Time machine: The making of a vice president

After learning how marketing gurus picked Sen. Joe Biden, the vice presidential candidate least likely to help Barack Obama, we visit the same company now mis-advising the Republicans.

To recapitulate, Schmendrickson & Clott is a privately owned, umpteen-billion-dollar marketing firm. Started by pioneering New Coke, it went on to design bath mats without traction, fruit-scented adhesives to appeal to glue-sniffing teenagers, and the course in truculence so popular among the Transportation Security Administration staff.