McCain media duo joins Team Romney

A month after decamping from John McCain's flagging presidential campaign, Republican media strategists Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens have joined Mitt Romney's merry band of image-makers. As reported today by The Washington Post, the two respected veterans of President Bush's 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns will help Romney craft not just TV spots but online media, an increasingly integral part of the 2008 campaign. Stevens and Schriefer will work alongside Romney media guru Alex Castellanos as part of an image team Romney's campaign calls Midnight Ride Media.

"This is part of our effort to add even more bandwidth to a stellar media team," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. "Stu and Russ are incredibly creative, talented and well-respected professionals, so everyone is thrilled they will be part of Team Romney."

Last year, Stevens and Schriefer worked for Kerry Healey's unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in Massachusetts, producing some aggressive, controversial spots targeting Deval Patrick. Some political analysts argued that the ads backfired because they were too negative.