Incidentally, they play the system with news of all kinds. The whole Reagan thing is going to get played for all it's worth to take some of the pressure off GWB. Don't believe me? Check out the
Bush 2004 website.
They do it with mundane bad news. Less than favorable reports are always released on friday. You can always tell good news. Why? Cause you actually hear about it! Condi doesn't make the run of the talk shows when something gets messed up.
Same goes for negative campaigning, but it's by no means a dirty trick, only pulled out to smear the other guy.