A Pew Center report entitled "Media Pivot to November, Iraq Debate' outlined trends in media coverage during the week of May 26-June 1, the period just before Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on June 3. As his victory appeared increasingly inevitable, Obama featured in nearly 66 percent of campaign-related news stories, against 45 percent for his rival Hillary Clinton. At the same time, coverage began to shift toward the general election, with John McCain a significant factor in 36 percent of campaign stories, his highest total since late February.
McCain appeared more frequently after a warning against ‘appeasement’ of terrorism delivered by President Bush in a speech in Israel, which brought McCain and Obama into a direct confrontation over foreign policy. Their arguments focused mainly on Iraq, which accounted for nearly 10 percent of election-related stories.
The Pew report said "the tone and tenor of last week's exchanges between McCain and Obama suggest the war will emerge as a hot topic again in the general election.' It added:
"As numerous commentators have noted, Iraq seems to be an issue that both candidates think benefits them. The expectation is that the McCain campaign will use it to depict Obama as inexperienced and naïve about global threats while the Obama campaign will try and inextricably link McCain with an unpopular president, George Bush, prosecuting an unpopular war.'
