Behind the Scenes of the 2008 Campaign

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From the Newsweek Special Edition highlights:

The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.

Identified as information obtained by reporters during the 2008 presidential campaign, information it was agreed would not be published until the end of the campaign cycle, Newsweek has released what it calls a special project, including featured background stories behind many of the already talked about issues that came up during the campaign, like the hacking of the computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns and the Palin shopping spree.    

Most disturbing is the information that threats to then Senator Obama increased during the time  period the McCain-Palin campaign began addressing crowds gathered, asking, "Who is the REAL Barack Obama?", with Governor Palin stating the now famous phrase that Senator Obama was " .... palling around with terrorists."

From Chapter 6: Battling it Out in the Great Debates :

.... Several of Obama's friends in the Senate were shocked by the GOP rabble-rousing. Dick Durbin, the U.S. senator from Illinois who pushed for early Secret Service coverage for Obama, called Lindsey Graham, who was traveling with McCain. (Graham scoffed at the call as "an orchestrated attempt to push a narrative" about McCain going negative. He said he told Durbin, "OK, buddy, but remember—that goes both ways.")

Additional information is provided here by TheCameraObscura concerning the increased threats.

Click here to read the Newsweek special.