Indeed that's what the McCain campaign failed to do. What was impressive in 2004 was how the Bush campaign managed to take everything they could come up with and neatly slot it into their basic narrative about Kerry, with press helpers of course. The McCain campaign has just been all over the place, choosing to play to win each news cycle, instead of trying to win the campaign. I think winning the news cycle is important, and in other times it might have worked for them. Don't think it's going to work this time.
