If you look at the dates of the news stories, they actually reported his trip as part of a congressional delegation from the start - but really played up the campaign aspects. Condi was deliberately creating a policy to make it appear that Obama's visit was clearly a campaign visit while McCain's was a substantive visit. Hence, my objection - some pigs now being officially more equal than others.

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Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
Ernest Benn

that is not an answer. Where do you get your information?

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It is a violation of US Federal law for government employees to participate in a campaign for Federal office..

Hatch Act. Wikimedia Error

It has been US law since 1939.

Your information is outdated and a narrow interpretation of the facts.

going to a rally is not the same as being a participant. The rule is commonly excepted to mean they cannot organize or work for a campaign. But not allowing them assemble where they please is a direct violation of their rights.

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So Condi broke the law? Or was it Mccain?

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Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
Ernest Benn

The law has been in effect since 1939. Sorry to all.

You cannot partake in politics while on Federal time, and you cannot use Federal resources. Or use your status as leverage in any way shape or form.

Well - they can for McCain, just not for Obama:

State Dept. Double Standard: Diplomats Barred From Obama’s Berlin Speech, But Not McCain’s In Ottawa

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Embassy in Berlin “instructed Foreign Service personnel stationed there not to attend Sen. Barack Obama’s [D-IL] public rally” in Tiergarten Park because the event is “‘partisan political activity‘ prohibited under its regulations for those serving overseas.”

The diplomats’ union objected to the ruling, calling it an “unnecessarily narrow interpretation” of the Foreign Affairs Manual. “The fact that you are working for the U.S. government overseas should not preclude political activity that you could engage in in the United States,” one retired senior Foreign Service officer said. But a State official explained the ruling:

But “we always maintain that no U.S. government Foreign Service person overseas should be seen to be advocating one side or the other,” State Department Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy said, adding that “it has nothing to do with who” the candidate is.

“When a German sees you there, they’re not going to think, ‘Oh, he or she is on their off time.’ It’s ‘Oh, they are a Democrat, a Republican, an independent,’ God knows what,” Kennedy said in an interview.

But the ruling — which Kennedy admitted is unprecedented — appears to indicate a double standard from the State Department. Last June, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) delivered a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa. The event was reportedly organized in part by U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins, whom President Bush appointed in 2005. But more than that, the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa confirmed to ThinkProgress that Wilkins also attended the event.

Not only did McCain make clear references to and critiques of Obama’s policy positions in the speech, but he also referred to his own presidential campaign six times.

Although both the McCain and Obama campaigns denied their respective speeches in Ottawa and Berlin were political, the State Department only prohibited diplomats from attending Obama’s event. The fact that Wilkins attended McCain’s speech without worries that he would “be seen to be advocating one side or the other,” undermines Kennedy’s justification for barring Foreign Service personnel from attending Obama’s speech.

Scroll down a few articles:Think Progress Home Page

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Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
Ernest Benn

I for one cannot speak on behalf of how the reg's work involving foreign diplomats. I only know my interpretation as a federal employee state side.

Well, those directly involved seem to feel the regs are being interpreted differently for different candidates.

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Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
Ernest Benn