoed” basis, meaning everything they learn is kept confidential until the day after the election. This article shares some of the highlights. Don’t miss the second page. It’s the most interesting and entertaining.

I’ll spoil a couple bits for you, by giving you the highlights of the highlights:

On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers… met to decide whether to tell McCain that the race was effectively over... The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."

Obama on debates:
“I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it’.”
“What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian (Williams), we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

And while I didn’t want McCain as my president, I have a lot of respect for him and all that he’s done in the service of this country. I lost some respect for him as he started slinging so much mud around, but reading his list of firm campaign issue boundaries just knocked that back up a peg.

Want more than Highlights? Read Newsweek Blogger Andrew Romano’s “Best of”. It’s riveting. I’ve included a brief highlight from each part:
Volume I (Bill sitting down to have a beer and watch a football game the night of the Iowa caucuses, only to find Hilary was “getting killed”)
Volume II, III, IV (Obama: ""The lithium crystals! Beam me up, Scotty!")

Want to read the entire report? (I haven't had time, but I'll try to make it.)
Chapter 1: How He Did It
Chapter 2: Back from the Dead
Chapter 3: The Long Siege
Chapter 4: Going Into Battle
Chapter 5: Center Stage
Chapter 6: The Great Debates
Chapter 7: The Final Days