The GOP Convention: Maverick in Name Only | Newsweek Politics: Conventions

CHAPTER 5
Center Stage
Evan Thomas 11/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
In midsummer, the Obama campaign's computers were attacked by a virus. The campaign's tech experts spotted it and took standard precautions, such as putting in a firewall. At first, the campaign figured it was a routine "phishing" attack, using common methods. Or so it seemed. In fact, the campaign had been the target of sophisticated foreign cyber-espionage.
THE REPUBLICANS
Looking To The Future
Jessica Bennett 11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
It was the typical stuff of a college frat party: pepperoni pizza, cheap beer, a big-screen television and a vigorous game of the drinking game Beirut. But on this night, friends of Sigma Alpha Epsilon had gathered for a different kind of party. "Dude, Obama's got Florida!" someone shouted during the final moments of the 2008 campaign. "Turn the volume up!" bellowed another.
OPINION
Worst Campaign Ever?
Julian E. Zelizer 11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
To be fair, the odds were stacked against any Republican. The economy has suffered while the incumbent president was phenomenally unpopular. Democrats were well organized and well financed. They found, in Barack Obama, an exceedingly charismatic and dynamic candidate.
THE REPUBLICANS
Palin's 2012 Playbook
Karen Breslau 11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
When conservative leaders gather in Virginia on Thursday to assess the fallout from the presidential election and start planning their comeback, they will also be taking a closer look at their new potential standard-bearer, Sarah Palin. Most national conservatives have never met the Alaska governor selected as John McCain's running mate on Aug. 29. Says longtime conservative activist Richard Viguerie. "She doesn't know us and we don't know her."
CAMPAIGN 2008
Death of a Battleground
Keith Naughton 11/3/2008 12:00:00 AM
The polls give Barack Obama a double-digit lead in Michigan, but you wouldn't know that from the intense canvassing his workers conducted in suburban Detroit over the weekend. Two Obama workers approached the sprawling split-level ranch home of Larry Lobur in Madison Heights, a working-class suburb dotted with McCain signs. Lobur has never voted Democratic. But when canvasser Ginger Roehr asked him if Obama had his support, Lobur snapped: "I know I'm not voting for McCain." Michigan's sour economy forced Lobur to close his construction business, laying off 20 workers. The barrel-chested 46-year-old now works on his own and fears McCain is too old and Sarah Palin too inexperienced to turn things around. "He's overready and Palin's not ready," says Lobur, who credits McCain's VP pick with pushing him over to Obama, to the dismay of his Republican family members. "Just this morning," he says, "we were arguing over the Internet."
PERSPECTIVES
Quotes From the Week of 11/10/08