Rick Wilson

Republican consultant Rick Wilson said that several lobbyists and Republican activists he knows are, like him, delaying their trip to St. Paul until a clearer picture of the Republican National Convention takes shape.

Wilson, who has only missed one other convention since 1988, (he skipped 1996) said he understood why the McCain people scaled back the convention schedule, and agrees with them that it would look very bad to have people partying in the streets while floodwaters washed over New Orleans.

“The best policy is the best politics in this case,” he said.

Another concern that Wilson has heard is that many lobbyists who hoped to catch the ear or eye of McCain campaign officials won’t be able to even if they do attend the convention, because the heavy hitters will be with McCain in the Gulf.

Michael Bloomberg defended Barack Obama in a speech to Jewish voters in Florida this morning.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Bloomberg told an audience at an event organized by the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County not to believe the "online whisper campaign" against Obama.

Bloomberg's day in Florida -- he will be making three separate appearances -- has all the markings of a Kevin Sheekey project.

It's two days after a poll indicated Barack Obama is doing better than expected in that all-important battleground state, and, not insignificantly, as Bloomberg has been mentioned (for what that's worth) as a long-shot potential running mate for both major-party nominees.  read more »

The, er, plainspoken Florida-based GOP media consultant Rick Wilson is blogging again, and in the course of agreeing with the theory that John Spencer is the opponent of Hillary’s dreams, he clears up the confusion that may affect some readers regarding KT McFarland’s spokesman, Bill O’Reilly.

That would be "PR-Genius-Bill-O’Reilly-Not-Loofah-Bill-O’Reilly."

If you're familiar with the, er, plainspoken GOP consultant Rick Wilson (he of the famous Max Cleland attack ad), you'll appreciate the fact that, as he reports on his own blog, his birthday celebration this year apparently involved being given the bird. In this case a literal stuffed bird. But still.  read more »

A deathly silence reigned in most of the city's high-end stores this week-except for the occasional  read more »

Rick Lazio, grinning, crouched to embrace a group of children at an elementary school in Rochester,  read more »