Top Line

The president's re-election campaign casts itself as a fully-functioning, well-oiled machine -- a 'No Drama Obama' kind of shop. But a new eBook -- Obama's Last Stand -- details plenty of discord and discontent coming out of the campaign's headquarters in Chicago.

"In the spring and early summer, there was a lot of disconnect between Chicago and Washington," said author Glenn Thrush. So much so, Thrush added, that the president became very anxious, and on several occasions told aides to sort of "tighten it up."

The book suggests the president is highly involved in the campaign, and deeply competitive. Thrush writes of one instance, when Obama in Florida runs into a woman who knew was close to Sen. Marco Rubio:

"Is your boy going to go for [vice president]?" the president asked her. Maybe, she replied.

"Well," he said, chuckling, according to a person who witnessed the encounter. "Tell your boy to watch it. He might get his ass kicked."

Obama "loves the competition," says

Spinners and Winners

This week, Spinners and Winners looks at historic moments of the Republican and Democratic conventions. When television cameras were first put in convention halls in 1940, naysayers complained the cameras turned the conventions into a circus. Journalist Edward R. Murrow pushed back, saying "The circus was always there; TV just proved not all the performers were well trained."

Television proved the perfect medium to witness and broadcast that circus, and to bear witness to both chaos -- as was the case during the 1968 riots at the Democratic Convention -- and triumph.

Over the years, some of the most memorable speeches at the conventions came from the losers. Barry Goldwater would go on to be trounced by Lyndon Johnson, but his 1964 speech became a conservative rallying cry for a generation -- maybe more.

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue," said

Political Punch

Different presidents put their stamps on new technology in different ways: Roosevelt used radio with his fireside chats in a way that nobody had done before; John F. Kennedy's ability to connect with the American people through television was the first of its kind; and whatever you think of President Obama, he has, at least in the near term, changed the way presidents will use the internet, especially internet video. Obama brought to the White House its first ever official videographer, Arun Chaudhary. Chaudhary left the position last year, and out with a new book, First Cameraman, detailing his experience behind the lens.

Chaudhary was originally part of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, shooting and editing videos for the campaign's website. Going from the campaign to the White House was a big change, said the cameraman.

"It went from being part of a messaging team to being, you know, an agent of history, and I did try to take that seriously," said Chaudhary. Part