Who's Spinning Who in the U.S. Presidential Race

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Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's media team is led by "Kirsten Fedewa, a long-time press adviser from Huckabee's days with the Republican governors' association ... and Alice Stewart, a glamorous Arkansas TV anchor," according to the Belfast Telegraph's rundown of candidate "spinmeisters." Mitt Romney's "press team leaders are ... quintessential DC insiders" like former Republican National Committee staffer Matt Rhoades and Bush-Cheney 2004 spokesman Kevin Madden. John McCain lost his communications team last July, leaving "loyal New Hampshire staffer Jill Hazelbaker" in charge of media. (Hazelbaker was linked to "fake blog postings on a Democrats website" during a 2006 Senate campaign; she maintains her innocence.) On the Democratic side, Barack Obama's media team is led by David Axelrod, an "acknowledged genius in the marketing of a political 'personality'" with "particularly close ties to Hillary Clinton." Howard Wolfson, a crisis management specialist at the Glover Park Group, and Mandy Grunwald lead Clinton's famously combative media team. Clinton's campaign also includes Burson-Marsteller CEO Mark Penn and several Dewey Square Group staffers, including Michael Whouley, notes Frank Rich in the New York Times.