Instead of boasting about his insane workout, perhaps Mr. Ryan should get a skilled tailor, or challenge campaign aides to pay closer attention to tangible details rather than abstractions like whether or not the candidates appeal to nonrich, nonwhite voters.
A further challenge, White House aides have said, is how to express sympathy for those killed without showing favoritism for one family over another or drawing attention to the mounting number of deaths.
Her dismal public standing on questions of candor, combined with decades of conspiracy theories about her health, had already produced an uncommon challenge for aides and supporters seeking to tamp down speculation about her physical condition.
"Barack Obama's top lawyer, Bob Bauer, made an unexpected appearance on the Clinton campaign's conference call this evening, calling in on a line intended for reporters to challenge Clinton aides' claims of irregularities in several Texas precincts," reports the Politico's Ben Smith.
Allies of Vice President Al Gore forged ahead with the hand recounts and possible further court challenges, but aides to Gov. George W. Bush of Texas claimed to see the end in sight.
"There are two things he's going to compare and contrast: the Iraq War, which most now agree was a disaster, and the Iran agreement, which is an example of how American leadership should work, where we used diplomacy and mobilized international consensus to address a shared challenge," the aide continued.
Romney aides challenge media coverage of Mormonism by asking journalists to compare their stories to hypothetical coverage of Jewish candidates.
Mr. McCain's aides challenged the statement, saying Mr. Bauer not only reviewed the speech in advance but also added a paragraph to it.
That view, the officials said, is being challenged by senior aides to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, including the under secretary of state for arms control, John D. Holum, who is the chief arms control negotiator.
In an interview yesterday morning on Fox News, Mr. Lazio asserted that during his upstate campaign stops "75percentt of the people were Democrats," a claim that Mrs. Clinton's aides challenged, noting that a large portion of upstate residents are Republicans.
