'Maverick' Aides Are Veteran Bushies

Sarah Palin may be a newcomer to national politics, but her army of aides has ace operatives who chiseled their craft working for George Bush's campaigns and administration, reports the Washington Post. They won the White House —twice —but some Republican loyalists question if the former Bush communications experts and strategists should be the ones steering a campaign themed on change.

It’s “insane” that McCain, wary of the third Bush term rap, has a campaign that “looks like the Bush campaign on steroids," says a Republican strategist —among them Bush loyalists who fought hard against the maverick senator in 2000. Barack Obama, on the other hand, has mostly White House neophytes on his team, since Hillary Clinton drew her husband's former staff to her campaign.
(More John McCain stories.)