Pure Horserace: Image Accomplished

Four years ago today, President Bush stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and declared the mission accomplished in Iraq. Actually, Bush never said those two words in his televised address that day. "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended" was what the president asserted then. It was the large banner hanging above Bush that declared "Mission Accomplished."

While the differences in those two sentences is a largely matter of semantics. "Mission Accomplished" makes for a much better bumper sticker — one that has been used to hammer the administration in the four years since but could have been a mantra for a triumphant president had events unfolded differently. As we barrel forward toward the next presidential election, it's a lesson in image management.

Slogans, songs and images have been a staple of American politics since we've been holding elections. Some have been more effective than others. Try explaining "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" to kids these days. But "A Chicken in Every Pot," trickles down through the years, and "I Like Ike" simply excels at simplicity.

As the manner in which we communicate and receive such messages evolves, images have become the coin of the sloganeering realm. Television advertising has been the weapon of choice for campaigns to shape their image — or that of the opposition — while the "photo-op" has been honed to a near science by savvy campaign media experts.

Still, despite the surgical nature of modern image-shaping, it's the misfires we seem to remember best. Michael Dukakis in the tank, Bob Dole's tumble off the stage, John Kerry windsurfing and, yes, that "Mission Accomplished" banner are but a few of the memorable gaffes in recent decades. Those should be instructive episodes for campaigns in 2008, especially at a time when it seems just about everyone is armed with digital cameras. — Vaughn Ververs

Republicans For Impeachment: Democratic Rep. John Murtha's comment on Face The Nation Sunday that impeachment was an option for persuading a president has been a story for the past two days, with Republicans calling Murtha's comments irresponsible, Murtha himself not backing down from his statement and the Democratic leadership repeating, over and over, that impeachment is "off the table."

It may be off the table, but don't be surprised if Republicans do all they can to keep it on the airwaves. President Bush's approval ratings are abysmal — below 30 percent in some polls. The war in Iraq is similarly unpopular. But Americans draw the line at impeaching Bush, just as they did with Bill Clinton.

Republicans undoubtedly learned some lessons from the Clinton impeachment, which was one of the root causes of their losses in the 1998 midterm elections. One of them is that the public will rally around a president they feel is being unjustly persecuted, even if they find that president's actions highly disagreeable.

When Clinton was impeached for his conduct in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, his rating approached 70 percent. Impeaching Bush — who, unlike Clinton, isn't even accused of an actual crime — would probably boost his popularity, too. He likely wouldn't reach the numbers put up by Clinton since he's starting from a lower point, but the boost might be enough to hurt Democrats in 2008.

With the rest of the news coming out of Washington and Iraq not helping the GOP, perhaps a little impeachment talk is exactly what they need. — David Miller

McCain's Loyalty Questioned, Again: Lately, Republican John McCain has been sounding like the maverick of the 2000 campaign instead of the Bush loyalist we saw during 2004. He's resumed having lengthy conversations with reporters on his bus, the Straight Talk Express. He's also promised to veto so-called pork barrel spending and announced a plan to deal with climate change that could easily come from one of the Democrats in the race.

And now, at least according to The Politico, McCain is saying he'd put a Democrat in his cabinet if he were elected. The story roused cries of disloyalty among Republicans — something McCain has endured frequently over the years — particularly in the blogosphere. "We can look forward to President John McCain and Secretary of State Sheryl Crow," joked on poster on FreeRepublic.com.

But as McCain's spokesman Kevin McLaughlin points out, the story never quotes McCain explicitly saying he'd appoint a Democrat to his cabinet. His comments are far more hypothetical. "The more efforts you can make towards bipartisanship, I think in Washington today, the better off you are," McCain said.

McLaughlin also told CBSNews.com that even if McCain did appoint a Democrat, it would hardly be revolutionary: President Bush picked Democrat Norm Mineta as Transportation Secretary. Bill Clinton had Republican William Cohen as his Secretary of Defense.

Of course, neither man even speculated on appointing people from the other party while still in the midst of a primary campaign. — David Miller

Opening The Debate Floodgates: A few months ago, Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards lobbied the Democratic National Committee to sanction only six debates. The DNC agreed. But now, it looks like all that work might have been for nothing.

Today, Clinton announced she would participate in a June 3 debate at New Hampshire's St. Anselm College — a debate not sanctioned by the DNC. Her announcement was soon followed by a similar one from Obama. Both had been the only holdouts among the eight Democratic hopefuls.

What made them change their minds? For one thing, the debate's sponsors include the state's largest newspaper, the New Hampshire Union Leader, TV station WMUR and 24-hour news network CNN.

If a debate sponsored by large, influential media organizations is enough to pull in the front-runners, they'll have a harder time turning down invitations from the Congressional Black Caucus, labor unions and other organizations that have a lot of pull within the Democratic establishment.

The end result? If you were hoping for only a few debates involving the major candidates, you're likely to be disappointed. If Obama and Clinton are willing to abandon plans for only six debates this early in the campaign, many more than six are almost certainly going to happen. — David Miller

But Has He Read Dianetics? One of the biggest questions asked about Republican Mitt Romney's campaign is how Americans will respond to his Mormon faith. Most people are unfamiliar with the details of Romney's religion, and some have urged him to give a major speech about the topic, much like John F. Kennedy did regarding his Catholicism.

Now, Romney has associated himself with another faith many know little about, one viewed with far more skepticism than Mormonism: the Church of Scientology. No, he's not talking about thetans and Xenu or hanging out with Tom Cruise, but, in an interview with Fox News, he said his favorite novel is 'Battlefield Earth", the sci-fi novel written by Scientology's late founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

No word on what Romney thought of the film adaptation, which is widely considered one of the worst movies in recent memory (the book got mixed reviews). For the sake of his campaign, Romney might want to distance himself from that one. — David Miller

Editor's Note: Pure Horserace is a daily update of political news as interpreted by the political observers at CBSNews.com. Click here to sign up for the e-mail version.

By Vaughn Ververs and David Miller