What happens when leading pundits and politicians from both sides of the aisle get together for a no-holds-barred discussion about the upcoming elections? Public affairs specialist Bill Black offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Presidential Election Panel Discussion held during an Omnicom interagency meeting in May 2008.

The discussion was moderated by Paul Johnson, vice chairman for Worldwide Growth and president of Public Affairs for Fleishman-Hillard. Participants included Jim Margolis, senior partner at GMMB and recently appointed senior strategist for the Obama campaign; Kieran Mahoney, principal of Mercury Public Affairs, which consults for the McCain campaign; Mickey Kantor, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Clinton-Gore campaign chair; and Morton Kondracke, political commentator, co-host of "The Beltway Boys" on Fox News Channel, and executive editor of Roll Call, a nonpartisan
Capitol Hill newspaper.