PRESS COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN:

I would love to have someone from Obama’s campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case. . . .

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who’ve been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.

It hasn’t hurt the coverage, which is why they don’t care. Plus this: “The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama’s, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated. ”

Maybe that should be McCain’s new schtick: If we can clean up after the press pool, we can clean up America!

UPDATE: Reader Billy Harvey suggests this slogan: “McCain/Palin – we pass the smell test!”