Free Republic

'Taxpayer March' in D.C. Attracts Party Leaders, but Some Are Wary. BY DAN EGGEN & PERRY BACON JR. With tens of thousands of conservative protesters expected to gather in Washington on Saturday for a "Taxpayer March on D.C.," Republican officials are attempting to capitalize on a movement that lately has galvanized anti-Obama activists more effectively than the party's elected leaders in Washington. Searching for ways to compete with Democrats after two consecutive electoral drubbings, Republicans have moved past earlier uncertainty about the protesters, who organized nationwide rallies this summer that have threatened Democratic health-care plans and eroded President Obama's standing...

Mark McKinnon, vice chairman of Public Strategies & President of Maverick Media, wrote a great article for The Daily Beast titled "How her mind works" about the time he spent with Governor Palin.

Mark McKinnon and MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell share a laugh over the McCain advsior's remark about Sarah Palin.

A few words about Sarah Palin: She is one of the most fascinating women I have ever met. She crackles with energy like a live electrical wire and on first meeting gets about three inches from your face. Her instant subliminal message is: “I don’t know you very well, but I’m very clear about who I am.” She reeks of moxie and self confidence. And she’s fearless. Well, she was mostly fearless when I intersected with her. But, she was also a week out from a nationally televised debate with Joe Biden, and she knew she was in trouble. She...

Memo to my party: Blasting targets like Sonia Sotomayor is a surefire strategy to guarantee our extinction. If the GOP is ever to be resurgent, it has to pick its fights carefully. The tendency is, unfortunately, to shoot at everything that moves. Here are a couple of fights we don’t need: Colin Powell and Sonia Sotomayor. Let’s face it, Sotomayor is a political trifecta. Woman. Hispanic. Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from George H. W. Bush. Yes, Mitch McConnell has to make his pro forma gestures about doing due diligence. And it is important to fully examine Judge Sotomayor’s judicial...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Reuters) - A senior adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Tuesday that he was stepping down to keep a commitment he made not to campaign against Democrat Barack Obama. Mark McKinnon, who was in charge of the McCain campaign's advertising message, said he was still backing the Arizona senator, but that he was simply moving from active campaign participant to cheerleader. "I'll still be around occasionally in my lucky hat," said McKinnon, who often wears a distinctive hat. McKinnon, who was a key aide in President George W. Bush's two election victories, has expressed...

A top adviser to John McCain said Wednesday that he will step down from the Arizona senator's presidential campaign if ... "I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama," said McCain adviser Mark McKinnon ... McKinnon, who was a Democrat before serving as President Bush's ad maker in 2000 and 2004, said that he plans to be behind McCain "100 percent" no matter who the Democratic nominee is. He explained, however, that if the Democrats nominate Obama, he will be supporting McCain "from the sidelines."

Civility Is In, Rancor Out on Web Site Begun by Democratic, GOP Strategists A group of political strategists who have spent years firing heavy artillery at each other came together at the Hay-Adams Hotel yesterday, put aside their weapons, decried the polarized state of debate in America and vowed a new approach to peaceful coexistence. Toward that end, they are launching a Web site that they hope will eventually reach 30 million opinion leaders, elevate public discussion on matters from politics to sports to culture and, in the process, make them some money. Mark McKinnon and Matthew Dowd, who were...

AUSTIN Headliners Club roasts Rove Presidential adviser takes ribbing from both sides of aisle. By Tara Copp AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Friday, January 13, 2006 To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Austin Headliners Club, members roasted a prolific hometown newsmaker: presidential adviser Karl Rove. Since it was opened decades ago, the Headliners Club has been a high-cotton watering hole for Texas' press and politicians — where folks made news whether they meant to or not, amid the heady mix of free-flowing liquor and ideas. Both were in overdrive Thursday night. Mark McKinnon, who developed President Bush's media campaign in 2000...

A close adviser to President George Bush says the administration must keep up its attacks on critics of the Iraq war. Mark McKinnon, who was Bush’s chief media adviser during the 2004 presidential election campaign, acknowledged that this strategy is dangerous because it keeps alive debate over whether the administration manipulated intelligence in the run-up to the war. But in a speech at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, he insisted it’s vital because Bush can’t afford damage to what McKinnon called his key appeal: "his honesty.” Said McKinnon: "Bush is perceived as honest but the Democrats have had...