Although she claimed this was being "[put] out privately" by Obama's people, CNN is now reporting that his campaign is "not pursuing whether McCain heard any of the other questions," and that they're "assuming McCain had the same information they did."
So where did Mitchell get this idea from? Might it have been a Daily Kos blog posted at 9:22 PM PDT Saturday entitled "McCain cheated? proof he knew the questions ahead of time":
The following is evidence that either McCain was NOT in a quiet room during Obama's interview OR that he indeed had the questions ahead of time. If Obama was not provided the questions as well, then McCain clearly cheated.
In a Church even, how brazen.
Yet, according to CNN:
Pastor Rick Warren said John McCain didn’t hear any of the questions in advance at Saturday night’s Civil Forum, even if the candidate was a little late arriving to the pre-arranged quiet room or “cone of silence.” [...]
Warren told CNN Sunday evening, “we flat out asked him” if he heard any of the questions. The McCain campaign “confirmed that McCain did not hear or see any of the broadcast” in the motorcade or after he arrived, Ross said.
When asked if McCain overheard anything, Charlie Black, a McCain adviser who was with him at the time, told CNN: "We were in motorcade until 5:30 p.m. ET; then a holding room in another building with no TV."
Warren said, “I trust the integrity of both” candidates, and said he “knew they would abide by the rules.” He joked McCain may not have been in the cone of silence, but “he was in the cone of a Secret Service motorcade”. [...]
For their part, an Obama spokesperson told CNN’s Mike Roselli they are not pursuing whether McCain heard any of the other questions. They say they [sic] assuming McCain had the same information they did.
Certainly, this isn't proof that Mitchell didn't speak to someone inside the Obama campaign who suggested McCain might have cheated, or that she got the whole idea from a Kossack.
However, as I haven't been able to find any media outlets that have corroborated Mitchell's claim the Obama campaign was "privately" floating this idea, one has to wonder where she got it from.
Maybe we'll never know.
