smays.com

Some politicians get the Internet... and some don't

Don't bail before the big finish. Worth the wait. [Thanks, Bob.]

"The Beltway-Blog Battle"

Writing in Time Magazine, James Poniewozek has an interesting take (The Beltway-Blog Battle) on the passing of Tim Russert.

"...the press lost its most authoritative mass-market journalist, just as it is losing its authority and its mass market."

The New Meida vs. Old Media argument got tiresome a long time ago, but Mr. Poniewozek offers a fresh take. A few paragraphs to wet your whistle:

"In their original division of labor, the old media broke news while the blogs dispensed opinion. But look at two of the biggest stories of the Democratic primary: Barack Obama's comments that working-class voters are "bitter" and Bill Clinton's rope-line rant that a reporter who profiled him was a "scumbag." Both were broken by a volunteer for the Huffington Post website, Mayhill Fowler.

Traditional reporters were aghast at Fowler's methods--the Obama meeting was closed to press (she got in as a donor), and Fowler did not identify herself when speaking to Clinton. But mainstream media had no problem treating the scoops as big news; if she had overheard both quotes in the same way but told them to a newspaper instead of publishing them, that would have been considered a coup.

The case against Fowler, in other words, was about process and credentials, not content. If sources stop trusting us, reporters asked, how will we do our jobs? But however sneaky her methods, Fowler's stories prove that one reason sites like Huffington have an audience is the perception that Establishment journalism has gotten better at serving its powerful sources than its public. Fiascoes like the Iraq-WMD reporting gave many the impression that the old rules mainly protect consultant-cosseted public officials who need protection least."

[For more on the Mayhill Fowler story, here's a bit of audio with Arianna Huffington, speaking at Guardian News & Media's internal Future of Journalism event on 18th June 2008.]

Mr. Poniewozik poses this rather rude question regarding MSM: "...if 3 million people read Drudge and 65,000 read the New Republic, which is mainstream?"

Obama-McCain Twitter Debate

Personal Democracy Forum/techPresident: "Starting tonight, a designated representative of both of the major presidential campaigns are going to participate in a free-wheeling debate on technology and government, moderated by Time magazine blogger Ana Marie Cox and channeled via Twitter."

This is probably one of those ideas that sounds more interesting than they turn out to be. But I'll be following along, just because I have the hots for AMC.

Clarification

Last week I posted that I had decided to avoid discussing politics. In the next paragraph, I said that I would continue to post on political topics, I just wouldn't be having pointless --often strained-- debates with friends.

As if to confirm my decision, I quickly heard from a couple of readers who observed, "THAT didn't take long!" ...referring to my next post dealing with politics. And they were miffed that I sometimes turn off comments on a post. It's not that I don't care what you have to say, I'd just rather read it on your blog.

And while I haven't entirely eliminated politics from smays.com, I try to put most of that stuff on Politix. Again, it's a journal... not a debate or even a conversation. I suggest Fox or MSNBC for that stuff.

One final point. The company I work for owns a number of news networks, in several states, but I have no editorial input or oversight for those newsrooms. I help with maintenance of their websites but that's it. Nobody reports to me, I am a staff of one.

Obama Fund Raiser

Remember the first time you had your picture taken sitting on a pony? Or in Santa's lap? Or that first prom photo? That's exactly what it was like getting my picture taken with Senator Barack Obama at last night's fund raiser in St. Louis. Assuming of course that you waited in line for two hours with 250 other kids and paid two grand for that pony picture.

This was my maiden voyage in the world of political fund raisers and I had no idea what to expect. My friends Henry and Lorna were there too, all of us first-timers. In fact, a lot of the people I met and spoke to were first-time contributers. I thought that was interesting, given that it cost $2,300 for the privilege of having your photo taken with the man that that might be the next president of the U. S. But these were true believers and everyone seemed happy to pony up. (no pun intended)

It's just a guess, mind you, but I figure they took in more than half a million from the VIP'ers and --at $500 per-- another $200,000 from those that heard Senator Obama speak but didn't get to shake his hand. Closing in on 3/4 of a million dollars. Not big by GOP standards but not too shabby for a couple of hours.

So, what do you say to the man you hope will be your next president when you have about 10 seconds with him? I had narrowed my remarks down to three possibilities:

"O. Kay Henderson says hey"
Kay is the news director of Radio Iowa and interviewed Senator Obama numerous times during the early days of the campaign for the Iowa Caucuses. I imagined the senator responding with something like, "You know Kay Henderson? No shit?! Tell the girl hey back."

"I've been waiting all my life for a president with a good jump shot."
I scratched that one quickly given the racially charged atmosphere of this campaign.

"In the sixties we thought we'd change the world. You've made us believe again that we can."
"You did, you did change the world" was the senator's response. At least that's what I heard. I confess I was pretty star-struck. Which surprised me a little.

The aides hustled us through the line quickly and in a couple of days we can go to a website and download that pricey photograph. We'll share it here, of course.

I guess I'm really "all in" now, as far as campaign contributions. And I'm glad I had last night's experience. There was a very exciting vibe in the room throughout and I kept trying to imagine a John McCain event sparking the same tent revival feel that pervaded the evening. I think they're gonna need a lot of swift boats.

PS: Henry (retired MD) gave Senator Obama a tip on how to stop smoking. Not sure what Lorna said. Lorna reports she said, "I hope we're not sucking your energy." A nice thought but kind of risky in such a noisy room.

PPS: I didn't get any good photos because I didn't want to move around or risk a cavity search by the Secret Service guys. Here's the VIP line before it got long and rowdy. If you look closely you can see the  "x"  taped on the floor so the  Senator would know where to stand.

UPDATE: Leading Democratic fundraisers predict that Sen. Barack Obama could raise $100 million in June and could attract 2.5 million to 3 million new donors to his campaign.

Role of social media in Obama's success

Podcating News points to (and excerpts) CIOZone article that takes a look at the IT strategy behind Obama’s campaign, which includes Chris Hughes, who was one of the three co-founders of Facebook and now runs the campaign’s my.barackobama.com, which itself is a sort of social network.

"The Web site allows the campaign to be “owned by the masses,” Spinner says, but he encourages even big donors to complete the transaction through the Web site, saving himself the time it would take to drive to their home or office to collect a check. Although hillaryclinton.com eventually matched most of the features of barackobama.com, the Obama campaign embraced the Web more enthusiastically and fielded many of those capabilities about six months ahead of the competition, Spinner says. “The DNA of everyone working on the Obama campaign is very much a startup mentality, where what matters is how you build it, how fast you roll it out, and how you tie it together.”

Six months. A long time in the online world. Will be interesting to see how the McCain campaign does in this space.

No more talking politics

"Never discuss religion or politics." It was one of the few rules I set for myself that I actually followed.

I'm not a fan of organized religion so it hasn't been difficult to avoid talking about it. The same was true for politics until Obama began running for president. Sure, I'd been bashing Bush for years but it was only when I came out for Obama that friends started trying to pull me into mini-debates.

In my enthusiasm for Obama and the better future I hope he represents, I broke my rule and engaged in these discussions. Big mistake.

Looking back, I now see the point --the only point-- of these encounters was to convince the other guy he was wrong. Even with friends, there was a negative undertone to these discussions. I'd go in feeling up and positive... and come out down and negative.

So I've decided to avoid discussing politics. We can talk about anything else you want... my sex life, books and films, The Office, whatever. But no politics.

I'll post on political topics here, but that's strictly therapeutic. I don't expect anyone to read these posts and, frankly, discourage it. smays.com has always been, first and foremost, a personal journal. A place to write some things down.

There. I feel better already. You should, too.

My first primary

I paid scant attention to general elections for the past 40 years. And less to primary elections. We knew JFK was something special but I was too young to vote. Since then it's always been the lesser of two evils (with accent on the evil).

But this one has been different. Bush & Co. have demonstrated what happens when people are willing to put a dummy in the White House because he goes to church and don't talk too pretty.

So tonight is our final game in the league play-offs (World Series in November). We're celebrating. And looking back.

I pulled the photos above because they take me back to the beginning of primary season. A time when Radio Iowa News Director (and pal) Kay Henderson could talk to Senators Obama and Clinton without a scrum (the preferred term for a bunch of pushy newsers) of network reporters.

What did Obama really think of his chances during those early trips to Iowa? As Hillary sat down with Kay, did she have any inkling her sure thing wasn't.

I hope to have a chat with Kay when things slow down (for her). She's been covering the Iowa Caucuses for 20+ years and I'm eager to get her take on this years primary campaign. Watch this space.

Kay made some time for me (22 min).

Download henderson060508.mp3

Is that a camera crew in your pocket?

Mark Halperin and the folks at Time have their digital shit in one neat pile. Check out this exclusive video with David Axelrod, just after learning that the Associated Press has declared that Obama has secured the majority of delegates to the Democratic convention and will win the nomination.

Looks like Halperin is shooting with a small, hand-held camera. No mic (except for the camera), a little jerky but talk about immediacy.

McCain's short list for VP leaked to press

And Lee Camp has it over at 23/6. Romney and Colin Powell both made the top ten, and for good reason.

PageCast: Short, sweet and real

There are just so many things I like about The PageCast, I'm not sure where to begin. First, what is The PageCast.

It's a 60 second video by Time Magazine's Mark Halperin, previewing the three stories that he thinks you should be watching for today. You'll find it on the top/right of The Page. Big whoop, right? Okay, here's some of the things I like about this simple idea (and this particular PageCast):

• It maximizes the reach of a popular, plugged-in political reporter.

• It's short. One minute. Easy to watch, easy to produce.

• It's real. Or at least it appears real. Today's PageCast was recorded in what appears to be Mr. Halperin's hotel room in South Dakota (prior to Tuesday's primary). And he obviously just came from the gym or a run. (Note to TV and Hollywood directors: THIS is what real sweat looks like. Not the little spritz you put under your star's arms and on his chest. Save this image for future reference). And Mark hasn't shaved yet. The guy looks like we all do on a Sunday morning.

• Zero production. If I had to guess, I'd say he recorded this with his Mac Book sitting on the hotel desk. Probably in one take. He emails the file to some web monkey who uploads to The Page and it's done. No crew, no director, no editing.

The news directors of our radio networks would be great at this. And their listeners/readers/viewers would eat it up.

UPDATE: My buddy Kay reports that Mark Halperin records PageCast between 7-9 a.m. (usually), wherever he happens to be and in whatever he happens to be wearing. If he's on the West Coast, he usually records them at night. He thinks of what he wants to say just before he begins recording (or in the shower or at the gym), on his MacBook Pro (edits with iMovie).

The idea was prompted by the desire to put video on The Page, while keeping it easy to produce and watch. Just as I suspected. Simple idea, well executed.

OK, Hillary, would one more vote make you happy?

For you slower kids, the inmates are the super delegates.

smays.com/politix

Good news. No more political posts here at smays.com. Maybe. I gotta represent for my man Obama but I know how boring political frothing can be. And it's a long time until November.

So I've set up a new blog at smays.com/politix where I can chronicle the the rise (or fall) of the USA. We'll probably include and RSS feed in the sidebar but we'll make it easy for you to miss the partisan stuff.

Ashcroft booed for Obama-Osama gaffe

From  rawstory.com: "Former Attorney General John Ashcroft drew the ire of students at liberal Skidmore College this week when he confused the name of Barack Obama with that of Osama bin Laden.

"All I'm saying about the Patriot Act," Ashcroft began, "is that the elected representatives of this country, including Osama ..."

His words were met with a roar of disbelief and disapproval, as he continued stammering, "uh ... you know ... not ... Obama." Ashcroft attempted to say "I'm sorry" but was drowned out by prolonged boos.

"I did not mean to ... I'm sorry about that ... I apologize publicly," Ashcroft went on as the boos gradually subsided."

Accident or strategy? Watch the video.

"If the news is that important it will find me."

This just in... the young process information differently. According to this story at NYT.com, "...younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well — sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks. And in turn, they rely on friends and online connections for news to come to them. In essence, they are replacing the professional filter — reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com — with a social one."

"A December survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press looked at how media were being consumed this campaign. In the most striking finding, half of respondents over the age of 50 and 39 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds reported watching local television news regularly for campaign news, while only 25 percent of people under 30 said they did."

"Rather than treating video-sharing Web sites as traditional news sources, young people use them as tools and act as editors themselves."

One quote in the story really jumped out at me:

“If the news is that important, it will find me.”

What does this mean for those of us in the news business?

Sound bites, talking points and YouTube

Really interesting story at Politico by Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej about how YouTube is helping move us away from sound bite coverage to something more substantial.

"In the 1968 presidential election, the average amount of time given to a sound bite from presidential candidate on the network news shows was 43 seconds. In 1972 it dropped to 25. By 1988, it had shrunk to 9.8 seconds, and in 1996, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs and the Brookings Institution, to just 8.2 seconds. By 2004, a study by USC and the University of Wisconsin found that it had risen slightly to 10.3 seconds, but for all intents and purposes this was hardly much of an improvement.

Until now, all of national politics has operated within the context of those shrinking numbers. Since TV was the only way to reach millions of voters, and the only way to get your message across was to a) buy expensive airtime for 30-second TV ads or b) get free airtime by saying something memorable (and not damaging, unless aimed at your opponent), successful politicians have gotten very good at sticking to their talking points, speaking in sound-bites, and avoiding gaffes or detailed conversations as much as possible."

My man Obama is proving these assumptions are out of date:

"So far, Obama's videos have been viewed more than 33 million times on YouTube.com — and that's not counting partial views, since YouTube only reports a full viewing as a “view.” His campaign has uploaded more than 800 video clips, and adds several more a day."

In a pre-Internet era, the endless replayings on television of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sound bites denouncing America would probably have deeply damaged Obama's candidacy. But millions of voters have been flocking to the web to watch his 37-minute response to the controversy.

Our longest newscast on our four state radio networks is 4 minutes. Only three of those being news. Even more popular --with affiliates-- are our one-minute "capsules." Formats which demand shorter and shorter sound bites.

But we now routinely post longer --sometimes complete-- interviews with the stories we post to our websites.

I have to believe everyone is better served by new media alternatives.

obama@whitehouse.gov

The Obama campaign seems to have their online shit all in one neat pile. The email I've received suggests they've got someone smart doing their digital stuff. So I offer this suggestion, in the event O. goes the distance.

President Obama reads, answers and acts on one email --from an American citizen-- every week. Let's say, on Friday. Here's how it might work:

Anybody can email the president once a week. Yes, people will try to find ways to scam this but you can deal with that.

On Friday morning, 10 emails are selected at random and forwarded to President Obama's in-box. He looks through them, picks one and responds --personally-- to the sender.

If action is required, the email is forwarded to the appropriate subordinate who has to DO something because the president --and the country-- will be watching.

The media gets a copy of the original email, the president's reply, including what --if anything-- will be done.

Think about it. If the president actually made something happen --personally-- 50 times a year, that would be pretty cool. Of course, some will ask the president to do things he cannot. And he can simply reply, "I don't know what the hell to do about that."

The odds of your email being selected are about the same as winning the Lotto but so what. Somebody's email got through.

Dark Ride

Republicans stopped visiting (if they ever did) smays.com a long time ago. So this video is unlikely to offend anyone but Hillary supporters and they hit the door right after the neocons. The rest of you can just hunker down until November when I hope to return to DEFCON 5.

Bob Cesca produced the mash-up above: "The song and the speech compelled me to ... assemble this mash-up as a tribute to everyone who has endured this seven-year-long dark ride; and to everyone who hopes that America can and will change for the better.

Until recently, I honestly didn't think it was possible. And even though it's only the beginning, Senator Obama's campaign is clearly our best shot to, at the very least, turn the tide against this seemingly interminable darkness."

John McCain's Magic 8 Ball

One finds the most amusing things at 23/6.com. Like John McCain's Magic 8 Ball. A clever post with a delightful headline ("John McCain will turn this war around right now if you don't shut up").

Q: Do you remember where you parked your car?
A: My feet hurt.

Q: Would you bone Hillary?
A: How about you say that to my face?

Q: When did you have your last bowel movement?
A: Would you like some hard candy?

Spooky how dead on the answers all were.

Vote for me!

I've probably posted on this before but only the clinically obsessed or house-bound reader would know that, so...

If you're going to run for office in Dunklin County, Missouri, you have two methods for telling your story to the voting public: yard signs and the even more powerful 4x8 plywood sign placed in strategic locations. You might run a few radio spots but that wouldn't do the job if your opponent out-signed you.

One thing before I go on... anyone swayed by a political ad on TV is a fucking moron. You are cattle (maybe sheep). And you are legion, hence all the ads on TV. But you won't live forever and your children are not watching TV. I hope they will be harder to reach and mislead. Where was I?

Oh, yeah. My friend Terry sends us this example of state-of-the-art political media from my hometown. (No offense intended, Patrick. You have to do what you have to do. Good luck)

"Hillary's Last Stand"

Writing in the March 20th issue of Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi explores "The tragic self-martyrdom of a groundbreaking politician."

"The Clintons always represented the notion that the old Democratic Party of unions and LBJ liberals was a thing of the past and that the way forward involved making nice with big business and the military. Her husband passed NAFTA, deregulated Wall Street, rammed through welfare "reform," bombed Kosovo, chided Sister Soulja, opened the Lincoln bedroom to any foreign nation with spare cash and won two elections.

Winning convinced both of them that they were saviors of everything right and decent in the world. They'd discovered the winning formula, and we were welcome to kiss their asses for finding it. And so what if the formula involved selling out the unions on a series of draconian and insane trade deals, or cozying up to one of the most regressive employers in the world in Wal-Mart, or hiring an evil lobbyist stooge like Mark Penn to be your chief campaign strategist, or voting to give George Bush the authority to launch an illegal invasion of Iraq?"

Matt Taibbi is far and away my favorite political reporter (right after Kay Henderson!) and I buy a copy of Rolling Stone just for his pieces.

His latest leaves the reader with the impression that Hillary is kaput. I'm not so sure. He calls her "one of the most awesomely complex and fascinating public figures in the history of our country."  But not in a good way.

I couldn't find the article online but will update this post if I do.

Tracy Morgan funnier than I thought

I almost never watch Saturday Night Live. Just got out of the habit. Didn't find it amusing anymore. I've watched Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan on 30 Rock and fell in love with Tina. As for Tracy, not so much. Thought he was one of the weak elements of the show. But I think I've sold the man short. (And he's not afraid of Tina Fey)

This past Saturday, Tracy Morgan responded to Tina Fey’s promotion of Hillary Clinton three weeks ago with his own defense of Barack Obama.

MORGAN: Why is it that every time a black man in this country gets too good at something, there’s always someone come around and remind us that he’s black? First Tiger, then Donavan McNabb then me. Now Barack. I got a theory about that. It’s a little complicated but basically, it goes like this: we are a racist country. The end. It’s not the people in this room, but if we’re not a racist country, how did Hillary Clinton convince everybody in Texas and Ohio that Barack didn’t know how to answer the phone at 3 in the morning? Let me tell you something, Barack knows how to answer that phone. He’s not going to answer it like, (soft, frightened voice) “Hello, I’m scared. What’s going on?” He is gonna answer it like I would get a phone call at 3 in the morning: “Yeah, who’s this? This better be good or I’m going to come down there and put somebody in a wheelchair.”

Some things never change, Seth. People saying he’s not a fighter. Let me tell you something. He’s a gangsta, he’s from Chicago. Barack is not winning because he’s a black man. If that was the case, I would be winning. And I’m way blacker than him. I used to smoke Newports and drink Olde English. I grew up on government cheese, I prefer it. Now there’s all this stuff and all this talk about the pastor. Barack has to stay away from the pastor, ‘cause he’s too black. But just because he knows the dude doesn’t think…doesn’t mean that he’s gonna think like him. Look, I have a friend who goes to strip clubs, that doesn’t mean that I am gonna go to the strip club.

SETH MEYERS: But you do go to strip clubs.

MORGAN: Yeah, but I go for the girls, not because my friend is going. I have integrity. Barack is qualified. Personally, I want to know what qualifies Hillary Clinton to be the next president. Is it because she was married to the president? If that were the case then Robin Givens would be the heavyweight champion of the world. If Hillary’s last name wasn’t Clinton, she’d be some crazy white lady with too much money and not enough lovin’. That’s where I come in. I know women like that, you do not want them on the phone at 3 in the morning. In conclusion, three weeks ago, my girl Tina Fey went on the show, she declared that “bitch is the new black”. You know I love you, Tina. You know you’re my girl. But I have something to say. Bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president, bitch."

Ron Paul: Still a candidate, but no longer a "contender"

A reporter for one of our networks referred to Ron Paul the "former GOP presidential candidate"  in a story we ran on Saturday and posted on our website.

It didn't take long for Paul supporters to discover the error launch an obviously coordinated email blitz. Some were nicer than others.

This evening Bob Priddy --the news director-- posted a response on the network blog. I think he struck precisely the right tone. I'm sure we'll find out if Ron Paul supporters agree.

But, all in all, this is a good thing. Our story was technically wrong. Ron Paul is not a "former" candidate. And his supporters let us know about, quickly and in larger numbers. And our network corrected the mistake and responded.

The new O-Face

We're all familiar with the O-face. Now, there's the O-Bama Face:

The O-Bama Face (n.): the expression made by an Obama supporter when the inspired oration and possibility of a Commander In Chief Obama becomes just too much to take.

Political cybersquatting

The Caucus (the NYT politics blog): "The election has “triggered an avalanche of cybersquatter activity,” according to NetNames, a domain name management service. Speculators have registered nearly 2,000 domain names related to presidential candidates as of last week. Names related to Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy made up over half of the registrations, followed by Mr. Obama with 635 and Mr. McCain with 269."

I didn't see a lot of creativity in the domain names listed in the Times story. HillarysFatAss.com and UppityAfroAmerican.com were conspicuous by their absence.

An election about catastrophes

"This is not, finally, an election of the new against the old. It is an election about the place of the America in the world of nations, and whether we are to be known primarily as a dreaded superpower. It is an election about catastrophes, both natural and man-made. It is the election of Katrina and Baghdad." -- David Bromwich

Larry David on Hillary Clinton

"A few weeks ago, I started to feel sorry for her. Oh Christ, let her win already...Who cares...It's not worth it. There's not that much difference between them. She can have it. Anything to avoid watching her descend into madness. So I switched. I started rooting for her. It wasn't that hard. Compromise comes easy to me. I was on board. And then I saw the ad.

I watched, transfixed, as she took the 3 a.m. call...and I was afraid...very afraid. Suddenly, I realized the last thing this country needs is that woman anywhere near a phone. I don't care if it's 3 a.m. or 10 p.m. or any other time. I don't want her talking to Putin, I don't want her talking to Kim Jong Il, I don't want her talking to my nephew. She needs a long rest. She needs to put on a sarong and some sun block and get away from things for a while, a nice beach somewhere -- somewhere far away, where there are...no phones." [Full post]

Fear vs. Hope

"...due to technical difficulties"

New York Times: "In an attempt to clear up questions about how an Alabama television station lost its signal at the start of Sunday’s edition of “60 Minutes” on CBS, the management of the station, WHNT-TV, issued a statement Thursday citing equipment failure.

The station, in Huntsville, said that after a review, it had concluded that the blackout was related to a similar interruption during a basketball game the day before.

The break in the signal, which lasted about eight minutes, came as the CBS News program was beginning a report of special interest to Alabama residents: an investigation into whether the trial and conviction of a former governor, Don Siegelman, was politically motivated. The report included charges that Republican and Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, had sought to discredit Mr. Siegelman, a Democrat."

I'd be scared shitless if I was the engineer or producer who actually pulled the plug on that segment. A loose end that Uncle Karl might like to tie off. You folks in Huntsville can watch the segment online.

Microtrends vs. Macrotrends

Arianna explains why Obama is winning:

"Hillary Clinton's campaign model," David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist told me this morning in Chicago, "is a very tired Washington model: 'I'll do these things for you.' Barack's model is 'Let's do these things together.' This has been the premise of Barack's politics all his life, going back to his days as a community organizer. He has really lived and breathed it, which is why it comes across so authentically.

"Of course, the time also has to be right for the man and the moment to come together. And, after all the country has been through over the last seven years, the times are definitely right for the message that the only way to get real change is to activate the American people to demand it."

"Small is the new big," (Mark Penn wrote). "Many of the biggest movements in America today are small."

Except when they are very big, and getting bigger by the day. And you've missed them.

Why a journalism class leans toward Obama

The Clinton campaign has been complaining they aren't getting a fair shake from the news media. No idea if that's true or not. But Cory Bergman at Lost Remote shares this story:

"This is fascinating. A University of Washington journalism class is aggressively blogging the 2008 campaign. They’re attending primaries and caucuses, cameras and laptops in hand. The professor, David Domke, says he’s noticed a lean towards Obama among the students in part because of the way Obama’s campaign staff respected the bloggers.

“The Obama campaign treated us like pros — they called us back within minutes, set up interviews, got us press passes, went out of their way to make the campaign accessible,” Domke writes. “The Clinton campaign, in contrast, didn’t return a single phone call, didn’t provide press access, and did virtually nothing to encourage our coverage.”

Domke concludes: “The Clinton campaign has made the case that Obama is nothing but rhetoric; he’s supposedly all words, while she’s all action. Our experiences showed us that their campaigns — at least in Seattle — were exactly the opposite. In their treatment of my students, Clinton’s campaign was all talk, while Obama’s was all walk.”

Is it still funny if it's true?

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Andrew Sullivan: The Clintons' Last Stand

"Clinton is a terrible manager of people. Coming into a campaign she had been planning for, what, two decades, she was so not ready on Day One, or even Day 300. Her White House, if we can glean anything from the campaign, would be a secretive nest of well-fed yes-people,  an uncontrollable egomaniac spouse able and willing to bigfoot anyone if he wants to, a phalanx of flunkies who cannot tell the boss when things are wrong, and a drizzle of dreary hacks like Mark Penn. Her only genuine skill is pivoting off the Limbaugh machine (which is now as played out as its enemies). Her new weapon is apparently bursting into tears. I mean: really." [Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish]

This kind of post-mortem is showing up all over the web. Too soon? Don't know. But they remind me of this photo of HRC with my friend and co-work Kay Henderson, taken during the campaign in Iowa. Senator Clinton looks so... serene.

Has Barack stepped on his Obama?

HRC lashed out at Barack Obama today for using a strategy out of “Karl Rove’s playbook” by making speeches of hope while sending Ohioans what she called “false and discredited mailings” on health care and trade policy.

There's a good analysis at FactCheck.org which concludes the direct mail piece "... lacks a good amount of context and could mislead those who are not familiar with Clinton's plan." The mailer also includes a quote from The Daily Iowan:

“forcing those who cannot afford health insurance to buy it through mandates … punishing those who don't fall in line with fines.”

Again from FactCheck.org: "Obama doesn't tell readers that this is a college newspaper written and edited by University of Iowa students. That's not to say it's wrong, but a student newspaper carries less authority than a professionally written and edited major U.S. daily."

That's chicken shit BO, not at all what your supporters expect from you. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this one. Maybe you didn't see this flier before it went out, but that's no excuse. Just give us the facts and we'll decide who has the better plan.

Campaign like it's 1999

Good story in the NYT on spending by the Clinton and Obama campaigns. The focus seems to be the mis-management of spending by the HRC camp. But this little nugget caught my eye:

"Mr. Obama broadcast 3,000 more advertisements than she did, and he was able to air those ads not only in the states that were immediately up for grabs but also in contests on Feb. 5 and beyond. Mr. Obama spent nearly $480,000 on 1,331 spots in Missouri; he won the state’s primary, a closely fought contest and a national political bellwether, by one percentage point."

No matter who wins, this campaign will be sliced and diced and examined for years to come.

Candidate conference calls

Dave Winer wants to listen to those daily conference calls the candidates have with reporters;

"It seems much of the real action in the campaign happens here, but we (voters, taxpayers, citizens) have no access. I listened to an MP3 of one of the calls, with the chief strategist and communications director of the Clinton campaign. It was fascinating, gave me a picture of how the press and the candidates relate that I had never seen before."

A few years ago I asked one of our reporters to post the audio of one of these conference calls where a bunch of reporters are on with the news-maker.  She was shocked that I asked and explained that the call was "just for reporters" and they decided which portions were news-worthy. And the reporters would not want "just anyone" to hear their questions.

I'm with Mr. Winer. I'd love to hear these calls, raw and unedited. I'll decide what's news and what's spin. No filtering, please. I have to wonder if some reporters might be concerned this could raise questions about their editorial judgment. What they decided to include in the story and what they left out. I fail to see how that could be a problem if their story ended with, "...you can listen to the entire conference call on our website."

50 sites on politics in 50 states

From NYT.com: "The plan is to pull together 50 Web sites, one for each state, into a political hub called Politicker.com. Each site will serve as an intensely local source for political articles, speculation and scandal.

Ten sites are online already, and the 11th, covering Kentucky, is scheduled to go up this week. The site(s) will be advertiser supported. “Instead of taking out ads in five papers across the state, if you want to reach the most influential and politically active people, all you have to do is buy an ad package on the site.”

Learfield's news division operates four news networks that cover the legislature and news from around the state and politics. I'd be hard pressed to say exactly how many of our stories are political (year in and year out) but a fair number. Will something like Politicker.com be going after the same online audio?

Maybe. While we still see ourselves as being in the network radio business, a venture like Politicker.com might begin to answer the question: Who will our future competitors be and how will the be different from us?

Campaign trail slugs and hugs

"It's amazing how fast campaign trail slugs turn into hugs in the name of party unity -- and a prime speaking slot at the national convention. And candidates wonder why voters have grown cynical?" [Arianna Huffington]

Enough with the politics already

Hey, nobody is more surprised than I by my political awakening. My fear simply overcame my cynicism. But hang on, it's almost over and I see four possible outcomes:

1. Hillary gets the nomination and wins the White House. We've already seen what a Clinton administration looks like.
2. McClain wins in November and gives us four more years of Bush.
3. Obama gets the nomination and wins in November (long shot). But turns out to be like every other politician to plop his ass down in the Oval Office.
4. Obama gets the nomination, wins in November and delivers on some of his promise of change. (Long, long shot)

If any of the first three occurs, I'm done. We missed our chance. Maybe the last one for good long while. If #4 comes in... I'll rent Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Dave and then shut the fuck up.

Personal goodbyes to our commander-in-chief

A simple idea. A website where you can post a video saying farewell to George W. Bush. I sampled a few, expecting to a lot of angry people saying bad things about W. They're probably some of those, but I didn't find any. This one by Robert in NYC was more typical. Frustration. Disappointment.

I also expected to find some video by Bush supporters. "We love you, Mr. President! God bless!" Again, they might be there but I didn't find one. My friend George (different George) wondered if the site censored positive videos. Maybe but somehow I don't think so.

Analysis of Hillary Clinton's remaining voting blocks

This is almost too cruel to post. [236.com]

McCain Music Video

Seems only fair to give Senator McCain equal time.

Tracking the trackers

Meet Vinay Vaz. Vinay works for the Missouri Democratic Party. His job is to show up at GOP events and shoot video.

Missourinet reporter Steve Walsh ran into Vinay at this weekend Lincoln Days in Springfield, MO. (It's the big annual get together for Missouri Republicans.) Steve introduced himself and asked to speak with Vinay, who responded: "I'm not authorized to speak to the media."

I suspect the Republicans have their own guy(s) out shooting video at Democratic events. Absolutely nothing wrong it. The practice came to national attention when Senator George Allen gave a shout out to a young man shooting video at one of his events.

Like Steve, I would love to interview Vinay. What sort of moments is he looking for? How does he edit and archive the video. Who makes the editorial decisions? Is "tracker" your official job description?

As Steve mentioned in his blog post, the trackers are now being tracked. Did Vinay shoot video of Steve taking his picture... well, you get the idea.

HRC: Headliner and Legend

MSNBC is airing an episode of their Headliners and Legends series from October 20, 1999. It's a profile of Hillary Rodham Clinton. It's accurate, as far as I know, and so flattering it could have been produced by her campaign. I tried --unsuccessfully-- to find it online.

I'm watching and thinking, "Wow! You couldn't buy that kind of publicity." Then it hits me. Is NBC doing damage control?

From The Politico: "Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday morning ripped MSNBC over reporter David Shuster’s suggestion that Chelsea Clinton was “sort of being pimped out” by the campaign.

The Clinton campaign immediately demanded an apology and floated the possibility that Clinton would no longer participate in an MSNBC debate, scheduled for Feb. 26. The campaign did not explain under what conditions Clinton would participate in MSNBC's debate."

How about if NBC runs an hour-long special in the middle of a hotly contested primary campaign? This pre-empts the regularly scheduled programming, a show called Deadly Encounter.

How flattering was this profile? I'm voting for Obama but this segment had me thinking that HRC might be a good president. I'm okay now, but for a few minutes....

Worth 1,000 words

This photo still creeps me out.

"Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

Arianna Huffington on Tuesday night's speeches: "As luck, and poor scheduling, would have it, Barack Obama and John McCain gave their Super Tuesday victory speeches at roughly the same time last night, causing cable news directors across the dial to go split-screen, then finally jump from the tail end of McCain's speech to the first part of Obama's.

The overlapping oratories could not have been more dramatically different. One soared; the other plodded. One caused goose bumps; the other caused eyelids to flutter shut. One felt newly minted; the other could have been given by Herbert Hoover (and maybe was).

For some reason, I kept picturing a singer like Perry Como standing in the wings during the old Ed Sullivan show, watching the Beatles hit the stage, and thinking: "What do I do now?" or "Oh. My. God." or "The world just changed, didn't it?" or "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

Are you talking to me?

"I've never made a speech like this at a political event before. So what am I doing here?" De Niro said. "I'm here because finally one person has inspired me. One person has given me hope. One person has made me believe that we can make a change."

"Some of you know I now have Secret Service protection," Obama said. "Those guys never smile; they are always cool. But I noticed when De Niro walks in, they're all like elbowing each other."

Absolution

In a moving ceremony at the International Machinest Hall in Bridgeton, Missouri on Sunday, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton gave absolution to former neocon firebrand Darrin Jobe. "It felt like coming home," said a tearful Jobe.

For the record: I'm for Obama

I've always been a cynic when it comes to politics. I recall saying something derisive along the lines of, "I think it's precious that you believe it makes a difference who is in office" when someone would praise or knock a politician.

George Bush and Dick Cheney have burned that cynicism right out of me. It does matter. And while I don't know which candidate  --if any-- can get us out of the jam Bush and his buddies have put us in, it's time to stand up and be counted.

I'm voting for Obama. If he wins and makes things worse, you can send me a link to this post and hold me accountable. And I promise not to hide. Funny, but I can't find a Bush supporter anywhere these days.

This post is just for the record. No need for comments. I urge everyone to pick a candidate and support them.

There are earmarks and then there are earmarks

Bob Cesa was live blogging last night's State of the Union. The nugget that caught my eye:

According to the OMB website, in 2005: "there were 13,492 earmarks totaling $18,938,657,000." That was a Republican Congress and the president signed everything that was dumped on his desk. If Hastert dropped a Polish sausage on the White House lawn, the president signed it.