Slate / 'Face the Nation'
Chief political correspondent for Slate.com and moderator of Face the Nation;author of On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star and Whistlestop: My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campaign History
War stories from campaign trails past John Dickerson is the moderator of CBS's Face the Nation, the political director of CBS News and a veteran Washington journalist for Slate and Time magazine before that. His work covering this year's wild and crazy presidential campaign inspired him to look back at the past. In his new book, Whistlestop: My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campaign History , he reminds us that the country has survived worse elections than this one.
The Oil Spill, the President and Public Perception President Obama walked the beaches of Louisiana's coastline today, picking up occasional tar balls as spectators held up signs saying "Help us Obama." The visit followed yesterday's promise to make sure "everybody in the Gulf understands" that the oil spill is his number one priority. As BP struggles to plug the Deepwater well, can he fight off the accusation that the growing disaster is "Obama's Katrina?" Was BP deceptive about the magnitude of the spill? Did Obama inherit a culture of lax regulation? What more can he do to illustrate that he's firmly in charge? We hear from supporters and critics in the US and Britain and update progress on "Top Kill."
Democrats Shift Focus to the General Election John McCain and Barack Obama are the last official candidates in the presidential campaign. They're raising money today and talking about the economy. Hillary Clinton has "suspended" her effort and endorsed Obama , but nobody knows what role she'll play between now and November. We look at the challenges for Obama, a first-term Senator trying to define himself against a veteran of politics and the military. Would it help him if Clinton were on the ticket? Can the "veteran" McCain advocate change and avoid looking like old news?
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
