July
24 Wrong Right

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Updated

The Politico's Jonathan Martin declares that the GOP is losing the new media war. The reason? Reportorial shoe leather.

"While conservatives are devoting much of their Internet energy to analysis, their counterparts on the left are taking advantage of the rise of new media to create new institutions devoted to unearthing stories, putting new information into circulation and generally crowding the space traditionally taken by traditional media. And it almost always comes at the expense of GOP politicians.

"While online Republicans chase the allure of punditry and commentary, Democrats and progressives are pursuing old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting, in a fashion reminiscent of 2004. Back then, the Drudge Report and other lesser-known conservative portals played a key role in defining John Kerry and pushing back against criticism of George W. Bush, such as when conservative bloggers debunked documents purportedly related to the president’s Air National Guard service."

Convention Countdown: ABC News lines up a few more names for the Democratic National Convention, but reports on one Obama-star who will not be there: Scarlett Johansson, who has a scheduling conflict. It's not in the story, but two other prominent Obama backers, George Clooney and Robert DeNiro, also will not be attending.

Fox Protest: Hip-hop star Nas led a protest outside of Fox News headquarters in New York to call on the network to "stop its racist smears against the Obamas and other black Americans," reports TV Newser. The protest also included reps from ColorofChange.org and MoveOn.org.

Marriage Backer: Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton contributed money to efforts to defeat a ballot initiative in California to ban gay marriage, reports the Los Angeles Times' Tina Daunt. He made the contribution in lieu of a wedding gift to Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman and  his  partner, Chuck O'Donnell, right. Congrats to the newly wed couple.   

Poster Politics: Is a new McCain one-sheet inspired by summer tentpoles?

Pam for Obama: Pam Anderson loves the Democratic candidate.

Strange Placement: MTV's first political ad is ... anti-Obama.