JSchool::Election 08

The End of an Era (Fox/McCain)

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:52:00 +0100

When I picked that little piece of paper of the hat and read "Fox News. McCain" I knew I would be spending a lot of time yelling at the TV this quarter. I think it is very true that people watch shows and gather information that reinforce their views. I do not think that this is a bad thing, but it was interesting to watch news from the opposite side of the spectrum. Watching Fox news during a time where little faith was left in the Republican Party was very interesting, it was fun to watch what story they would run with and what story's would only be talked about in passing. I saw that Fox liked to cling to story's about Barack Obama's character and any slight scandal such as ACRON. Fox would report these events but bring it to another level of investigation and ask outlandish questions or make innuendo's what made the story worse. Most stations have talk show host such that are outright in saying they support a political party, but most stations are relatively balanced when doing a newscast. I feel Fox News has a problem with this, a news station should not be objective when giving the facts. I obviously have to bring up John Stewart in my last post, two days after the election he showed a montage of story's the Fox News network was talking about in the days leading up to the election. All of the story were about ACRON or Bill Ayers or Barack Obama's illegal Aunt. I feel this is bad for America and news, with days until the American people are casting their ballot real news should be reported about policy issues and how these two men will effect you life if they are names President.
In conclusion, I did enjoy getting the perspective of the election from Fox News. I learned a lot about journalism and the way campaigns are showed in the news. It is said people watch shows and gather information that reinforces their views. However, I feel, if you really want to reinforce your liberal views- watch Fox News.When I picked that little piece of paper of the hat and read "Fox News. McCain" I knew I would be spending a lot of time yelling at the TV this quarter. I think it is very true that people watch shows and gather information that reinforce their views. I do not think that this is a bad thing, but it was interesting to watch news from the opposite side of the spectrum. Watching Fox news during a time where little faith was left in the Republican Party was very interesting, it was fun to watch what story they would run with and what story's would only be talked about in passing. I saw that Fox liked to cling to story's about Barack Obama's character and any slight scandal such as ACRON. Fox would report these events but bring it to another level of investigation and ask outlandish questions or make innuendo's what made the story worse. Most stations have talk show host such that are outright in saying they support a political party, but most stations are relatively balanced when doing a newscast. I feel Fox News has a problem with this, a news station should not be objective when giving the facts. I obviously have to bring up John Stewart in my last post, two days after the election he showed a montage of story's the Fox News network was talking about in the days leading up to the election. All of the story were about ACRON or Bill Ayers or Barack Obama's illegal Aunt. I feel this is bad for America and news, with days until the American people are casting their ballot real news should be reported about policy issues and how these two men will effect you life if they are names President.
In conclusion, I did enjoy getting the perspective of the election from Fox News. I learned a lot about journalism and the way campaigns are showed in the news. It is said people watch shows and gather information that reinforces their views. However, I feel, if you really want to reinforce your liberal views- watch Fox News.

And it's a wrap... (NBC John McCain Blog)

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:54:00 +0100

Following the McCain coverage on NBC news has been quite the experience. I truly hoped that when writing my final blog, I'd be able to comment on the McCain campaign coming full-circle. Unfortunately, that is not how this post will end. On the final day of the campaigns, November 4, McCain continued to release smear ads, linking Obama to Ayers and Reverend Wright. I understand attack ads are a vital aspect of any campaign, but on the Election Day?

Through watching the NBC coverage during the last two months, I witnessed the unraveling of failed messaging at its worst. McCain was unable to latch on to any kind of unified, focused messaging and the NBC coverage blatantly reflected that. I learned that basing an entire campaign on irrelevant attacks does nothing to rally supporters. McCain's strategy and messaging style only caused some people to hate Obama, but did nothing to rally their support for McCain.

Had McCain focused his messaging more on a positive, optimistic idea and spoke more about what he could do for America, I believe he would have been rewarded with better NBC coverage and a more likely chance to win the election. The McCain campaign became overly enthralled with what Obama could not accomplish that it forgot to rally supporters by encouraging them with hope that McCain could help them.

Last week, NBC mentioned McCain's strategy to reach out to voters that like Obama, and could see him being president eventually, but feared his inexperience. With this, I finally saw a ray of hope for the McCain campaign. I thought it would have been brilliant to focus on this audience, focus on Obama's inexpierience as compared to McCain's many years of experience. This would have been the unified message that NBC could have latched onto. Instead, McCain concentrated on mockable attack attempts such as the William Ayers and Reverend Wright stories. NBC's coverage of McCain taught me that a campaign must be focused, organized and have unified messaging in order to be covered properly. Here, I believe McCain failed miserably.

From the 492 class, I learned that people remember things in "frames." McCain should have limited and focused his messages on fewer frames. He could have been more successful by focusing harder on "maverick," "experience," "war hero," and "strict government spending." I believe by limiting his messaging to ONLY those frames, NBC could have had less negative coverage of McCain because it would have limited the frequency of his campaigns blunders.

I do not blame NBC's bias for the incessant negativity of McCain. I believe the coverage was always warranted. I also do not blame McCain; I blame the poor strategic thinking of his campaign staff. The frequent lapses in the McCain campaign could have made any news station appear biased for Obama. I learned that it isn't always the media being biased. The media cannot be blamed for unsuccessful campaign strategy. I believe the Republican Party learned a lot about messaging and the need to tweak their messaging to tailor to the new generation. If this is accomplished, I believe they will see better media coverage and a tighter race in the next four years.Following the McCain coverage on NBC news has been quite the experience. I truly hoped that when writing my final blog, I'd be able to comment on the McCain campaign coming full-circle. Unfortunately, that is not how this post will end. On the final day of the campaigns, November 4, McCain continued to release smear ads, linking Obama to Ayers and Reverend Wright. I understand attack ads are a vital aspect of any campaign, but on the Election Day?

Through watching the NBC coverage during the last two months, I witnessed the unraveling of failed messaging at its worst. McCain was unable to latch on to any kind of unified, focused messaging and the NBC coverage blatantly reflected that. I learned that basing an entire campaign on irrelevant attacks does nothing to rally supporters. McCain's strategy and messaging style only caused some people to hate Obama, but did nothing to rally their support for McCain.

Had McCain focused his messaging more on a positive, optimistic idea and spoke more about what he could do for America, I believe he would have been rewarded with better NBC coverage and a more likely chance to win the election. The McCain campaign became overly enthralled with what Obama could not accomplish that it forgot to rally supporters by encouraging them with hope that McCain could help them.

Last week, NBC mentioned McCain's strategy to reach out to voters that like Obama, and could see him being president eventually, but feared his inexperience. With this, I finally saw a ray of hope for the McCain campaign. I thought it would have been brilliant to focus on this audience, focus on Obama's inexpierience as compared to McCain's many years of experience. This would have been the unified message that NBC could have latched onto. Instead, McCain concentrated on mockable attack attempts such as the William Ayers and Reverend Wright stories. NBC's coverage of McCain taught me that a campaign must be focused, organized and have unified messaging in order to be covered properly. Here, I believe McCain failed miserably.

From the 492 class, I learned that people remember things in "frames." McCain should have limited and focused his messages on fewer frames. He could have been more successful by focusing harder on "maverick," "experience," "war hero," and "strict government spending." I believe by limiting his messaging to ONLY those frames, NBC could have had less negative coverage of McCain because it would have limited the frequency of his campaigns blunders.

I do not blame NBC's bias for the incessant negativity of McCain. I believe the coverage was always warranted. I also do not blame McCain; I blame the poor strategic thinking of his campaign staff. The frequent lapses in the McCain campaign could have made any news station appear biased for Obama. I learned that it isn't always the media being biased. The media cannot be blamed for unsuccessful campaign strategy. I believe the Republican Party learned a lot about messaging and the need to tweak their messaging to tailor to the new generation. If this is accomplished, I believe they will see better media coverage and a tighter race in the next four years.

Fox News- not as excited about historical win (Fox/McCain)

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:47:00 +0100

Early in the morning on Nov. 5th, I searched the online news world to check out headlines about Barack Obama's historical win over John McCain. Most news sources had inspiring pictures of Obama making his victory speech, with headlines such as "History is Made" "The World Rejoices" "Mr. President", and so on. I was dissapointed to read the somber headline from Fox News stating "Obama Campaign Promises could Become a Burden in his Presidentcy" and "Many Troubles Inherited by New President." These headlines made me feel that Fox News did not share the excitement that the world was feeling about this historical win. It makes me wonder what the headlines would have been in John McCain was elected President. Would they focus on the negative? Despite Fox New's political tendencies, Obama's winning was a defining moment, and it should have been treated as such by all news sources.Early in the morning on Nov. 5th, I searched the online news world to check out headlines about Barack Obama's historical win over John McCain. Most news sources had inspiring pictures of Obama making his victory speech, with headlines such as "History is Made" "The World Rejoices" "Mr. President", and so on. I was dissapointed to read the somber headline from Fox News stating "Obama Campaign Promises could Become a Burden in his Presidentcy" and "Many Troubles Inherited by New President." These headlines made me feel that Fox News did not share the excitement that the world was feeling about this historical win. It makes me wonder what the headlines would have been in John McCain was elected President. Would they focus on the negative? Despite Fox New's political tendencies, Obama's winning was a defining moment, and it should have been treated as such by all news sources.

An historic day (CNN: Obama)

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:35:00 +0100

The nearly two-year long presidential race that the candidates, the media, and the American citizens have endured has ended in an historic day that many never thought would come so soon.

With the hubbub of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, many Americans, including myself, were a little surprised to see how quickly the next president of the United States was elected. I guess considering this is only the third presidential election I've really paid attention to (I'm only 21, don't hate me), it was like seeing a new America--ready to elect a president without hesitation or bold accusations.

It was clear early on, however, that networks weren't going to jump the gun and predict a win they couldn't prove. As Barack Obama has been telling his supporters for the last several weeks, the election shouldn't be taken for granted. CNN didn't jump the gun, but then again they didn't really have to. As Obama began raking in the swing states, the future of America was clear.

Leading up to the swing states however, CNN made sure to entertain its audience whenever possible. No, not in the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert-I'm pretending to hate you kind of way, but in a weird, technologically-bizarre kind of way. I was sitting on my couch, minding my own business when I hear Wolf Blitzer blurt out something about how Jessica Yellin is about to be in the studio--even though she's in Grant Park, Chicago. I'm thinking to myself, 'he's finally lost it." But lo and behold Wolf "beams" Jessica Yellin into the studio (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2un9AxQCQU), making her appear as a full-body hologram standing across from Wolf.

You'd think CNN's computer engineer peeps would stop there, but they also constructed the Virtual Capitol, which appeared as another funky hologram with spinning congressional seats to show the Democrat/Republican ratio.

I know I said this stuff is a little weird, but a little part of me wants to say it's kind of cool, too. I guess television has to do something to trump the Internet, right? You have to wonder though if the new techie stuff took away from election coverage. To that, I'd have to say no. In fact, it curbed my boredom. When Obama started running away with the win, I wanted to tell Wolf to bring on the holograms.

Other than CNN's fancy new skills, the coverage was rather emotional. Commentary from political analyst Roland Martin was engaging; he shed a tear or two at the end. It was interesting also to get his perspective as a black man and an Obama supporter who voted for both of the Bushes. Roland and the other analysts and contributors focused on the historical significance of the day and how far our nation has come since segregation and the civil rights movement.

In the end, Obama's win showed that consistent messaging is a key to victory, and during his speech as president elect, he reiterated his "yes we can" slogan to a crowd of tens of thousands of Chicagoans and others. McCain's concession speech on the other hand, however gracious, showed his final shift in tone and message. While I suppose the purpose of a concession speech is to concede, McCain shared thoughts about Barack Obama that we rarely saw during his campaign. He pronounced Obama as a respectable man and a great American who outran the Republican efforts. I think McCain finally got the message right.The nearly two-year long presidential race that the candidates, the media, and the American citizens have endured has ended in an historic day that many never thought would come so soon.

With the hubbub of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, many Americans, including myself, were a little surprised to see how quickly the next president of the United States was elected. I guess considering this is only the third presidential election I've really paid attention to (I'm only 21, don't hate me), it was like seeing a new America--ready to elect a president without hesitation or bold accusations.

It was clear early on, however, that networks weren't going to jump the gun and predict a win they couldn't prove. As Barack Obama has been telling his supporters for the last several weeks, the election shouldn't be taken for granted. CNN didn't jump the gun, but then again they didn't really have to. As Obama began raking in the swing states, the future of America was clear.

Leading up to the swing states however, CNN made sure to entertain its audience whenever possible. No, not in the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert-I'm pretending to hate you kind of way, but in a weird, technologically-bizarre kind of way. I was sitting on my couch, minding my own business when I hear Wolf Blitzer blurt out something about how Jessica Yellin is about to be in the studio--even though she's in Grant Park, Chicago. I'm thinking to myself, 'he's finally lost it." But lo and behold Wolf "beams" Jessica Yellin into the studio (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2un9AxQCQU), making her appear as a full-body hologram standing across from Wolf.

You'd think CNN's computer engineer peeps would stop there, but they also constructed the Virtual Capitol, which appeared as another funky hologram with spinning congressional seats to show the Democrat/Republican ratio.

I know I said this stuff is a little weird, but a little part of me wants to say it's kind of cool, too. I guess television has to do something to trump the Internet, right? You have to wonder though if the new techie stuff took away from election coverage. To that, I'd have to say no. In fact, it curbed my boredom. When Obama started running away with the win, I wanted to tell Wolf to bring on the holograms.

Other than CNN's fancy new skills, the coverage was rather emotional. Commentary from political analyst Roland Martin was engaging; he shed a tear or two at the end. It was interesting also to get his perspective as a black man and an Obama supporter who voted for both of the Bushes. Roland and the other analysts and contributors focused on the historical significance of the day and how far our nation has come since segregation and the civil rights movement.

In the end, Obama's win showed that consistent messaging is a key to victory, and during his speech as president elect, he reiterated his "yes we can" slogan to a crowd of tens of thousands of Chicagoans and others. McCain's concession speech on the other hand, however gracious, showed his final shift in tone and message. While I suppose the purpose of a concession speech is to concede, McCain shared thoughts about Barack Obama that we rarely saw during his campaign. He pronounced Obama as a respectable man and a great American who outran the Republican efforts. I think McCain finally got the message right.

CNN.com: Obama In, McCain Out (Election '08: TV)

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:28:00 +0100

by: Julie Hartz
jh101105@ohio.edu

Walking into a bar in Athens filled with "Students For Obama", College Democrats, and numerous Democrat supporters, I saw tears, laughter, fist pumps, and utter awe. They had worked so hard and so long, and finally got the result they wanted.

Obama's victory last night isn't just one for him. It's one for our entire country because it represents a huge leap into the future. His electoral landslide victory was shocking to me, and I'm sure to those McCain supporters who thought it was going to be a lot closer.

According to politico.com, the popular vote was also a pretty decisive result. Obama got 52-percent, and McCain 46-percent.

I must admit, as a journalist, I was THRILLED when the election was pretty much decided at 11PM. Remember just four years ago? Coming into the night fearing a repeat of what happened, I was ecstatic when McCain decided to make his concession speech as soon as the polls closed on the West Coast.

And all of this was largely in part to Ohio's role as a swing state. Looking at the popular vote map of Ohio early in the night, it looked like it would be a shoe-in for McCain. But once only a third of the results were in, all of the major news networks were calling Obama's victory in this key state which almost always predicts the winner of the White House.by: Julie Hartz
jh101105@ohio.edu

Walking into a bar in Athens filled with "Students For Obama", College Democrats, and numerous Democrat supporters, I saw tears, laughter, fist pumps, and utter awe. They had worked so hard and so long, and finally got the result they wanted.

Obama's victory last night isn't just one for him. It's one for our entire country because it represents a huge leap into the future. His electoral landslide victory was shocking to me, and I'm sure to those McCain supporters who thought it was going to be a lot closer.

According to politico.com, the popular vote was also a pretty decisive result. Obama got 52-percent, and McCain 46-percent.

I must admit, as a journalist, I was THRILLED when the election was pretty much decided at 11PM. Remember just four years ago? Coming into the night fearing a repeat of what happened, I was ecstatic when McCain decided to make his concession speech as soon as the polls closed on the West Coast.

And all of this was largely in part to Ohio's role as a swing state. Looking at the popular vote map of Ohio early in the night, it looked like it would be a shoe-in for McCain. But once only a third of the results were in, all of the major news networks were calling Obama's victory in this key state which almost always predicts the winner of the White House.

ABC.COM: Finale (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:22:00 +0100

Nina Wieczorek
wieczore@ohio.edu

Election day has finally come. The campaigns are almost over and now they wait and see what their two years of work was worth. And that's true not only for the campaigns, but also the media. The voter is going to make his or her decision based on different factors, including how well the media informed him. So how did the media do their job? Did they answer the important questions (who stands for what, why is this happening,...)? Were they unbiased?

Biden not Present
If you take a look at abc.com, you'll only find pro Obama ads, McCain bought no space for ads. And if you look at the editorial content, mostly it's about Obama or Sarah Palin, followed by McCain and Joe Biden is hard to find. Since the beginning, articles about the democratic Vice-presidential candidate were rare. Why? Is it, because the democratic camp already gets enough coverage by all the attention Obama draws, or is it, because Biden is not interesting enough (especially in comparison to newcomer Palin)? So the media covers the one who offers them more to talk about?

After the Election
After the election two will have won, and two will have lost. The losers might go back to where they came from, which would mean for example, Palin will go back to Alaska. But, what if she doesn't go back to Alaska, but tries to stay visible – for example with a tv-show of her own? After this experience it will be interesting to see if she feels Alaska is too small for her.

Write a Book
If so, and it doesn't work out with the tv-show, she can still write a book. Just like Joe the Plumber, aka Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. Something from behind the scenes...how did she get the ticket? How did she get prepared for the national and international stage? And how was talking to Nicholas Sarkozy?

Nina Wieczorek
wieczore@ohio.edu

Election day has finally come. The campaigns are almost over and now they wait and see what their two years of work was worth. And that's true not only for the campaigns, but also the media. The voter is going to make his or her decision based on different factors, including how well the media informed him. So how did the media do their job? Did they answer the important questions (who stands for what, why is this happening,...)? Were they unbiased?

Biden not Present
If you take a look at abc.com, you'll only find pro Obama ads, McCain bought no space for ads. And if you look at the editorial content, mostly it's about Obama or Sarah Palin, followed by McCain and Joe Biden is hard to find. Since the beginning, articles about the democratic Vice-presidential candidate were rare. Why? Is it, because the democratic camp already gets enough coverage by all the attention Obama draws, or is it, because Biden is not interesting enough (especially in comparison to newcomer Palin)? So the media covers the one who offers them more to talk about?

After the Election
After the election two will have won, and two will have lost. The losers might go back to where they came from, which would mean for example, Palin will go back to Alaska. But, what if she doesn't go back to Alaska, but tries to stay visible – for example with a tv-show of her own? After this experience it will be interesting to see if she feels Alaska is too small for her.

Write a Book
If so, and it doesn't work out with the tv-show, she can still write a book. Just like Joe the Plumber, aka Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. Something from behind the scenes...how did she get the ticket? How did she get prepared for the national and international stage? And how was talking to Nicholas Sarkozy?

CNN-TV: Wait, other people are running for president? (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:27:00 +0100

by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

Well, the bus stops here. After what seems like an endless campaign, I cannot believe that we (God-willing) will have a new president tomorrow. Many people I’ve talked to are plain sick of election coverage. But you have to admit, it’s going to be strange putting on CNN and not hearing the latest on Barack Obama and John McCain. So with mere hours remaining until the votes are tallied, what does CNN chose to cover? The surprising answer: third-party candidates.

Barr and Nader: Revealed
Last week on CNN’s American Morning, anchor Kiran Chetry did a double interview with Libertarian Bob Barr and Independent Ralph Nader. (According to the latest CNN Poll of Polls, Nader currently has 3% of the vote, and Barr is holding steady with 2%.)

Now, I've been following CNN's election coverage for two months and hadn't heard a single mention about Nader or Barr until this week. In my opinion, we should have been hearing more. In a race with states "too close to call," two or three percentage points are a big deal. Regardless, I say better late than never. This interview was a refreshing break from the wall-to-wall coverage of political rallies.

Don’t know much about the “major” third-party candidates for president? Here are some quick facts:

Bob Barr (Libertarian Party)

Vice President: Wayne Allyn Root

Wants to cut every area of government spending

Supports "consumer-oriented" health care

Thinks the federal government shouldn't decide can and cannot marry

Ralph Nader (Independent)

Vice President: Matt Gonzales

Wants to stop the bailout

Supports universal health care

Supports equal rights for same-sex couples

One Vote for Barr
Over the past seven days, CNN has covered more than its fair share of polls and the horse race. However, I've also seen some outstanding stories about real people and real voters. This is by far my favorite from the campaign season:

by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

Well, the bus stops here. After what seems like an endless campaign, I cannot believe that we (God-willing) will have a new president tomorrow. Many people I’ve talked to are plain sick of election coverage. But you have to admit, it’s going to be strange putting on CNN and not hearing the latest on Barack Obama and John McCain. So with mere hours remaining until the votes are tallied, what does CNN chose to cover? The surprising answer: third-party candidates.

Barr and Nader: Revealed
Last week on CNN’s American Morning, anchor Kiran Chetry did a double interview with Libertarian Bob Barr and Independent Ralph Nader. (According to the latest CNN Poll of Polls, Nader currently has 3% of the vote, and Barr is holding steady with 2%.)

Now, I've been following CNN's election coverage for two months and hadn't heard a single mention about Nader or Barr until this week. In my opinion, we should have been hearing more. In a race with states "too close to call," two or three percentage points are a big deal. Regardless, I say better late than never. This interview was a refreshing break from the wall-to-wall coverage of political rallies.

Don’t know much about the “major” third-party candidates for president? Here are some quick facts:

Bob Barr (Libertarian Party)

Vice President: Wayne Allyn Root

Wants to cut every area of government spending

Supports "consumer-oriented" health care

Thinks the federal government shouldn't decide can and cannot marry

Ralph Nader (Independent)

Vice President: Matt Gonzales

Wants to stop the bailout

Supports universal health care

Supports equal rights for same-sex couples

MSNBC-TV: Last minute coverage...before the BIG day (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:58:00 +0100

by Brooks Jarosz
bj186905@ohio.edu

People are heading to the polls! Even before November 4th, voters have turned out in swarms to make their voices heard early. Since I knew I would be covering local elections, I was one of those people. I headed into the board of election in Athens on Friday morning and was out within twenty minutes! Of course by midday the line was out the door and down the street.

The news networks were building up for the big day. Both NBC and MSNBC took time out of their broadcasts to promote thier election coverage. The most interesting I heard about was ABC's use of all the Times Square jumbotrons to broadcast election results. MSNBC has an interactive dashboard to keep up with all of the results. They also explain how many people are taking part in activities on the web this election.

Covering the states to watch
Brian Williams checked in with a number of reporters covering the key swing states. I thought this was effective not only in coverage, but also in promoting NBC as a worthwhile election resource. He started with a reporter in Florida who spoke of the varied support in that state. I never knew the northern part of Florida is primarily conservative whereas the southern tip is mostly liberal. The candidates are fighting for independents who usually reside in the middle part of the state. Interesting facts!

Another swing state covered was Virginia, where no democrat has won since 1964, before electing Lyndon B. Johnson. The late Tim Russert's son covered Indiana and mentioned the youth vote, where of some 300,000 new voters, 125,000 are under age 25. My overall impression of the coverage was fast-paced and engaging, making it an exciting atmosphere all over the country.

Polls and targets...are they matching up?
Over 150 national polls have been taken over this past week. Most of them show Obama ahead by two to 12 percentage points. My question always is how reliable and accurate are these polls? MSNBC must be pretty confident, as they constantly talk polls and run state polls at the bottom of the screen. One recent Quinnapiac Poll says Obama is ahead 52 percent to McCain's 42 percent. While it might be ok to predict, I would be careful in what I was saying or observing.

Two political analysts, Peter Hart and Neil Newhouse commented on the overall campaigns. Hart mentioned Obama has been attracting independents, blue collar workers, suburban people and those between the age of 18 and 34. They both agree that having the legend lower will help keep things away from the top.

Since the economy is so important, many independents have been turning to Obama and his platform to learn more.

It should be an exciting election. Other than the eight calls I received from political campaigns I got today, it was an enjoyable day. Tomorrow, preparation will take place for cut ins on WOUB-TV with coverage of the state and local issues. Now, it's all up to the battleground states. It is proving to be a well covered contest!
by Brooks Jarosz
bj186905@ohio.edu

People are heading to the polls! Even before November 4th, voters have turned out in swarms to make their voices heard early. Since I knew I would be covering local elections, I was one of those people. I headed into the board of election in Athens on Friday morning and was out within twenty minutes! Of course by midday the line was out the door and down the street.

The news networks were building up for the big day. Both NBC and MSNBC took time out of their broadcasts to promote thier election coverage. The most interesting I heard about was ABC's use of all the Times Square jumbotrons to broadcast election results. MSNBC has an interactive dashboard to keep up with all of the results. They also explain how many people are taking part in activities on the web this election.

Covering the states to watch
Brian Williams checked in with a number of reporters covering the key swing states. I thought this was effective not only in coverage, but also in promoting NBC as a worthwhile election resource. He started with a reporter in Florida who spoke of the varied support in that state. I never knew the northern part of Florida is primarily conservative whereas the southern tip is mostly liberal. The candidates are fighting for independents who usually reside in the middle part of the state. Interesting facts!

Another swing state covered was Virginia, where no democrat has won since 1964, before electing Lyndon B. Johnson. The late Tim Russert's son covered Indiana and mentioned the youth vote, where of some 300,000 new voters, 125,000 are under age 25. My overall impression of the coverage was fast-paced and engaging, making it an exciting atmosphere all over the country.

Polls and targets...are they matching up?
Over 150 national polls have been taken over this past week. Most of them show Obama ahead by two to 12 percentage points. My question always is how reliable and accurate are these polls? MSNBC must be pretty confident, as they constantly talk polls and run state polls at the bottom of the screen. One recent Quinnapiac Poll says Obama is ahead 52 percent to McCain's 42 percent. While it might be ok to predict, I would be careful in what I was saying or observing.

Two political analysts, Peter Hart and Neil Newhouse commented on the overall campaigns. Hart mentioned Obama has been attracting independents, blue collar workers, suburban people and those between the age of 18 and 34. They both agree that having the legend lower will help keep things away from the top.

Since the economy is so important, many independents have been turning to Obama and his platform to learn more.

It should be an exciting election. Other than the eight calls I received from political campaigns I got today, it was an enjoyable day. Tomorrow, preparation will take place for cut ins on WOUB-TV with coverage of the state and local issues. Now, it's all up to the battleground states. It is proving to be a well covered contest!

CBSNews.com: The Final Countdown (Election '08: TV)

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:45:00 +0100

by Cristina Mutchler
cm306704@ohio.edu

Barack Obama Up Close and Personal
Just one day before the election, CBSNews.com posted this article and video about Obama's feelings regarding his wife, Michelle, as a campaign target, as well as his Kenyan aunt who is an illegal immigrant in this country. I thought this was a particularly interesting twist to the interview, because throughout the campaign I have not heard much about this aunt and I don't think it has been made a big deal. When people in this country hear the word illegal immigrant, they immediately think of Mexicans, and I think that this part of the article could be potentially used to educate others, if nothing else. I also believe that had this "illegal immigrant" family member been of Mexican descent, the story would have taken a different turn and portrayed more negatively. Watch and decide for yourself!

New Poll Findings
The longest, most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history is coming to an end, and a CBSNews.com poll shows that Republican candidate John McCain has gained some ground in the poll numbers. However, at this point, Obama is staying steady with a nine-point advantage among likely voters. The Democratic ticket leads the Republican ticket with 51 percent to 42 percent of likely U.S. voters. Just on Sunday, another CBS News poll showed that Obama and Biden's ticket had a 13-point lead, which has now been narrowed.

Presidential Questions

In the last "Presidential Questions" section for this campaign season, CBS News anchor Katie Couric asks the candidates several interesting questions, including what they would like to have on their tombstone. I thought that seemed a bit menacing with the election one day away and with the passing of Obama's grandmother.

Another question that I found interesting had to do with campaign management. Couric asked the candidates when was the last time they fired someone who has worked for them. McCain answered that it was when his campaign had serious problems and was going in the wrong direction. He said that he had to make a change in the campaign. Obama's response was more ambigous, as he says that he has had to fire people during the course of the campaign due to people making mistakes or causing drama. He did not, however, want to name these folks, as he "didn't want to embarass them."

Blogger's Note
With Tuesday being the end to this race, I hope that you found this blog interesting and/or were enticed to check out CBSNews.com or other network outlets to form your own opinions. I've had fun analyzing the coverage and by this time next week, we will officially have a new president to blog about. Thanks!by Cristina Mutchler
cm306704@ohio.edu

Barack Obama Up Close and Personal
Just one day before the election, CBSNews.com posted this article and video about Obama's feelings regarding his wife, Michelle, as a campaign target, as well as his Kenyan aunt who is an illegal immigrant in this country. I thought this was a particularly interesting twist to the interview, because throughout the campaign I have not heard much about this aunt and I don't think it has been made a big deal. When people in this country hear the word illegal immigrant, they immediately think of Mexicans, and I think that this part of the article could be potentially used to educate others, if nothing else. I also believe that had this "illegal immigrant" family member been of Mexican descent, the story would have taken a different turn and portrayed more negatively. Watch and decide for yourself!

New Poll Findings
The longest, most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history is coming to an end, and a CBSNews.com poll shows that Republican candidate John McCain has gained some ground in the poll numbers. However, at this point, Obama is staying steady with a nine-point advantage among likely voters. The Democratic ticket leads the Republican ticket with 51 percent to 42 percent of likely U.S. voters. Just on Sunday, another CBS News poll showed that Obama and Biden's ticket had a 13-point lead, which has now been narrowed.

Presidential Questions

In the last "Presidential Questions" section for this campaign season, CBS News anchor Katie Couric asks the candidates several interesting questions, including what they would like to have on their tombstone. I thought that seemed a bit menacing with the election one day away and with the passing of Obama's grandmother.

Another question that I found interesting had to do with campaign management. Couric asked the candidates when was the last time they fired someone who has worked for them. McCain answered that it was when his campaign had serious problems and was going in the wrong direction. He said that he had to make a change in the campaign. Obama's response was more ambigous, as he says that he has had to fire people during the course of the campaign due to people making mistakes or causing drama. He did not, however, want to name these folks, as he "didn't want to embarass them."

Blogger's Note
With Tuesday being the end to this race, I hope that you found this blog interesting and/or were enticed to check out CBSNews.com or other network outlets to form your own opinions. I've had fun analyzing the coverage and by this time next week, we will officially have a new president to blog about. Thanks!

NBC News.com Final Spurt: Mainstream Media Buffet With Some Deli Stuff (Election '08: TV)

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:44:00 +0100

by Stine Eckert
ke343908@ohio.edu
For this blog I concentrate on NBC News.com's videos in the Latest Program, Web Only, and Politics section as well as on the First Read blog, which is part of MSNBC.

Staring at this stage for two months: the NBC Nightly News online video player. Sometimes confusing and redundant, this is a neat set-up to watch current and archived videos. This is the last blog post as our project ends with election day on November 4, 2008.

THE election
Of course a week before THE election on planet earth users could find in NBC Nightly News' online video player oodles of tidbits about THE election: snafus in early voting, Laura Bush stumping in Kentucky, the candidates fight against illness, interpretation of polls, campaign trail coverage of Pennsylvania and Ohio... NBC's online election buffet offered a little bit for everyone who likes a mainstream media diet. Among the deluge of videos I just picked a handful of worthwhile clips and point out a couple of bad apples in the batch.

NBC made some interesting attempts to cover the right stuff: issues like green energy, science, and education, another third candidate, questioning the power of polls, the heated issue of homosexuality on the Californian ballot, and even a peak beyond its own nose – at least sort of – into Israel (U.S. ally), Turkey (U.S. ally), and Kenya (Obama’s family origin). However, most stories stopped short when it became more interesting such as the nitty-gritty details of going green or a comprehensive summary of third parties.

Information goulash – NBC’s Obama interviews
My week of observation started off with the discovery of an interview of Obama by Brian Williams. In the second seven minutes dated October 30, 2008 Obama talks about why Bill Clinton was better off campaigning by himself, how much the auto industry means to him, and the trickiness of appointing the right Supreme Court justice

Unfortunately I couldn’t find an extended interview version but only a number of clips on individual topics such as “talking to Taliban”, “being a recession president”, “America’s aging infrastructure”, and “on Afghanistan, terrorism” as well as other chopped up pieces. While this might help users who are interested in only one topic it should not be too hard to also upload the whole interview in one piece. After all, this is one of the Internet’s great strengths, to give space to a long piece that tells the audience in its coherence and development, more than just the obvious. How an interview is conducted from start to finish provides additional information for the user to judge the candidate (and the media). Besides, it is tedious to pick up all the shards of sound bites in five different video sections (Latest Program, Most Viewed, Web Only, Politics, Decision ‘08) to compose a full mirror of information and impression.

Keeping a thin blanket of issue coverage: Where They Stand
NBC also continued with its series NBC’s Where They Stand this time concentrating on how "green" each candidate would be as president. The story gives only a brief summary still leaving the voter wondering what the candidate’s approach to some environmental issues are (e.g. geothermal and solar energy, how they will actually cut carbon emissions, how much money would go intto supporting green jobs). Both believe in the oxymoronic notion of clean coal and offshore oil drilling, which should make it hard for true green believers to decide for the lesser of two environmental evils: John McCain who wants to build 45 more nuclear power plants by 2030 or Barack Obama whose strategy toward nuclear energy we learn nothing about in NBC's visual attempt to throw some crumbs to tree huggers.

Briefing Book Issues 08
On the other hand NBC’s Briefing Book has filled up with more and important issues that are rather neglected in the general debate on television: comparative information on abortion, science, consumer issues, and education. A nice contribution to give voters background information, too bad some of these issues were not featured on Nightly News.

Better aggressive than nothing
Another rather rare third party piece showed up. However, similar to the interview with Ralph Nader, NBC’s Ron Allen interviews Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr rather aggressively with an attitude of doubt or criticism that I don’t see when John McCain, Barack Obama and the like are questioned.

However, the short clip gives a wrap up of the Liberitarian Party and their presidential candidate Bob Barr. “The Liberitarian Party brings those things that the Republican Party used to stand for but no longer does.” The very conservative Barr entered Congress as a Republican in 1994 but lost his seat in 2002. According to NBC he currently polls at 2 or 3%.

It would have been a great service to the public if NBC would have produced a third party series introducing all their presidential candidates and so showing alternative choices – they are part of U.S. political landscape, too. If NBC wants to fulfill its function to provide its audience (i.e. the public) with information to help citizens make informed decisions in a democracy, it needs to pay more attention to what's happening outside the center. After all, providing information that no one else can get is its legitimization for existence.

The power of polls
Despite its own reliance on polls, NBC uploaded a two minutes video of October 30, 2008 dedicated to pointing out the flaws of surveys: landlines v cell phones, honesty, and intended lying to give the other camp false security. It's a nice piece behind the scenes for people don't think about where the numbers come from.

Proposition 8 – Same sex marriage in California ()
"As hot as the presidential race" the reporter calls it. An October 30, 2008 story sums up the passionate fights for and against same sex marriage in California. If Proposition 8 as its official ballot title reads passes, it would ban same sex marriage in California. Polls are close as gay and lesbian couples rush to tie the knot before something that goes without saying for heterosexuals and was won just six months ago might become a rainbow colored fairy tale of the past – an informative piece on a state issue at the sidelines of the national election.

Turkey for Obama -- and other exotic glimpses
An almost two minutes story of October 31, 2008 gives a glimpse into a country featuring a strong Muslim population. As much as many in Turkey wish for Obama to become U.S. president, they all also fear the hostile U.S. approach towards Islam.

An interesting three-minute kaleidoscope of U.S. voters in Israel dated October 30, 2008 starts off with ping-ponging between voices for Obama and McCain. Between 7.000 and 10.000 U.S. citizens are registered to vote from Israel. Many of them come from swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida – an unusual look behind the scenes of organizing the U.S. election overseas.

Two November 3, 2008 videos turn their attention to a continent most of the time neglected and forgotten by media but suddenly of interest because of the origin of Obama’s father: Kenya. The short clips feature the two sides of the Obama coin there: celebrating Obama in a musical as a son of the nation but also the serious consequences for his family who built a fence and are protected by guards from too much attention.

Thou shall not listen to rumors
This three minutes clip of October 31, 2008 speculates about rumors of Sarah Palin wanting to run for president in 2012, the McCain campaign’s tendency to paint her as scapegoat if McCain loses mixed with some of the disagreements on issues such as same-sex marriage.

However, the clip starts off with the anchor saying that now in the final week of the campaign “you would hope that voters would be focused on nothing but the issues but it’s rumors not issues grabbing some of the headlines.”

Hhhmmm, who is making these headlines? And who is thriving on them to catch and bind these fickle eyeballs to consume whatever the screen shows (probably also issues if they would be aired more)? Having said this, here’s a piece on some current juicy McCain/Palin gossip. But voter, please focus on the issues here, won't you!?

Predict your own election!
Finally, MSNBC offers a neat toy, an interactive map for the user to fill in toss-up states and see the outcome of your personal hunch.

On its Decision '08 home page MSNBC offers more interactive tools, photos, cartoons, polls...you name it.

This will be the last post for this blog since this media observation project stops with election day on November 4, 2008 (which as of this writing is roughly 12 hours away). Despite all the fun of sometimes checking NBC Nightly News online more often than my e-mail, no matter how the election will go, I and the country can concentrate again on some other important issues. Back to non-election mode of real life.by Stine Eckert
ke343908@ohio.edu
For this blog I concentrate on NBC News.com's videos in the Latest Program, Web Only, and Politics section as well as on the First Read blog, which is part of MSNBC.

Staring at this stage for two months: the NBC Nightly News online video player. Sometimes confusing and redundant, this is a neat set-up to watch current and archived videos. This is the last blog post as our project ends with election day on November 4, 2008.

THE election
Of course a week before THE election on planet earth users could find in NBC Nightly News' online video player oodles of tidbits about THE election: snafus in early voting, Laura Bush stumping in Kentucky, the candidates fight against illness, interpretation of polls, campaign trail coverage of Pennsylvania and Ohio... NBC's online election buffet offered a little bit for everyone who likes a mainstream media diet. Among the deluge of videos I just picked a handful of worthwhile clips and point out a couple of bad apples in the batch.

NBC made some interesting attempts to cover the right stuff: issues like green energy, science, and education, another third candidate, questioning the power of polls, the heated issue of homosexuality on the Californian ballot, and even a peak beyond its own nose – at least sort of – into Israel (U.S. ally), Turkey (U.S. ally), and Kenya (Obama’s family origin). However, most stories stopped short when it became more interesting such as the nitty-gritty details of going green or a comprehensive summary of third parties.

Information goulash – NBC’s Obama interviews
My week of observation started off with the discovery of an interview of Obama by Brian Williams. In the second seven minutes dated October 30, 2008 Obama talks about why Bill Clinton was better off campaigning by himself, how much the auto industry means to him, and the trickiness of appointing the right Supreme Court justice

Unfortunately I couldn’t find an extended interview version but only a number of clips on individual topics such as “talking to Taliban”, “being a recession president”, “America’s aging infrastructure”, and “on Afghanistan, terrorism” as well as other chopped up pieces. While this might help users who are interested in only one topic it should not be too hard to also upload the whole interview in one piece. After all, this is one of the Internet’s great strengths, to give space to a long piece that tells the audience in its coherence and development, more than just the obvious. How an interview is conducted from start to finish provides additional information for the user to judge the candidate (and the media). Besides, it is tedious to pick up all the shards of sound bites in five different video sections (Latest Program, Most Viewed, Web Only, Politics, Decision ‘08) to compose a full mirror of information and impression.

Keeping a thin blanket of issue coverage: Where They Stand
NBC also continued with its series NBC’s Where They Stand this time concentrating on how "green" each candidate would be as president. The story gives only a brief summary still leaving the voter wondering what the candidate’s approach to some environmental issues are (e.g. geothermal and solar energy, how they will actually cut carbon emissions, how much money would go intto supporting green jobs). Both believe in the oxymoronic notion of clean coal and offshore oil drilling, which should make it hard for true green believers to decide for the lesser of two environmental evils: John McCain who wants to build 45 more nuclear power plants by 2030 or Barack Obama whose strategy toward nuclear energy we learn nothing about in NBC's visual attempt to throw some crumbs to tree huggers.

Briefing Book Issues 08
On the other hand NBC’s Briefing Book has filled up with more and important issues that are rather neglected in the general debate on television: comparative information on abortion, science, consumer issues, and education. A nice contribution to give voters background information, too bad some of these issues were not featured on Nightly News.

Better aggressive than nothing
Another rather rare third party piece showed up. However, similar to the interview with Ralph Nader, NBC’s Ron Allen interviews Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr rather aggressively with an attitude of doubt or criticism that I don’t see when John McCain, Barack Obama and the like are questioned.

However, the short clip gives a wrap up of the Liberitarian Party and their presidential candidate Bob Barr. “The Liberitarian Party brings those things that the Republican Party used to stand for but no longer does.” The very conservative Barr entered Congress as a Republican in 1994 but lost his seat in 2002. According to NBC he currently polls at 2 or 3%.

It would have been a great service to the public if NBC would have produced a third party series introducing all their presidential candidates and so showing alternative choices – they are part of U.S. political landscape, too. If NBC wants to fulfill its function to provide its audience (i.e. the public) with information to help citizens make informed decisions in a democracy, it needs to pay more attention to what's happening outside the center. After all, providing information that no one else can get is its legitimization for existence.

The power of polls
Despite its own reliance on polls, NBC uploaded a two minutes video of October 30, 2008 dedicated to pointing out the flaws of surveys: landlines v cell phones, honesty, and intended lying to give the other camp false security. It's a nice piece behind the scenes for people don't think about where the numbers come from.

Proposition 8 – Same sex marriage in California ()
"As hot as the presidential race" the reporter calls it. An October 30, 2008 story sums up the passionate fights for and against same sex marriage in California. If Proposition 8 as its official ballot title reads passes, it would ban same sex marriage in California. Polls are close as gay and lesbian couples rush to tie the knot before something that goes without saying for heterosexuals and was won just six months ago might become a rainbow colored fairy tale of the past – an informative piece on a state issue at the sidelines of the national election.

Turkey for Obama -- and other exotic glimpses
An almost two minutes story of October 31, 2008 gives a glimpse into a country featuring a strong Muslim population. As much as many in Turkey wish for Obama to become U.S. president, they all also fear the hostile U.S. approach towards Islam.

An interesting three-minute kaleidoscope of U.S. voters in Israel dated October 30, 2008 starts off with ping-ponging between voices for Obama and McCain. Between 7.000 and 10.000 U.S. citizens are registered to vote from Israel. Many of them come from swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida – an unusual look behind the scenes of organizing the U.S. election overseas.

Two November 3, 2008 videos turn their attention to a continent most of the time neglected and forgotten by media but suddenly of interest because of the origin of Obama’s father: Kenya. The short clips feature the two sides of the Obama coin there: celebrating Obama in a musical as a son of the nation but also the serious consequences for his family who built a fence and are protected by guards from too much attention.

Thou shall not listen to rumors
This three minutes clip of October 31, 2008 speculates about rumors of Sarah Palin wanting to run for president in 2012, the McCain campaign’s tendency to paint her as scapegoat if McCain loses mixed with some of the disagreements on issues such as same-sex marriage.

However, the clip starts off with the anchor saying that now in the final week of the campaign “you would hope that voters would be focused on nothing but the issues but it’s rumors not issues grabbing some of the headlines.”

Hhhmmm, who is making these headlines? And who is thriving on them to catch and bind these fickle eyeballs to consume whatever the screen shows (probably also issues if they would be aired more)? Having said this, here’s a piece on some current juicy McCain/Palin gossip. But voter, please focus on the issues here, won't you!?

Predict your own election!
Finally, MSNBC offers a neat toy, an interactive map for the user to fill in toss-up states and see the outcome of your personal hunch.

On its Decision '08 home page MSNBC offers more interactive tools, photos, cartoons, polls...you name it.

This will be the last post for this blog since this media observation project stops with election day on November 4, 2008 (which as of this writing is roughly 12 hours away). Despite all the fun of sometimes checking NBC Nightly News online more often than my e-mail, no matter how the election will go, I and the country can concentrate again on some other important issues. Back to non-election mode of real life.

Fox News Channel: The Home Stretch (Election '08: TV)

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:15:00 +0100

By Allison Herman
AH215206@ohio.edu

In my opinion, this last week of election coverage has been the most exciting yet. Fox News Channel has had many different politicians on as live interviews, all talking about how they think the election will turn out. What’s great about these interviews is that nearly all of them are from very passionate people who genuinely seem like they mean and care about what they’re saying, and all are confident that they know how the election will turn out. The only problem is that they’re split about 50-50: half for McCain and half for Obama.

It’s also interesting to see how the national media is portraying the state of Ohio. We’re a swing state that means a lot in this election, but it also seems that no one really know definitively who will get the buckeye state. About twice an hour Fox has a different story about how Ohio’s going to be the state to watch on Election Day, which is exciting and it makes me glad that I get to participate in Ohio’s election this year.

What is also a continuing trend on Fox is the channel showing the last minute campaign stops by the presidential candidates across the country. As I said in my previous blog, I was surprised to see that they were showing the candidates speeches in their entirety. 20 minutes of a political speech isn’t the most exciting TV, especially when both of the candidates use the same speech every time. If you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it a thousand times. But again, I guess that’s the luxury and the curse of a 24 hour news network – lots of time to fill.By Allison Herman
AH215206@ohio.edu

In my opinion, this last week of election coverage has been the most exciting yet. Fox News Channel has had many different politicians on as live interviews, all talking about how they think the election will turn out. What’s great about these interviews is that nearly all of them are from very passionate people who genuinely seem like they mean and care about what they’re saying, and all are confident that they know how the election will turn out. The only problem is that they’re split about 50-50: half for McCain and half for Obama.

It’s also interesting to see how the national media is portraying the state of Ohio. We’re a swing state that means a lot in this election, but it also seems that no one really know definitively who will get the buckeye state. About twice an hour Fox has a different story about how Ohio’s going to be the state to watch on Election Day, which is exciting and it makes me glad that I get to participate in Ohio’s election this year.

What is also a continuing trend on Fox is the channel showing the last minute campaign stops by the presidential candidates across the country. As I said in my previous blog, I was surprised to see that they were showing the candidates speeches in their entirety. 20 minutes of a political speech isn’t the most exciting TV, especially when both of the candidates use the same speech every time. If you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it a thousand times. But again, I guess that’s the luxury and the curse of a 24 hour news network – lots of time to fill.

Religon in the Campaign (Fox/McCain)

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:01:00 +0100

I read a foxnews.com article titled Campaign Volunteers Scour Churches for Votes. The article highlights efforts being made in Catholic Churches around the country to pass out literature marked as "bipartisan." The pieces of literature speak about abortion and gay marriage, asking the question "who shares out values, you decide." The pieces clearly advocating views from the right about these issues but staying bipartisan by not directly endorsing a candidate. I was upset by the lack of concern for the rights of separation of church and state in the article. The article was not advocating these events but did not seem to point out any problems except for tax exemption problems. I think that this is violating the sacredness of church as a place to come together and worship, not as a place to be told how and who to vote for. I also think it is counterproductive to assume that all church goers will vote for a particular political party because of a few social issues. I wish that foxnews.com would have taken a firmer stances on this behavior and really discussed why this is not good for the country. It makes me wonder how much of this is advocated by the McCain campaign. Passing out literature with two men on top of a wedding cake and dead babies are not ways to gain support from the middle, but it is good way to energize the base. I see this as kind of a covert operation, not indented to gain national attention but to energize the base by scaring them with exaggerated literature pieces.I read a foxnews.com article titled Campaign Volunteers Scour Churches for Votes. The article highlights efforts being made in Catholic Churches around the country to pass out literature marked as "bipartisan." The pieces of literature speak about abortion and gay marriage, asking the question "who shares out values, you decide." The pieces clearly advocating views from the right about these issues but staying bipartisan by not directly endorsing a candidate. I was upset by the lack of concern for the rights of separation of church and state in the article. The article was not advocating these events but did not seem to point out any problems except for tax exemption problems. I think that this is violating the sacredness of church as a place to come together and worship, not as a place to be told how and who to vote for. I also think it is counterproductive to assume that all church goers will vote for a particular political party because of a few social issues. I wish that foxnews.com would have taken a firmer stances on this behavior and really discussed why this is not good for the country. It makes me wonder how much of this is advocated by the McCain campaign. Passing out literature with two men on top of a wedding cake and dead babies are not ways to gain support from the middle, but it is good way to energize the base. I see this as kind of a covert operation, not indented to gain national attention but to energize the base by scaring them with exaggerated literature pieces.

NBC coverage reflects the polls- McCain is a loser (NBC John McCain Blog)

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:49:00 +0100

I must say, John McCain had a few impressive messages this week in his campaign. I was sure that his media coverage would have to be more positive. His main argument consisted of quoting Obama and Biden statements about who will receive tax cuts under their policies. McCain strategically picked quotes that contradicted one another and painted the Obama ticket as essentially helping far fewer people than they had originally claimed to. The most repeated message McCain used was “You gettin’ an idea of what’s on their minds? It’s interesting how their definition of rich has a way of creeping down.” I found this message to be intelligently crafted, but I am not sure NBC shared my respect. NBC did show a clip of McCain stating this message, but followed it with Obama mocking McCain’s latest attack attempt. The way NBC positioned McCain’s message robbed it of any legitimacy and canceled out any positive affect it may have had in another context.

McCain also focused his messaging on questioning Obama’s readiness. What I may feel has been the most brilliant (and I use that word loosely) strategy so far in the McCain campaign, is targeting voters who like Obama and could eventually see him as president, but can be easily swayed to believe he isn’t ready yet. Finally, McCain is using the information of the polls to his advantage. Realizing his incessant attacks on Obama have had little effect on many voters’ positive impression of Obama, he adjusted his strategy to reflect that fact. McCain repositioned back to focusing on Obama’s lack of experience, a more legitimate claim than many others he has made; and I believe this is working to his benefit. McCain called Obama “impressive, but unprepared.” Once again, NBC gave McCain’s message air time, but placed it in a context to invalidate his efforts. Seconds after McCain is shown relaying this message, Obama is shown calling McCain out on his constant name-calling and attacks. Because McCain being an attacker and a negative campaigner has become a frame in many voters’ minds, I believe McCain’s attempt to be more positive toward Obama is nearly pointless.

The Obama 30-minute prime-time ad attracted the most attention this week on NBC and left little time for McCain coverage. I have mentioned before that I believe the NBC news coverage has tended to swing with the polls- this week was no different. The coverage painted Obama as a winner and McCain as a struggling loser. Until the polls shift, I do not feel McCain has a fighting chance in winning more positive coverage through NBC. The coverage focused repeatedly on all aspects in which McCain is losing- swing states, voter turnout, funds and time. Although McCain claims to work best as the underdog, I don’t feel that the unvarying focus by the media on McCain’s losing status is going to work best for him. Actually I feel that his status in the polls has encouraged NBC to focus the coverage on all faults of the McCain campaign. Without a shift in the polls, I believe there is no hope for McCain in gaining better coverage and in turn, winning the election.

FInal Preparations for Ohioans for Obama (Election 2008)

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:33:00 +0100

By: Sean Balewski
sbalewski@gmail.com

It was only last week, with less than 7 days before the election, that I received a call from my media contact at Obama Ohio Headquarters, informing me that a NEW field office had been opened. Less than 7 days, and still the Obama Campaign was growing; so fast that they had to accomodate the influx of volunteers by opening up new sites for them to gather and work. So away I went, to the West Side of Columbus, to view the new field office.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by an elderly woman who was busily making phone calls. Inside the small office, I was shocked to find that the field supervisor was a man no older than myself, and his second in command was also a man of similar age. Yet, all the volunteers in the room were men and women who were at least in their late 50's.

This was exciting to see because right there in front of me was the change that we have heard of over and over again in the media. There, in that tiny office in West Columbus, was the new face of politics in America.

On the east side of town, on the campus of Capital University, I found the same to be true at that Obama Field Office. There, again, were young men and women running the office, while older volunteers took instruction from these young campaign staffers.

So there it was in plain view. While the focus of my piece for television was that new volunteers were showing up and new offices were opening up, the real story behind it all was the new face of politics in America.

The next week should be very exciting and historic....

By: Sean Balewski
sbalewski@gmail.com

It was only last week, with less than 7 days before the election, that I received a call from my media contact at Obama Ohio Headquarters, informing me that a NEW field office had been opened. Less than 7 days, and still the Obama Campaign was growing; so fast that they had to accomodate the influx of volunteers by opening up new sites for them to gather and work. So away I went, to the West Side of Columbus, to view the new field office.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by an elderly woman who was busily making phone calls. Inside the small office, I was shocked to find that the field supervisor was a man no older than myself, and his second in command was also a man of similar age. Yet, all the volunteers in the room were men and women who were at least in their late 50's.

This was exciting to see because right there in front of me was the change that we have heard of over and over again in the media. There, in that tiny office in West Columbus, was the new face of politics in America.

On the east side of town, on the campus of Capital University, I found the same to be true at that Obama Field Office. There, again, were young men and women running the office, while older volunteers took instruction from these young campaign staffers.

So there it was in plain view. While the focus of my piece for television was that new volunteers were showing up and new offices were opening up, the real story behind it all was the new face of politics in America.

The next week should be very exciting and historic....

Inside Obama Ohio Headquarters: Late Nights, Long Days, and Lots of Phone Calls (Election 2008)

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:52:00 +0100

By: Sean Balewski
sbalewski@gmail.com

It has been a long year and a half for Doug Kelly, the Executive Director of the Ohio Democratic Party. Doug and his family moved from Cleveland to Columbus, so that Doug could spearhead a project aimed at jumpstarting the Democratic party in Ohio. Long before the Clinton-Obama drama over who would be the party's nominee, the Democrats had been raising money and organizing support, so that when the nominee was announced, the presidential campaign in Ohio could hit the ground running.

From my one-on-one time with Doug, he seemed very confident and determined to not only get Senator Obama elected, but to bring home the Buckeye state for the Democrats. As Doug joked, in Ohio, this will be the only year that Ohioans will be saying, "GO BLUE!!!"

But besides the Presidential race, Doug says the Democratic party is also working hard to get all the other Democrats running in the state of Ohio elected. Because as Doug says, those who work in the State and local levels of government actually have greater impacts on the daily lives of citizens.

As Doug jokes, the best way to get all of this promoting done is by being locked in a small room and by being glued to a phone. And when we were at Ohio Democratic Party Headquarters, that's exactly what Doug was in between doing. He had taken a quick break to do our interview, but then as we were leaving, he was back working the phones.

And so, in the final weeks and days before the election, Doug said that his crew would be still doing what they had been doing all election season, but special additional plans were in the works; Doug just couldn't comment on them.

We'll see on November 4th if Doug's Democrats have done their duty....

By: Sean Balewski
sbalewski@gmail.com

It has been a long year and a half for Doug Kelly, the Executive Director of the Ohio Democratic Party. Doug and his family moved from Cleveland to Columbus, so that Doug could spearhead a project aimed at jumpstarting the Democratic party in Ohio. Long before the Clinton-Obama drama over who would be the party's nominee, the Democrats had been raising money and organizing support, so that when the nominee was announced, the presidential campaign in Ohio could hit the ground running.

From my one-on-one time with Doug, he seemed very confident and determined to not only get Senator Obama elected, but to bring home the Buckeye state for the Democrats. As Doug joked, in Ohio, this will be the only year that Ohioans will be saying, "GO BLUE!!!"

But besides the Presidential race, Doug says the Democratic party is also working hard to get all the other Democrats running in the state of Ohio elected. Because as Doug says, those who work in the State and local levels of government actually have greater impacts on the daily lives of citizens.

As Doug jokes, the best way to get all of this promoting done is by being locked in a small room and by being glued to a phone. And when we were at Ohio Democratic Party Headquarters, that's exactly what Doug was in between doing. He had taken a quick break to do our interview, but then as we were leaving, he was back working the phones.

And so, in the final weeks and days before the election, Doug said that his crew would be still doing what they had been doing all election season, but special additional plans were in the works; Doug just couldn't comment on them.

We'll see on November 4th if Doug's Democrats have done their duty....

MSNBC-TV: Obama Wins! (We Think) (Election '08: TV)

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:47:00 +0100

by Brooks Jarosz
bj186905@ohio.edu

With only seven days left until the presidential election, the campaigns are continuing their promotional travels. Meanwhile, the news media, especially MSNBC, has been choosing a winner. They sight political polls showing Barack Obama is leading by numerous points. even if the polls are based on reliable sampling, I find it disturbing that different commentators are placing bets.

While I don't agree with many of these so-called journalists, I did get a kick out of what Keith Olbermann said last night. He said the best metaphor to describe the McCain campaign was that his car was running out of gas, which actually happened. That is in addition to the media bus covering Governor Sarah Palin, that broke down on the side of the road.

Rachel Maddow Says Polls Don't Tell the Whole Story
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow compared the two campaigns to football statistics. Quite creative AND dead-on in my opinion. When a person has a candidate he or she likes, they fail to realize what the rhetoric means. As a result, both sides think their campaign is doing the best. Looking at both campaigns from a different perspective only helps my understanding of the candidates. Later in Maddow's segment, she talks with Democratic Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell, about Barcak Obama's campaign strategies.

Just Serve the People Honestly!
MSNBC likes to debate and discuss issues that should not matter to the average Americans. "Hardball" first brought up a number of comments by other publications talking down Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin. Then, Chris Matthews brought up reasons to believe why the McCain campaign could be crumbling. Two other people spoke with Matthews regearding the issues, but included more of their own opinions than the facts. I feel like the lines have been tremendously blurred, causing journalists to give their opinions. I wish we could spend more time on producing a well-balanced and honest show with the facts.

by Brooks Jarosz
bj186905@ohio.edu

With only seven days left until the presidential election, the campaigns are continuing their promotional travels. Meanwhile, the news media, especially MSNBC, has been choosing a winner. They sight political polls showing Barack Obama is leading by numerous points. even if the polls are based on reliable sampling, I find it disturbing that different commentators are placing bets.

While I don't agree with many of these so-called journalists, I did get a kick out of what Keith Olbermann said last night. He said the best metaphor to describe the McCain campaign was that his car was running out of gas, which actually happened. That is in addition to the media bus covering Governor Sarah Palin, that broke down on the side of the road.

Rachel Maddow Says Polls Don't Tell the Whole Story
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow compared the two campaigns to football statistics. Quite creative AND dead-on in my opinion. When a person has a candidate he or she likes, they fail to realize what the rhetoric means. As a result, both sides think their campaign is doing the best. Looking at both campaigns from a different perspective only helps my understanding of the candidates. Later in Maddow's segment, she talks with Democratic Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell, about Barcak Obama's campaign strategies.

Just Serve the People Honestly!
MSNBC likes to debate and discuss issues that should not matter to the average Americans. "Hardball" first brought up a number of comments by other publications talking down Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin. Then, Chris Matthews brought up reasons to believe why the McCain campaign could be crumbling. Two other people spoke with Matthews regearding the issues, but included more of their own opinions than the facts. I feel like the lines have been tremendously blurred, causing journalists to give their opinions. I wish we could spend more time on producing a well-balanced and honest show with the facts.

ABC.COM: What if...? (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:37:00 +0100

Nina Wieczorek
wieczore@ohio.edu

...Barack Obama moves into the White House? What if he doesn't? What will be the consequences for the people in the United States and its image in the world, for the economy, health care, immigration, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.?

Over the last several months we've gotten an idea of what each candidate would do if he was elected, but which of these goals are actually doable? Which depend too much on lobbies, money and other relations so that they can only be done with major changes, if at all? Which suggestions are more retorical promises than seriously meant to be realized?

This, of course, we won't get to know until after the election, but the general 'What if...?' game can already be played.

Celebrity Relations...

How did he do that? In all, Obama could raise more than $600M, while John McCain only achieved $358M. And so many celebrities endorsed Obama, that his opponents already describe him as a celebrity as well. Sometimes they paid as much as $30,000 at one of those fundraiser parties. And in this recent article called "Stars speak out about the Hudson tragedy" he is even pictured next to Fergie...

But, it's not just Obama, Sarah Palin also got a lot of 'celebrity' type coverage during the last few weeks. Some even want to have her hosting a show of her own.

Politics and showbiz - a relationship founded on money and publicity, what does that do to the credibility of those who govern the people?

Not Present
Especially in comparison to the media attention Sarah Palin got, Joe Biden is not just underrepresented, he's ignored. It's really astonishing how little coverage there was on him on abc.com. Why? Is he not controversial enough? Doesn't he look good enough? Or are his clothes not expensive enough?

Palin was praised, and then bashed by the media, while Biden got really very little attention.

Who'll Go?
That's a good question, but this one won't be answered before next week. How will the youth vote turn out? Will all the young people who have registered make the effort to go and vote? What about the rarely mentioned issue of racism? Will this play a role?

Not from abc.com, but from cnnbcvideo.com is this video...a scenario from the democratic perspective about what might happen, when people stay home. :)

Nina Wieczorek
wieczore@ohio.edu

...Barack Obama moves into the White House? What if he doesn't? What will be the consequences for the people in the United States and its image in the world, for the economy, health care, immigration, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.?

Over the last several months we've gotten an idea of what each candidate would do if he was elected, but which of these goals are actually doable? Which depend too much on lobbies, money and other relations so that they can only be done with major changes, if at all? Which suggestions are more retorical promises than seriously meant to be realized?

This, of course, we won't get to know until after the election, but the general 'What if...?' game can already be played.

Celebrity Relations...

How did he do that? In all, Obama could raise more than $600M, while John McCain only achieved $358M. And so many celebrities endorsed Obama, that his opponents already describe him as a celebrity as well. Sometimes they paid as much as $30,000 at one of those fundraiser parties. And in this recent article called "Stars speak out about the Hudson tragedy" he is even pictured next to Fergie...

But, it's not just Obama, Sarah Palin also got a lot of 'celebrity' type coverage during the last few weeks. Some even want to have her hosting a show of her own.

Politics and showbiz - a relationship founded on money and publicity, what does that do to the credibility of those who govern the people?

Not Present
Especially in comparison to the media attention Sarah Palin got, Joe Biden is not just underrepresented, he's ignored. It's really astonishing how little coverage there was on him on abc.com. Why? Is he not controversial enough? Doesn't he look good enough? Or are his clothes not expensive enough?

Palin was praised, and then bashed by the media, while Biden got really very little attention.

Who'll Go?
That's a good question, but this one won't be answered before next week. How will the youth vote turn out? Will all the young people who have registered make the effort to go and vote? What about the rarely mentioned issue of racism? Will this play a role?

Not from abc.com, but from cnnbcvideo.com is this video...a scenario from the democratic perspective about what might happen, when people stay home. :)

NBC-TV: T-minus Seven Days (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:26:00 +0100

by Samantha Pompeo
sp306305@ohio.edu

A few days ago, I was reading an article about how news media will react to the end of the elections. The question was posed about what networks like NBC will talk about when the president-elect is decided. It made me think about how much of a news program's rundown is based on the election. Looking at any "Nightly News," it's obvious that multiple minutes are devoted to what's going on on the campaign trail. And with only a few short days until voters head to the polls, NBC is making last minute attempts to help undecided voters decide.

There may not be a lot of time left before the end of the campaign, but a lot has happened in the meantime. On the Today Show, there was a wonderful long package about the road to the White House. It seems to focus more on Obama than McCain, but that could be because Obama had to fight for his spot as the Democratic candidate.

And then today, the Matt Lauer talked to NBC's chief political director about polls.

But with so little time left, why are we focusing on polls? With so little time left, shouldn't the focus be on where the candidates are, what they're saying, and how the campaigns are wrapping up? I feel like I'm repeatedly asking the same question: where are the issues? But as a journalist, I have to remember the bottom line: ratings. Will the issues bring in ratings? Maybe not, but they're what the campaign is and should be about. And networks like NBC should do their best to help inform and educate the viewer, regardless of how the ratings may fair.

T-minus seven days until the historic decision. This is when the fun begins.
by Samantha Pompeo
sp306305@ohio.edu

A few days ago, I was reading an article about how news media will react to the end of the elections. The question was posed about what networks like NBC will talk about when the president-elect is decided. It made me think about how much of a news program's rundown is based on the election. Looking at any "Nightly News," it's obvious that multiple minutes are devoted to what's going on on the campaign trail. And with only a few short days until voters head to the polls, NBC is making last minute attempts to help undecided voters decide.

There may not be a lot of time left before the end of the campaign, but a lot has happened in the meantime. On the Today Show, there was a wonderful long package about the road to the White House. It seems to focus more on Obama than McCain, but that could be because Obama had to fight for his spot as the Democratic candidate.

And then today, the Matt Lauer talked to NBC's chief political director about polls.

But with so little time left, why are we focusing on polls? With so little time left, shouldn't the focus be on where the candidates are, what they're saying, and how the campaigns are wrapping up? I feel like I'm repeatedly asking the same question: where are the issues? But as a journalist, I have to remember the bottom line: ratings. Will the issues bring in ratings? Maybe not, but they're what the campaign is and should be about. And networks like NBC should do their best to help inform and educate the viewer, regardless of how the ratings may fair.

T-minus seven days until the historic decision. This is when the fun begins.

ABC-TV: Campaigns Coming to a Close (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:55:00 +0100

Monique Ozanne
meozanne@gmail.com

Ted Stevens
Convicted on seven felony counts for not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in unreported gifts, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is asking his colleagues, as well as Alaska voters to stand by his side as he appeals the charges. We know for sure that one Republican senator will not be supporting Stevens. Republican presidential nominee John McCain is asking Stevens to resign. The 84-year old Stevens is up for re-election in next week's November 4th elections and if re-elected he could be expelled by the Senate. McCain calls for Stevens resignation because he says Stevens has "broken his trust with the people." McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has not called for Stevens resignation, but says that she "is confident he will do what is right for the people of Alaska."

My question is, what about the Republican party? Something else that must be considered is what does this dismissal mean for the Democratic party? Does this allow for Democrats to campaign against the GOP like they did in 2006? ABC's George Stephanopuolos asks this question in his blog, and finds that if Stevens loses Alaska that it means one seat lost for the Republicans, and possibly one gained on the other side.

Early Voting
What an astonishing concept. One in ten registered voters has taken advantage of the opportunity to vote early and avoid the long lines on election day. Along with the surprising number of voters who have voted early, these same people are showing strong support for Obama. For those skeptics who need the "hard facts" on this statement, ABC News has teamed up with The Washington Post to produce an updated document with charts, and questions -- something that I will be checking daily from now until the 4th.

Until one of the candidates shows a strong lead on November 4th, the media will be very hesitant, and should be wary of calling the election. It is important to continue to be a good citizen and keep reading articles, blogs, reports, and keep track of polls. Polls are something Americans should treasure, and look to as another form of democracy and form of representation from their fellow citizens. We are lucky in this country to have polls as a resource to gather information. Although they have high significance, and are what many news outlets are basing their stories off of these last few days, we must still treat them as what they are.

Alleged Plot
Since May 3, the secret service has followed Obama on his campaign trail, which is the earliest the service service has been with any presidential candidate. We now understand why. Federal authorities have reported that they foiled a plot that involved an assassination plan to kill Barack Obama. The plot involved two men with reported links to the white supremacist movement.

The last time I was home, I spent a little bit of time with my mother in a salon while she got a haircut. While I was waiting I began talking to a woman who was waiting next to me. For whatever reason she felt comfortable enough with me to begin discussing the upcoming presidential election. Timidly, she told me that she is afraid to vote for Obama because she is afraid she will contribute to his "eventual assassination". I was pretty perplexed by her response, until I realized that she was from the same generation of voters who loved and supported JFK before his assassination. And she began to tell me that she is so afraid to get her hopes ups, and have something tragic happen like it did with JFK.

I did not have a response for her, but I did come to my own conclusions about this election. This election is truly historic, and especially for those who have seen and heard so many over the past decades; I now understand how important this election is for so many. Obama is finishing his campaign with soaring speeches, while McCain is adamant about his attacks on liberal v. conservative and safe v. risky. In these last few days we might see the campaigns coming down to these small, "little things that may wind up to be big things," which is what ABC talks about in the latest article of The Note. For now we can just track the polls, follow the trails, and anticipate the results on November 4th.Monique Ozanne
meozanne@gmail.com

Ted Stevens
Convicted on seven felony counts for not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in unreported gifts, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is asking his colleagues, as well as Alaska voters to stand by his side as he appeals the charges. We know for sure that one Republican senator will not be supporting Stevens. Republican presidential nominee John McCain is asking Stevens to resign. The 84-year old Stevens is up for re-election in next week's November 4th elections and if re-elected he could be expelled by the Senate. McCain calls for Stevens resignation because he says Stevens has "broken his trust with the people." McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has not called for Stevens resignation, but says that she "is confident he will do what is right for the people of Alaska."

My question is, what about the Republican party? Something else that must be considered is what does this dismissal mean for the Democratic party? Does this allow for Democrats to campaign against the GOP like they did in 2006? ABC's George Stephanopuolos asks this question in his blog, and finds that if Stevens loses Alaska that it means one seat lost for the Republicans, and possibly one gained on the other side.

Early Voting
What an astonishing concept. One in ten registered voters has taken advantage of the opportunity to vote early and avoid the long lines on election day. Along with the surprising number of voters who have voted early, these same people are showing strong support for Obama. For those skeptics who need the "hard facts" on this statement, ABC News has teamed up with The Washington Post to produce an updated document with charts, and questions -- something that I will be checking daily from now until the 4th.

Until one of the candidates shows a strong lead on November 4th, the media will be very hesitant, and should be wary of calling the election. It is important to continue to be a good citizen and keep reading articles, blogs, reports, and keep track of polls. Polls are something Americans should treasure, and look to as another form of democracy and form of representation from their fellow citizens. We are lucky in this country to have polls as a resource to gather information. Although they have high significance, and are what many news outlets are basing their stories off of these last few days, we must still treat them as what they are.

Alleged Plot
Since May 3, the secret service has followed Obama on his campaign trail, which is the earliest the service service has been with any presidential candidate. We now understand why. Federal authorities have reported that they foiled a plot that involved an assassination plan to kill Barack Obama. The plot involved two men with reported links to the white supremacist movement.

The last time I was home, I spent a little bit of time with my mother in a salon while she got a haircut. While I was waiting I began talking to a woman who was waiting next to me. For whatever reason she felt comfortable enough with me to begin discussing the upcoming presidential election. Timidly, she told me that she is afraid to vote for Obama because she is afraid she will contribute to his "eventual assassination". I was pretty perplexed by her response, until I realized that she was from the same generation of voters who loved and supported JFK before his assassination. And she began to tell me that she is so afraid to get her hopes ups, and have something tragic happen like it did with JFK.

I did not have a response for her, but I did come to my own conclusions about this election. This election is truly historic, and especially for those who have seen and heard so many over the past decades; I now understand how important this election is for so many. Obama is finishing his campaign with soaring speeches, while McCain is adamant about his attacks on liberal v. conservative and safe v. risky. In these last few days we might see the campaigns coming down to these small, "little things that may wind up to be big things," which is what ABC talks about in the latest article of The Note. For now we can just track the polls, follow the trails, and anticipate the results on November 4th.

MSNBC.com: Problems in the Spotlight (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:53:00 +0100

Jaime Baker
jb220705@ohio.edu

As the election looms closer, bad press is coming out of the closet for everyone involved. The big news of the week was Alaska Senator Ted Stevens being convicted on seven counts of corruption. Now John McCain is asking him to step down, saying Stevens has broken his trust with the people. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has also chastised Stevens, saying he needs to step down from his position.

Another bit of bad news came out of Tennessee this week. Two Neo-Nazis had a plan to murder Barack Obama that was foiled by police. They also had a plan to massacre about 88 people, beheading 14 of them. 88 and 14 are symbolic numbers in white supremacy.

This really highlights an major issue in the campaign--how many people are silently voting against Barack Obama because of his race? One question this raises is how skewed are the poll numbers by people who say they will vote for Obama, or that race doesn't matter, but in actuality, when they get into the voting booth can't pull the lever for a black man.
Jaime Baker
jb220705@ohio.edu

As the election looms closer, bad press is coming out of the closet for everyone involved. The big news of the week was Alaska Senator Ted Stevens being convicted on seven counts of corruption. Now John McCain is asking him to step down, saying Stevens has broken his trust with the people. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has also chastised Stevens, saying he needs to step down from his position.

Another bit of bad news came out of Tennessee this week. Two Neo-Nazis had a plan to murder Barack Obama that was foiled by police. They also had a plan to massacre about 88 people, beheading 14 of them. 88 and 14 are symbolic numbers in white supremacy.

This really highlights an major issue in the campaign--how many people are silently voting against Barack Obama because of his race? One question this raises is how skewed are the poll numbers by people who say they will vote for Obama, or that race doesn't matter, but in actuality, when they get into the voting booth can't pull the lever for a black man.

Fox News Channel: Stepping up their game (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:10:00 +0100

By Allison Herman
Ah215206@ohio.edu

I have been particularly impressed with what Fox News Channel has been doing with its election coverage this past week, and I believe this is because I’ve changed when I’m watching Fox News. Normally I watch in the evenings, but watching in the mornings is incredibly different. The anchors are anchors, not commentators throwing in their two cents all the time. And the way they were reading their stories and interacting with their guests was really great. So for great news coverage for the election, watch early.

That being said, I normally don’t care for polls. There are so many, they’re all different, and I hardly believe that they’re accurate or tell you much of anything 4 months before the election. But at this point in the game, one week before people are actually going to vote, I think they’re much more interesting and much more informative - even if the numbers are still fluctuating in these final days. So, I was pleased when Fox took half a minute out of their newscast to show the latest numbers in the key swing states.

What I also really liked was that while Barack Obama and John McCain were both campaigning in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Fox had live feeds from both of their speeches. I was a little surprised though when they showed both of the speeches nearly in their entirety. I figured they would show 5 minutes or so, but sure enough they showed the whole thing. I guess that’s a luxury of a 24 hour news network, but it's one they don't take advantage of often enough.By Allison Herman
Ah215206@ohio.edu

I have been particularly impressed with what Fox News Channel has been doing with its election coverage this past week, and I believe this is because I’ve changed when I’m watching Fox News. Normally I watch in the evenings, but watching in the mornings is incredibly different. The anchors are anchors, not commentators throwing in their two cents all the time. And the way they were reading their stories and interacting with their guests was really great. So for great news coverage for the election, watch early.

That being said, I normally don’t care for polls. There are so many, they’re all different, and I hardly believe that they’re accurate or tell you much of anything 4 months before the election. But at this point in the game, one week before people are actually going to vote, I think they’re much more interesting and much more informative - even if the numbers are still fluctuating in these final days. So, I was pleased when Fox took half a minute out of their newscast to show the latest numbers in the key swing states.

What I also really liked was that while Barack Obama and John McCain were both campaigning in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Fox had live feeds from both of their speeches. I was a little surprised though when they showed both of the speeches nearly in their entirety. I figured they would show 5 minutes or so, but sure enough they showed the whole thing. I guess that’s a luxury of a 24 hour news network, but it's one they don't take advantage of often enough.

FoxNews.com: Countdown to Election Night (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:50:00 +0100

by Alex Mazer
am158905@ohio.edu

Looking at the Fox News website this week, one particular article that caught my eye the most was "Government Foils Skinhead Plot to Assassinate Obama." This is a prime example of how elections get out of hand. People are crossing extreme boundaries.

The two young men who were plotting the Obama assassination not only planned to attack him but also more than 100 African American students. It's a little ridiculous that now innocent people are being threatened because of a presidential race.

Personally, I think the best man will will and it shouldn't matter what his skin color is or how old he is and it shouldn't even come down to his name. I think the man the country beleives will run our country best will be the one to win the race. And there is nothing anyone can do to change that, at least there shouldn't be.

This week I have also noticed that the Fox Elections page is getting a little more interactive. At the bottom of the page there is a tracker for all viewers of the website to view their own state elections. I think this is a good idea to get people to visit the site more often because they can now look at all election coverage on one site.

There is also an election countdown towards the bottom of the page, which I think is a good idea to have because it gets people excited about the election. Personally, I like to know the time left until an event is about to occur, I'm sure there are many other people who like this feature as well.

I also like the ads in the top right corner of the page. One of the ads that appears in that space encourages people to get an absentee ballot to vote and offers a link to click in order to get to the right place to request one.
by Alex Mazer
am158905@ohio.edu

Looking at the Fox News website this week, one particular article that caught my eye the most was "Government Foils Skinhead Plot to Assassinate Obama." This is a prime example of how elections get out of hand. People are crossing extreme boundaries.

The two young men who were plotting the Obama assassination not only planned to attack him but also more than 100 African American students. It's a little ridiculous that now innocent people are being threatened because of a presidential race.

Personally, I think the best man will will and it shouldn't matter what his skin color is or how old he is and it shouldn't even come down to his name. I think the man the country beleives will run our country best will be the one to win the race. And there is nothing anyone can do to change that, at least there shouldn't be.

This week I have also noticed that the Fox Elections page is getting a little more interactive. At the bottom of the page there is a tracker for all viewers of the website to view their own state elections. I think this is a good idea to get people to visit the site more often because they can now look at all election coverage on one site.

There is also an election countdown towards the bottom of the page, which I think is a good idea to have because it gets people excited about the election. Personally, I like to know the time left until an event is about to occur, I'm sure there are many other people who like this feature as well.

I also like the ads in the top right corner of the page. One of the ads that appears in that space encourages people to get an absentee ballot to vote and offers a link to click in order to get to the right place to request one.

CNN-TV: The "Magic Map" and Angry Joe (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:58:00 +0100

by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

It seems like it's been going on forever, but can you believe that the presidential election is only one week away? CNN is ready...and the people there want you to know they're ready. This week, the Cable News Network has devoted quite a bit of airtime to explaining exactly how it plans to cover election results.

That Magical Map
In my opinion, CNN has always been the most innovative among the networks when it comes to covering Election Night. But next Tuesday, it will take interactive election coverage to new heights with what is being called the "Magic Map." It's basically an enormous touch-screen picture of the United States; whenever CNN's John King touches a particular state, the map zooms in and gives him all the important election information about that state.

Some people are giving CNN flak for the map, including those over at Saturday Night Live:

So is the "Magic Map" a useful tool for conveying information, or is it just overkill? Personally, I think the map will be effective, especially for visual learners. I also like the fact that viewers can "play along" at home. With the Electoral Calculator, people can update their maps after CNN calls each state and can even create "what if" scenarios by turning any state red or blue.

"Are you joking?"
It seemed like every CNN talk show this weekend was discussing Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. It's because of an interview Biden did with Barbara West of WFTV in Florida on Saturday. During the Q and A, West quoted Karl Marx and asked, "How is Obama not being a Marxist if he plans to spread the wealth around?" To this, Biden laughed and asked, "Is that a real question?" Take a look:

Monday night on Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper posed the question, who was out of line: the politician or the news anchor? In my opinion, it was West. If you watch the whole interview, you'll see that she was trying to get Biden to argue. For instance, she asked, "Aren't you embarrassed by the blatant attempts to register phony voters by ACORN, an organization that Barack Obama has been tied to in the past?" The way she phrased this question really makes her appear biased. She should have asked, "What is your take on the ACORN situation?" or "I know Barack Obama has been tied to ACORN in the past...how do you feel about the current controversy?" In my view, she came into the interview with a "I'm gonna get him" attitude, not a neutral approach, as a journalist should.

What do you think? Do you think Biden or West or both acted inappropriately?by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

It seems like it's been going on forever, but can you believe that the presidential election is only one week away? CNN is ready...and the people there want you to know they're ready. This week, the Cable News Network has devoted quite a bit of airtime to explaining exactly how it plans to cover election results.

That Magical Map
In my opinion, CNN has always been the most innovative among the networks when it comes to covering Election Night. But next Tuesday, it will take interactive election coverage to new heights with what is being called the "Magic Map." It's basically an enormous touch-screen picture of the United States; whenever CNN's John King touches a particular state, the map zooms in and gives him all the important election information about that state.

Some people are giving CNN flak for the map, including those over at Saturday Night Live:

So is the "Magic Map" a useful tool for conveying information, or is it just overkill? Personally, I think the map will be effective, especially for visual learners. I also like the fact that viewers can "play along" at home. With the Electoral Calculator, people can update their maps after CNN calls each state and can even create "what if" scenarios by turning any state red or blue.

"Are you joking?"
It seemed like every CNN talk show this weekend was discussing Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. It's because of an interview Biden did with Barbara West of WFTV in Florida on Saturday. During the Q and A, West quoted Karl Marx and asked, "How is Obama not being a Marxist if he plans to spread the wealth around?" To this, Biden laughed and asked, "Is that a real question?" Take a look:

Monday night on Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper posed the question, who was out of line: the politician or the news anchor? In my opinion, it was West. If you watch the whole interview, you'll see that she was trying to get Biden to argue. For instance, she asked, "Aren't you embarrassed by the blatant attempts to register phony voters by ACORN, an organization that Barack Obama has been tied to in the past?" The way she phrased this question really makes her appear biased. She should have asked, "What is your take on the ACORN situation?" or "I know Barack Obama has been tied to ACORN in the past...how do you feel about the current controversy?" In my view, she came into the interview with a "I'm gonna get him" attitude, not a neutral approach, as a journalist should.

What do you think? Do you think Biden or West or both acted inappropriately?

CNN.com: Early voting turnouts reach record; Small business owners need to decide (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:43:00 +0100

by: Julie Hartz
jh101105@ohio.edu

Early Voters Weigh In
It's just a week away, and early voting has already had record turnouts for this year's election.

In Georgia alone, nearly a fifth of all voters have already voted.
This year, 31 states are allowing their voters to either vote early in person. This all in an effort to avoid the massive issues we faced in 2004 in Ohio and other states.

In my opinion, early voting is the way to go. Election day is going to be total mayhem no matter how prepared the separate precincts are, so why not take a few minutes tomorrow to vote? I did it just this morning, and to be honest, it was the most fulfilling experience I could ever imagine having when voting. I simply walked into the Board of Elections, and 10 minutes later was on my merry way. So make your life...and the lives of those working at the polls...a little easier next Tuesday and get your vote in early!

Small Business Owners Still in Toss-up
But those who aren't quite ready to cast their vote are taking the extra time to consider what each candidate will do for them...and their country.

One targeted group of each candidates' latest campaign has been small business owners. And according to CNN.com, they're not quite sure who to vote for just yet. Barack Obama talks to Ohioans in Canton about the economic crisis and McCain's financial plan.

Even though Obama thinks McCain's financial plan is more of the same, McCain says Obama's plan is going to spread the wealth of those who've earned it their entire lives.

Now if you are a small business owner and are still in a toss-up about the election, CNNMoney offers an Election 2008 special about where each candidate stands on your money and the election.by: Julie Hartz
jh101105@ohio.edu

Early Voters Weigh In
It's just a week away, and early voting has already had record turnouts for this year's election.

In Georgia alone, nearly a fifth of all voters have already voted.
This year, 31 states are allowing their voters to either vote early in person. This all in an effort to avoid the massive issues we faced in 2004 in Ohio and other states.

In my opinion, early voting is the way to go. Election day is going to be total mayhem no matter how prepared the separate precincts are, so why not take a few minutes tomorrow to vote? I did it just this morning, and to be honest, it was the most fulfilling experience I could ever imagine having when voting. I simply walked into the Board of Elections, and 10 minutes later was on my merry way. So make your life...and the lives of those working at the polls...a little easier next Tuesday and get your vote in early!

Small Business Owners Still in Toss-up
But those who aren't quite ready to cast their vote are taking the extra time to consider what each candidate will do for them...and their country.

One targeted group of each candidates' latest campaign has been small business owners. And according to CNN.com, they're not quite sure who to vote for just yet. Barack Obama talks to Ohioans in Canton about the economic crisis and McCain's financial plan.

Even though Obama thinks McCain's financial plan is more of the same, McCain says Obama's plan is going to spread the wealth of those who've earned it their entire lives.

Now if you are a small business owner and are still in a toss-up about the election, CNNMoney offers an Election 2008 special about where each candidate stands on your money and the election.

CBSNews.com: The Last Few Days (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:28:00 +0100

by Cristina Mutchler
cm306704@ohio.edu

Backing Barack
We've all heard reports that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the biggest fundraiser in this election. But I had no idea exactly how MUCH he was fundraising, and who he is getting this money from. In the beginning of their campaigns, both candidates promised to keep their fundraising to a minimum. But Obama broke the record of coming in as the greatest political fundraiser ever, with more than $603 million, as opposed to the $358 million that McCain has raised.

Another interesting tidbit on the Obama fundraising subject is that he has also gotten more money from unidentified donors than anyone in history, with people giving way over the federal limit amount! In a week, we will find out if all of that fundraising was enough to help Barack win the vote.

Breaking Off from Bush
John McCain announced that he would NOT be embarking on President Bush's economic policies, and instead, will be going another route. McCain promised to place strict controls over government spending, thus protecting savings, retirement accounts, and helping to raise the stock market once again. The candidate also promised to create millions of jobs through tax cuts that will in turn help the economy. Watch McCain's pledge to help U.S. citizens and the economy below.

Presidential Questions
This week, presidential candidates McCain and Obama answered questions about an issue that politicians sometimes face- infidelity. CBS News anchor Katie Couric wondered why so many politicians in the public eye risk not only their relationships but their credibility by being unfaithful to their spouse. Obama's answer? He's even cautious about picking his nose, because being in the public eye, you have to expect that every one's watching you. McCain, on the other hand, seemed more concerned with not judging past politicians who have cheated on their spouses, even quoting one of the biblical ideas of "judge not."

Watch the complete answers below and judge for yourself!

by Cristina Mutchler
cm306704@ohio.edu

Backing Barack
We've all heard reports that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the biggest fundraiser in this election. But I had no idea exactly how MUCH he was fundraising, and who he is getting this money from. In the beginning of their campaigns, both candidates promised to keep their fundraising to a minimum. But Obama broke the record of coming in as the greatest political fundraiser ever, with more than $603 million, as opposed to the $358 million that McCain has raised.

Another interesting tidbit on the Obama fundraising subject is that he has also gotten more money from unidentified donors than anyone in history, with people giving way over the federal limit amount! In a week, we will find out if all of that fundraising was enough to help Barack win the vote.

Breaking Off from Bush
John McCain announced that he would NOT be embarking on President Bush's economic policies, and instead, will be going another route. McCain promised to place strict controls over government spending, thus protecting savings, retirement accounts, and helping to raise the stock market once again. The candidate also promised to create millions of jobs through tax cuts that will in turn help the economy. Watch McCain's pledge to help U.S. citizens and the economy below.

Presidential Questions
This week, presidential candidates McCain and Obama answered questions about an issue that politicians sometimes face- infidelity. CBS News anchor Katie Couric wondered why so many politicians in the public eye risk not only their relationships but their credibility by being unfaithful to their spouse. Obama's answer? He's even cautious about picking his nose, because being in the public eye, you have to expect that every one's watching you. McCain, on the other hand, seemed more concerned with not judging past politicians who have cheated on their spouses, even quoting one of the biblical ideas of "judge not."

Watch the complete answers below and judge for yourself!

NBC News.com: Increased Quantity for Same Quality (Election '08: TV)

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:43:00 +0100

by Stine Eckert
ke343908@ohio.edu

For this blog I concentrate on NBC News.com's videos in the Latest Program, Web Only, and Politics section as well as on the First Read blog, which is part of MSNBC.

Similar to last week the number of video clips about the U.S. election campaign has been high in number: The politics section of the NBC Nightly News online player is currently featuring election campaign video only. If a Martian would look into the list, it would think there is nothing else happening in the country. Isn’t there a current administration still working? Ah, of course, it’s this Bush person who we only hear about in connection with...the election! In an October 24, 2008 video we briefly can see the President Bush voting for his successor.

For quality not a whole lot has changed, there is the detailed campaign trail coverage, who is where when saying what; the polls get their prominent share of attention and so do red-blue-yellow map;, issues are discussed marginally even the economy has moved somewhat to the back burner.

A Complete Trilogy -- McCain/Palin Interview on NBC
Finally the trilogy is complete and Sarah Palin has honored the third of the broadcast networks with a seven minute interview uploaded October 24, 2008. Brian Williams did a nice job in staying on the question of when she is going to release her medical records after she tried to evade the question for the first time. To his second direct question on this issue she replied: “I’m healthy, I’m happy, I had five children, that’s going to be in the medical records. I’ve never been seriously ill or hurt, you’ll see that in the medical records IF they’re released.” There you go, Brian.

The other part of the interview included John McCain who spoke about his underdog position. In the same joint interview session Sarah Palin defines who is a terrorist, and both voiced their reaction to Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama.

John McCain: “I know that if General Powell had wanted to meet Governor Palin, we could have arranged that easily. […]”
Sarah Palin: “You received the endorsement of four former secretaries of state…”
John McCain: ”Five former secretaries of state.”
Sarah Palin: “Five, and hundreds of top military brass.”

Early Voting Nationwide
This October 24 report wraps up the early voting movement nationwide. With programs such as “vote & vacs” people get flu shots while doing their duty as citizens in a participatory democracy overall boosting voting records. By the way, President Bush and his wife have already voted, too.

Why A Palm Tree in the Background Is Not Enough -- A Rather Useless Live Shot
By now most people following the campaign coverage know about Barack Obama's family. Surprisingly, even his grandmother got some coverage this week as the senator flew to Hawaii to pay her a visit because she is ill. But also NBC’s Lee Cowan hurried to Honolulu: with water, wind, and a palm tree in the background, he mainly commented on a bunch of photos and some short video of Barack Obama boarding a plane. It is interesting to see how travel budgets for journalists are allocated for a few seconds of live scenes that say nothing but “I was here.”

Where They Stand On Free Trade & Homeland Security
Two more pieces haven been added to NBC’s Where They Stand collection, an October 24 video on free trade and a comparison on the candidates stance toward homeland security of October 26.
NBC’s short clips of about 2 ½ minutes give brief overviews complete with bullet point lines. It’s good to see that issues still do play a role.

Voting in Nevada – A Republican State Gone Toss-Up

The Daily Nightly blog added some interesting background information about Latino voters in Nevada and other states ending on the note that Latin Americans feel if Obama wins, a Latino might, too in the future.

Another state in the focuse... a four minute report examined the swing-y state Colorado, which just as NBC’s toss up report was over seemed have decided for Obama (as according to the same sources has Virginia reducing the number of undecided states from eight to six).

But like NBC’s anchor Lester Holt put it: “Of course all of this could change between now and election day.” That’s another reason why concentrating on the issues is more useful to voters (i.e. serving the public) than clicking the refresh button every second on polls and maps.

Sideline Issues -- Ted Stevens and International Attention
At the sidelines Republican Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens has been found guilty on all seven accounts of giving false information about free gifts worth $250,000 he received, most of it connected to renovating Stevens’ house.

Looking into the international mirror: Foreign journalists report about the U.S. election including France and Al-Jazeera.

Confusing Dates
Especially with the McCain/Palin interview I noticed an annoying feature of online video clips. Albeit the NBC Nightly News player is kind enough to give a summary of the video and a date when mousing over the thumbnail (unlike undated CBS Evening News clips) I've always wondered what the date stands for: the time of uploading or the time the event took place (that didn't seem to work out some clips). Video clips sometimes lack meta information about when an event happened if it is not mentioned within the video. Occasionally no date is listed at all and there is no anchor to guide you.by Stine Eckert
ke343908@ohio.edu

For this blog I concentrate on NBC News.com's videos in the Latest Program, Web Only, and Politics section as well as on the First Read blog, which is part of MSNBC.

Similar to last week the number of video clips about the U.S. election campaign has been high in number: The politics section of the NBC Nightly News online player is currently featuring election campaign video only. If a Martian would look into the list, it would think there is nothing else happening in the country. Isn’t there a current administration still working? Ah, of course, it’s this Bush person who we only hear about in connection with...the election! In an October 24, 2008 video we briefly can see the President Bush voting for his successor.

For quality not a whole lot has changed, there is the detailed campaign trail coverage, who is where when saying what; the polls get their prominent share of attention and so do red-blue-yellow map;, issues are discussed marginally even the economy has moved somewhat to the back burner.

A Complete Trilogy -- McCain/Palin Interview on NBC
Finally the trilogy is complete and Sarah Palin has honored the third of the broadcast networks with a seven minute interview uploaded October 24, 2008. Brian Williams did a nice job in staying on the question of when she is going to release her medical records after she tried to evade the question for the first time. To his second direct question on this issue she replied: “I’m healthy, I’m happy, I had five children, that’s going to be in the medical records. I’ve never been seriously ill or hurt, you’ll see that in the medical records IF they’re released.” There you go, Brian.

The other part of the interview included John McCain who spoke about his underdog position. In the same joint interview session Sarah Palin defines who is a terrorist, and both voiced their reaction to Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama.

John McCain: “I know that if General Powell had wanted to meet Governor Palin, we could have arranged that easily. […]”
Sarah Palin: “You received the endorsement of four former secretaries of state…”
John McCain: ”Five former secretaries of state.”
Sarah Palin: “Five, and hundreds of top military brass.”

Early Voting Nationwide
This October 24 report wraps up the early voting movement nationwide. With programs such as “vote & vacs” people get flu shots while doing their duty as citizens in a participatory democracy overall boosting voting records. By the way, President Bush and his wife have already voted, too.

Why A Palm Tree in the Background Is Not Enough -- A Rather Useless Live Shot
By now most people following the campaign coverage know about Barack Obama's family. Surprisingly, even his grandmother got some coverage this week as the senator flew to Hawaii to pay her a visit because she is ill. But also NBC’s Lee Cowan hurried to Honolulu: with water, wind, and a palm tree in the background, he mainly commented on a bunch of photos and some short video of Barack Obama boarding a plane. It is interesting to see how travel budgets for journalists are allocated for a few seconds of live scenes that say nothing but “I was here.”

Where They Stand On Free Trade & Homeland Security
Two more pieces haven been added to NBC’s Where They Stand collection, an October 24 video on free trade and a comparison on the candidates stance toward homeland security of October 26.
NBC’s short clips of about 2 ½ minutes give brief overviews complete with bullet point lines. It’s good to see that issues still do play a role.

Voting in Nevada – A Republican State Gone Toss-Up

The Daily Nightly blog added some interesting background information about Latino voters in Nevada and other states ending on the note that Latin Americans feel if Obama wins, a Latino might, too in the future.

Another state in the focuse... a four minute report examined the swing-y state Colorado, which just as NBC’s toss up report was over seemed have decided for Obama (as according to the same sources has Virginia reducing the number of undecided states from eight to six).

But like NBC’s anchor Lester Holt put it: “Of course all of this could change between now and election day.” That’s another reason why concentrating on the issues is more useful to voters (i.e. serving the public) than clicking the refresh button every second on polls and maps.

Sideline Issues -- Ted Stevens and International Attention
At the sidelines Republican Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens has been found guilty on all seven accounts of giving false information about free gifts worth $250,000 he received, most of it connected to renovating Stevens’ house.

Looking into the international mirror: Foreign journalists report about the U.S. election including France and Al-Jazeera.

Confusing Dates
Especially with the McCain/Palin interview I noticed an annoying feature of online video clips. Albeit the NBC Nightly News player is kind enough to give a summary of the video and a date when mousing over the thumbnail (unlike undated CBS Evening News clips) I've always wondered what the date stands for: the time of uploading or the time the event took place (that didn't seem to work out some clips). Video clips sometimes lack meta information about when an event happened if it is not mentioned within the video. Occasionally no date is listed at all and there is no anchor to guide you.

Biden Angered By Tough Questions (Fox: Obama)

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:35:00 +0100

"Down in money, down in the polls- we got them right where we want them" McCain-confident? (NBC John McCain Blog)

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 02:31:00 +0100

To gauge where McCain stood this week, I checked out my best friend- Project Vote Smart. I read over McCain’s latest speech and was astounded to see that the speech in its entirety consisted of one thing- attacks against Obama. Out of 2,061 words, 353 of them did not involve negativity toward Obama (thank you Microsoft Office word count.) Essentially, his message this week was similar to the last- don’t trust Obama, his tax plans will hurt you and America will be attacked and he won’t know what to do. As for his messages that do not simply tell you why to not like Obama, here is the basic gist of McCain’s messaging as said in his Denver speech Friday:

“The McCain-Palin tax cut is the real thing. We're going to double the child deduction for every family. We will cut the capital gains tax. And we will cut business taxes to help create jobs, and keep American businesses in America.
As Joe the Plumber and small business owners across the country have now reminded us all, America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by giving our money to the government to "spread the wealth around." In this country, we believe in spreading opportunity, for those who need jobs and those who create them. And that is exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States. If I'm elected President, I won't make it harder to sell our goods overseas and kill more jobs.”

So how did NBC depict McCain’s week? McCain has ample opportunity to speak his side of the story thanks to an extended interview with Brian Williams. The only problem was, Palin was included in the interview. The first major topic of the interview was not surprisingly Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama; particularly that he said he does not think Palin is ready to run the country. The response from the candidates came as a shock to me. John McCain full heartedly defended Palin’s experience (not so shocking), but Palin said that she has more executive experience than Barack Obama… Don’t believe me?? Check it out:

I don’t believe this interview worked well for the McCain campaign. Little of McCain’s messages were projected and he looked nervous and on the edge. Both candidates spoke bitterly and on the defense in every question. I think this interview more than ever shows that the McCain strategy has dug the ticket so far in a whole that they have no choice but to spend the remainder of the campaign digging themselves out of it. It seems as though all efforts have back fired on them.

This week Palin has been under scrutiny for two main slipups: One, she answered a third graders question wrong and two, the hockey mom’s wardrobe is putting a dent in the RNC’s pocketbook. NBC was pretty relentless in the coverage of these flaws and focused any Palin pieces on them. She did, however, get an opportunity to hammer in one message- that McCain will create more jobs. She actually found a way to incorporate that into almost every question she was asked. So for that, good job Palin.

McCain had one great moment for his campaign, in my opinion, on NBC this week. In the extended interview when being asked about how he’ll handle international crisis soon in his term, he stated, “I’ve been tested, they know me.” The line came out flawlessly and I believe it shined on McCain’s strong point, foreign relations. I believe if he focused his attention on stating lines like that, NBC would have more positive coverage on him.

He also got a chance to get his “underdog” message in the interview by stating, “We’re down in the polls, we’re down in money, we got them right where we want them.” Because Williams didn’t fully agree, the message wasn’t displayed on NBC the way the campaign may have wanted.

To fit the frames of McCain supporters, he mentioned Lieberman “crossing party lines,” which I felt worked well for him in the interview. It justified his “crossing party lines” message and in a way legitimized it.

I believe that McCain’s incessant negative energy, as depicted on NBC has had an affect on his supporters’ mentality toward his campaign. In an NBC poll, most McCain supporters say they are not excited about going to the polls to vote for him and are also not optimistic for him. On the contrary, most Obama supporters are excited to vote for him. NBC’s Chuck Todd talks about how Obama’s Reagan-like optimism is generating excitement among his supporters and will have a huge affect on Obama vs. McCain voter turn out. I believe this is an important observation because McCain has frequently used the Ronald Reagan frame to intrigue his voters. NBC using Reagan to describe Obama is a huge blow to McCain’s intended messaging.

McCain has been put in a rough spot thanks to an unsuccessful joint interview with Palin. The team was forced to defend their less than flourishing strategies and bumps in their campaign road. NBC focused on the flaws of McCain this week by replaying Powell’s Obama endorsement and Palin’s vice president question slipup. Little of McCain’s prepared messaging made it through the NBC news waves and this is ultimately reflected in his downward NBC poll scores. With only 2 weeks to go, McCain MUST streamline his messaging and project a more optimistic, positive message in order to stand a chance in gaining better NBC coverage.

(CNN: Obama)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:15:00 +0200

Ten days to the election and the campaign trail is officially on FIRE. CNN's Ballot Bowl coverage this afternoon showed the four candidates (P's and VP's) campaigning across the map.

Sarah Palin is rallying Iowans, who seem to be leaning towards Obama. Interestingly, it seems the McCain-Palin ticket are taking on some toss-up states but ignoring others. In Iowa, Palin rallied Iowans to support "the underdog," and hitting the Obama campaign with socialist accusations. Palin stayed on message despite recent gaffes including her criticizing "robo calls," which her own campaign was using. To McCain-Palin advisors' delight, Palin emphasized Obama's socialist tax credit plans, referring to "Barack the wealth-spreader," and associating Obama with voter registration fraud.

While Palin was rallying Iowa, VP candidate Joe Biden was in Virginia, another blue-leaning state. Biden also stayed on message, which was critical after his own larger-than-life gaffe this week, proclaiming the world will test Obama when he gets into office. To counter this blip, Obama spoke to the press in Richmond, Virginia, discussing international challenges. He told the press that the next president will be tested no matter who it is because of the way the state of the nation is being left by thte Bush administration.

John McCain wasted no time in jumping on Biden's slip-up, using the line in all of his recent speeches.

In regards to Biden's gaffe, Obama aids said, "We knew that about him when we picked him, he has a lot of other assets that balance him out as a candidate."

While the VP candidates may be tripping over their gaffes, the presidential candidates are looking more presidential than ever. Even McCain, who during his campaign has seemed nervous, "erratic," and angry, is stepping up his game and maintaining his composure on the campaign trail. Today McCain was in New Mexico, pushing the "underdog" message and continuing to insinuate Obama's socialist agenda.

One of the greatest differences, however, in Obama and McCain's campaigns, is level of consistency. While McCain seems to have a new brand of messaging weekly, at least, Obama has stayed on message from the very beginning. Today in Nevada Obama countered McCain's accusations of socialism with his "need for change" message. He emphasized his rescue plan for the middle class and asked the crowd if they wanted "four more years of the Bush adminstration," a classic Obama message.

While the VP candidates are running up their own gaffe numbers, Obama and McCain have to take control of their own campaigns. CNN reminded viewers today of some disastrous gaffes by VP candidates including Palin's unsuccessful Katie Couric interviews. The coverage shows competent presidential candidates, but when will Biden and Palin catch up? One campaign is going to have to buckle down and win this election.Ten days to the election and the campaign trail is officially on FIRE. CNN's Ballot Bowl coverage this afternoon showed the four candidates (P's and VP's) campaigning across the map.

Sarah Palin is rallying Iowans, who seem to be leaning towards Obama. Interestingly, it seems the McCain-Palin ticket are taking on some toss-up states but ignoring others. In Iowa, Palin rallied Iowans to support "the underdog," and hitting the Obama campaign with socialist accusations. Palin stayed on message despite recent gaffes including her criticizing "robo calls," which her own campaign was using. To McCain-Palin advisors' delight, Palin emphasized Obama's socialist tax credit plans, referring to "Barack the wealth-spreader," and associating Obama with voter registration fraud.

While Palin was rallying Iowa, VP candidate Joe Biden was in Virginia, another blue-leaning state. Biden also stayed on message, which was critical after his own larger-than-life gaffe this week, proclaiming the world will test Obama when he gets into office. To counter this blip, Obama spoke to the press in Richmond, Virginia, discussing international challenges. He told the press that the next president will be tested no matter who it is because of the way the state of the nation is being left by thte Bush administration.

John McCain wasted no time in jumping on Biden's slip-up, using the line in all of his recent speeches.

In regards to Biden's gaffe, Obama aids said, "We knew that about him when we picked him, he has a lot of other assets that balance him out as a candidate."

While the VP candidates may be tripping over their gaffes, the presidential candidates are looking more presidential than ever. Even McCain, who during his campaign has seemed nervous, "erratic," and angry, is stepping up his game and maintaining his composure on the campaign trail. Today McCain was in New Mexico, pushing the "underdog" message and continuing to insinuate Obama's socialist agenda.

One of the greatest differences, however, in Obama and McCain's campaigns, is level of consistency. While McCain seems to have a new brand of messaging weekly, at least, Obama has stayed on message from the very beginning. Today in Nevada Obama countered McCain's accusations of socialism with his "need for change" message. He emphasized his rescue plan for the middle class and asked the crowd if they wanted "four more years of the Bush adminstration," a classic Obama message.

While the VP candidates are running up their own gaffe numbers, Obama and McCain have to take control of their own campaigns. CNN reminded viewers today of some disastrous gaffes by VP candidates including Palin's unsuccessful Katie Couric interviews. The coverage shows competent presidential candidates, but when will Biden and Palin catch up? One campaign is going to have to buckle down and win this election.

A lot of Attention (Fox: Obama)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:38:00 +0200

This week, FOX News reported that Obama and Bill Clinton will be campaigning together for the first time in Orlando Wednesday. Although the move may be very positive from an Obama strategist's perspective, my immediate thought was that the move could drive a little negativity from voters who don't think so highly of Bill Clinton. And no, I'm not talking about Monica Lawinskey.

In a sense, some voters view Bill Clinton as an old-time Democrat, someone who has already spent a lot of time in the White House. And, for those who didn't agree with Clinton politics, they may not appreciate the campaign effort from Clinton--especially since he questioned a lot of Obama's qualifications during the primary race between his Mrs. and Barack himself. However, this view is just a generalization. There's no saying that the move could not be a good thing for the Obama campaign. As FOX said, the move will probably at least give the Obama campaign a "boost in media coverage" during these final days leading up to the election. And naturally, who better to be talking up Obama than a former president of the United States? Overall, Clinton will probably contribute to some positive coverage of Obama as his campaign and McCain's battle it out in final days.

However, on the other hand, negative coverage concerning vice presidential candidate Joe Biden probably wasn't such a good thing for the Obama campaign. FOX News reported Saturday that the Obama campaign cut off an interview with a Florida TV Station because of tough questions from an Orlando reporter. I don't blame Joe Biden for telling reporter Barbara West from WFTV to "get real here," but I'm sure that's not the tone and attitude the Obama strategists wanted him to take on live television. Whether or not the reporter was trying to get Biden fired up, Obama strategists were probably shaking their heads when Biden asked the reporter, "Are you joking?" I don't care what kind of situation Biden was placed in or what kind of question was asked; I'm sure testing the waters of sarcasm was not the best answer.

As we've discussed in class, strategists can only prepare a candidate for speaking points to a certain extent. They can train them on what to say and how to say it; they can rehearse the tone time after time; they can review general talking points 100 times. However, it's ultimately the candidate's live performance that is recorded, and unfortunately the only one that matters. The interview was not the only instance when the media played up Biden's heated attitude and aggressive tone; the media coverage of Biden in the vice presidential debate also criticized his tone prior to the debate and at certain points in the post-debate coverage.

For a recap of how the interview went, please see the video above.

Questions or concerns? Please drop me an e-mail at aliviacnuzzo@gmail.com or post a comment below.

For a recap of how the interview went, please see the video above.

Questions or concerns? Please drop me an e-mail at aliviacnuzzo@gmail.com or post a comment below.

ABC.COM: Palin, Nails, and Pumpkins (Election '08: TV)

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:36:00 +0200

Nina Wieczorek
wieczore@web.de

Carve, Baby, Carve
My nose froze immediately as I stepped out of the door into the ice cold morning air. Sunlight still hadn't touched anything and besides a chipmunk – which is actually THE chipmunk as I see it every day at the same place – there was no one to hear or to see. Until I turned around to take the steps downstairs...I moved my head but my still tired eyes were glued to a shining orange pumpkin in front of my neighbor's door. The motive they chose to carve into this little fruit tells more about them than just their artistic skills. It's Obama's campaign-for-change-sign.

Express Yourself
Besides pumpkins people found other creative ways to express their political feelings. Some paint the image of their favourite candidate on their nails or trash cans...

Persistent Campaigning
Perhaps they saw the pumpkin the other day when the people campaigning for the democratic candidate knocked on my appartment door – not for the first time. Once they want you to register, then to volunteer in their campaign. Engagement is good, but can't there also be too much?

The Numbers Mark the Difference

You can't have too much money or polling points, and John McCain could use both. In recent polls he is 9 points behind his rival and also in money raising he is not doing as well as Obama is. It's really remarkable how many stars back Obama and raise money for him and support him.

Nina Wieczorek
wieczore@web.de

Carve, Baby, Carve
My nose froze immediately as I stepped out of the door into the ice cold morning air. Sunlight still hadn't touched anything and besides a chipmunk – which is actually THE chipmunk as I see it every day at the same place – there was no one to hear or to see. Until I turned around to take the steps downstairs...I moved my head but my still tired eyes were glued to a shining orange pumpkin in front of my neighbor's door. The motive they chose to carve into this little fruit tells more about them than just their artistic skills. It's Obama's campaign-for-change-sign.

Express Yourself
Besides pumpkins people found other creative ways to express their political feelings. Some paint the image of their favourite candidate on their nails or trash cans...

Persistent Campaigning
Perhaps they saw the pumpkin the other day when the people campaigning for the democratic candidate knocked on my appartment door – not for the first time. Once they want you to register, then to volunteer in their campaign. Engagement is good, but can't there also be too much?

The Numbers Mark the Difference

You can't have too much money or polling points, and John McCain could use both. In recent polls he is 9 points behind his rival and also in money raising he is not doing as well as Obama is. It's really remarkable how many stars back Obama and raise money for him and support him.

ABC-TV: Final Debate - McCain, Obama, and Joe the Plumber (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:08:00 +0200

Monique Ozanne
meozanne@gmail.com

He has given a visual to the term 'overnight celebrity'. Just days after ABC traveled to Holland, Ohio to follow Obama as he talked to local residents, Joe the Plumber, more correctly known as Sam Joe Wurzelbacher, became the focal point of the last presidential debate.

I take special interest in the Joe story because I remember watching the conversation on ABC last week as they traveled through Ohio. I remember seeing Obama talk with this man who expressed his uncertainty about Obama's campaign. At the time I did not think too much of the interview, except that this man was the only interviewee to question Obama and express his concern about what Obama's possible presidency would do for him.

Within days this man went from an interview to an important topic in the final debate. October surprise? Probably not. But Joe the plumber being mentioned 23 times during the debate did come as a surprise to many viewers and journalists. Following the debate ABC's Diane Sawyer brought Joe back into the spotlight to interview him about his reaction to being such a hot topic.

During his interview with Sawyer, Wurzelbacher did not reveal who he was going to vote for, but encouraged people to remain educated and listen during these remaining few weeks. As far as being known as Joe the Plumber, Wurzelbacher said that his son was into the title, and he himself thought it was kind of neat.

Colin Powell Endorses Obama
On Sunday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president during his appearance on Meet the Press.

Powell sees Obama as a transformational figure and new generation. Powell is concerned about McCain's choice of Sara Palin for VP, and said over the past few weeks he has seen that she is not ready to be Vice President. He said over the past weeks watching Obama, he has seen excitement and vigor, and sees Biden as a vice president that is ready to serve in office on day one.

Powell also criticized McCain for his ads, and sees the negative campaigning addressing problems that are not central to the American people, and becoming too narrow. It was obvious Powell thought out and had prepared his reasons for endorsing Obama. On the issue of race, Powell also expressed how upset he was to see the attacks on Obama stemming from the Ayers scandal, and the claims of Obama being a Muslim. Powell defends Obama by saying he is and has always been a Christian, but what would be the problem if he was in fact a Muslim. Powell later goes on to answer the question of race in choosing Obama as his endorsement, and defends himself by saying that if he were choosing Obama solely based on race, he would have made his decision six to eight months ago.

Two Weeks and Counting...
With exactly two weeks left until the election, my thoughts are filled with stress and emotion. I find myself staying up late into the night reading articles that are published hourly about what the candidates are doing and where they are. I continue to keep track of the updates on the latest scandals and claims made against each party. The closer November 4 gets, the hungrier I get for information and my excitement grows. But then I turn on my TV, and see negative ads and find myself once again frustrated and disappointed, and think that all the reading and researching I have done is a waste. No matter how much we try to educate ourselves and rise above the negativity, something will find us and try to bring us down. So today, and hopefully for the next two weeks, I will take Joe's advice and just listen, remain educated, and keep my head above the sewage.Monique Ozanne
meozanne@gmail.com

He has given a visual to the term 'overnight celebrity'. Just days after ABC traveled to Holland, Ohio to follow Obama as he talked to local residents, Joe the Plumber, more correctly known as Sam Joe Wurzelbacher, became the focal point of the last presidential debate.

I take special interest in the Joe story because I remember watching the conversation on ABC last week as they traveled through Ohio. I remember seeing Obama talk with this man who expressed his uncertainty about Obama's campaign. At the time I did not think too much of the interview, except that this man was the only interviewee to question Obama and express his concern about what Obama's possible presidency would do for him.

Within days this man went from an interview to an important topic in the final debate. October surprise? Probably not. But Joe the plumber being mentioned 23 times during the debate did come as a surprise to many viewers and journalists. Following the debate ABC's Diane Sawyer brought Joe back into the spotlight to interview him about his reaction to being such a hot topic.

During his interview with Sawyer, Wurzelbacher did not reveal who he was going to vote for, but encouraged people to remain educated and listen during these remaining few weeks. As far as being known as Joe the Plumber, Wurzelbacher said that his son was into the title, and he himself thought it was kind of neat.

Colin Powell Endorses Obama
On Sunday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president during his appearance on Meet the Press.

Powell sees Obama as a transformational figure and new generation. Powell is concerned about McCain's choice of Sara Palin for VP, and said over the past few weeks he has seen that she is not ready to be Vice President. He said over the past weeks watching Obama, he has seen excitement and vigor, and sees Biden as a vice president that is ready to serve in office on day one.

Powell also criticized McCain for his ads, and sees the negative campaigning addressing problems that are not central to the American people, and becoming too narrow. It was obvious Powell thought out and had prepared his reasons for endorsing Obama. On the issue of race, Powell also expressed how upset he was to see the attacks on Obama stemming from the Ayers scandal, and the claims of Obama being a Muslim. Powell defends Obama by saying he is and has always been a Christian, but what would be the problem if he was in fact a Muslim. Powell later goes on to answer the question of race in choosing Obama as his endorsement, and defends himself by saying that if he were choosing Obama solely based on race, he would have made his decision six to eight months ago.

Two Weeks and Counting...
With exactly two weeks left until the election, my thoughts are filled with stress and emotion. I find myself staying up late into the night reading articles that are published hourly about what the candidates are doing and where they are. I continue to keep track of the updates on the latest scandals and claims made against each party. The closer November 4 gets, the hungrier I get for information and my excitement grows. But then I turn on my TV, and see negative ads and find myself once again frustrated and disappointed, and think that all the reading and researching I have done is a waste. No matter how much we try to educate ourselves and rise above the negativity, something will find us and try to bring us down. So today, and hopefully for the next two weeks, I will take Joe's advice and just listen, remain educated, and keep my head above the sewage.

NBC News.com: Finally Some Third Party Flavor (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:06:00 +0200

by Stine Eckert
ke343908@ohio.edu

For this blog I concentrate on NBC News.com's videos in the Latest Program, Web Only, and Politics sections as well as on the First Read blog, which is part of MSNBC.

Surprise, Surprise (This Time a Real One) – 16 minute Ralph Nader Interview
After Senator Joe Biden’s suprising visit in Athens, OH – where this blog project is located – sparked lots of local and some national reports, one of my wishes for election coverage was somewhat fulfilled. (Of course one can always wish for more consistency.)

But on Tuesday, October 20, 2008 I was really stunned to find a 16 minute interview with independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader in NBC’s Nightly News web only section. Even better it was not just some interview but NBC's Ron Allen’s questioning starts off pointedly: “You can’t win the presidency, why do you keep doing this?” Allen follows his rather aggressive path throughout the whole interview on corporate politics, tipping the election in 2000, his chances to win any state, on mass media treatment of him, election results, and what it takes to convince him to drop out of the current race. I kept thinking what axe does Allen have to grind with the old man? Seldomly, I have seen an interview in which the attitude of the journalist is so palpable. But see for yourself.

Here’s the 16 minute expanded interview (which is really worth watching):

For a short time brush up on Nader, here’s a typical 2 minutes television clip:

By the way, did you know that Ralph Nader’s native language is Arabic, his parents came from Lebannon, he graduated from Princeton University and Havard Law School and served in the U.S. army? For some more Ralph Nader 101 (a la Wikipedia)please click here. By the way his running mate Matt Gonzalez's biography is presented in English and Spanish on their campaign’s website.

How about a follow up featuring other third party candidates and a background piece on the obstacles they face in general in U.S. politics and elections?

Suprise No. 2 -- Colin Powell endorses Obama and NBC Presents a Great Soundbite
That’s the stuff I want to see on the Internet, a great extended interview with Colin Powell. For seven minutes he shares in a very intelligent and articulate way his fresh thoughts on how he weighed Sens. McCain and Obama against each other as well as the development of the Republican party to come to the conclusion that Obama is the best man for the U.S. Don’t miss out on this well spoken endorsement by Republican former Secretary of State General Colin Powell.

Last, but not least...
...to make this surprise party complete, a piece about the Republican side, an October 16, 2008 portrait of Todd Palin and his tentacles in Alaskan politics beyond just serving tea as a spouse of a state official.

When will we hear more about Jill Biden?

Back to Business as Usual - Last Debate Coverage
An incredible flurry of at least two dozen videos surrounded THE debate on NBC.com. In addition to a clip featuring the whole 90 minutes of the event, NBC broke the debate into topical sections such as abortion, “the real McCain”, and of course Joe, the (non)-plumber. Also among the plenty, an eleven minute interview with John McCain’s senior campaign advisor Brian Jones...

…and a five minute clip with six demographically-correct guinea pigs probed for their feelings and thoughts after the debate. However, NBC’s Ann Curry cuts a little bit of a teacher figure hovering awkwardly above them on a high chair in an artificial living room stage set. She first roll calls them, asks for hands on such questions as: “Who thinks John McCain was stronger on the economy tonight?” and then follows up by calling individual names. By the way, all six pupils swiftly raised their hands when Ann Curry asked if they believe that some people might not vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin.

Mingling with the Youth - Sequel IV
Sure enough Luke Russert mingled again with the future of the country to collect their ten cents in another pop journalism video with jolly background tunes that give such a bright feeling to the debates that one is prone to forget about the dark drowning economy for about four minutes.

His final piece of college visits led him to Hofstra University, the epicenter of U.S. politics on Wednesday night (October 15, 2008). The youth were already sick of Joe the (non) plumber and the extended time spent on campaign evaluation. One woman who previously had favored Obama switched to McCain because of the Republican's fancy for nuclear energy, a conservatively socialized woman was converted to Obama’s side because of his health care approach, a third woman was still “on edge”.

While this is the logical conclusion of his series of university visits during debates, it's probably among the weaker reports I've seen because it doesn't offer anything new.

The Good Stuff - A Lawsuit and Being "Other"
At the sidelines of the election frenzy the lawsuit of the Ohio Republicans has been crushed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Here’s a neat wrap up by NBC’s justice correspondent Pete Williams who puts law language into understandable talk.

An almost four minute piece told from a first person perspective shows an interesting approach to a topic that affects millions of U.S. Americans--being of two or more races, being the other. A topic I hadn’t heard about much before was made into a touching piece about the population’s future not only in the USA but worldwide.

And it is complimented by a very useful, informative, and well-designed feature: an interactive map that shows you the population of each state in terms of two or more races. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau which is indicated in a little credit button. More maps of that sort please!

Left Over Criticism
The only complaint that is left for me this week is the absence of Jill Biden and the usual suspects, issues such as science, communication and Internet policy. Plus, an article in the German prestigious political weekly magazine Spiegel hinted at the fact that Sarah Palin is the only one in the major candidate quartet who has not showed her health records yet to the public or journalists. Wouldn’t this be a helpful piece in the otherwise extensive Palin coverage?

Interviews seem to be the strength of mass media online these days at least when it comes to NBC News.com: NBC will air an interview with John McCain and Sarah Palin on Wednesday and Thursday (October 22 and 23, 2008).by Stine Eckert
ke343908@ohio.edu

For this blog I concentrate on NBC News.com's videos in the Latest Program, Web Only, and Politics sections as well as on the First Read blog, which is part of MSNBC.

Surprise, Surprise (This Time a Real One) – 16 minute Ralph Nader Interview
After Senator Joe Biden’s suprising visit in Athens, OH – where this blog project is located – sparked lots of local and some national reports, one of my wishes for election coverage was somewhat fulfilled. (Of course one can always wish for more consistency.)

But on Tuesday, October 20, 2008 I was really stunned to find a 16 minute interview with independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader in NBC’s Nightly News web only section. Even better it was not just some interview but NBC's Ron Allen’s questioning starts off pointedly: “You can’t win the presidency, why do you keep doing this?” Allen follows his rather aggressive path throughout the whole interview on corporate politics, tipping the election in 2000, his chances to win any state, on mass media treatment of him, election results, and what it takes to convince him to drop out of the current race. I kept thinking what axe does Allen have to grind with the old man? Seldomly, I have seen an interview in which the attitude of the journalist is so palpable. But see for yourself.

Here’s the 16 minute expanded interview (which is really worth watching):

For a short time brush up on Nader, here’s a typical 2 minutes television clip:

By the way, did you know that Ralph Nader’s native language is Arabic, his parents came from Lebannon, he graduated from Princeton University and Havard Law School and served in the U.S. army? For some more Ralph Nader 101 (a la Wikipedia)please click here. By the way his running mate Matt Gonzalez's biography is presented in English and Spanish on their campaign’s website.

How about a follow up featuring other third party candidates and a background piece on the obstacles they face in general in U.S. politics and elections?

Suprise No. 2 -- Colin Powell endorses Obama and NBC Presents a Great Soundbite
That’s the stuff I want to see on the Internet, a great extended interview with Colin Powell. For seven minutes he shares in a very intelligent and articulate way his fresh thoughts on how he weighed Sens. McCain and Obama against each other as well as the development of the Republican party to come to the conclusion that Obama is the best man for the U.S. Don’t miss out on this well spoken endorsement by Republican former Secretary of State General Colin Powell.

Last, but not least...
...to make this surprise party complete, a piece about the Republican side, an October 16, 2008 portrait of Todd Palin and his tentacles in Alaskan politics beyond just serving tea as a spouse of a state official.

When will we hear more about Jill Biden?

Back to Business as Usual - Last Debate Coverage
An incredible flurry of at least two dozen videos surrounded THE debate on NBC.com. In addition to a clip featuring the whole 90 minutes of the event, NBC broke the debate into topical sections such as abortion, “the real McCain”, and of course Joe, the (non)-plumber. Also among the plenty, an eleven minute interview with John McCain’s senior campaign advisor Brian Jones...

…and a five minute clip with six demographically-correct guinea pigs probed for their feelings and thoughts after the debate. However, NBC’s Ann Curry cuts a little bit of a teacher figure hovering awkwardly above them on a high chair in an artificial living room stage set. She first roll calls them, asks for hands on such questions as: “Who thinks John McCain was stronger on the economy tonight?” and then follows up by calling individual names. By the way, all six pupils swiftly raised their hands when Ann Curry asked if they believe that some people might not vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin.

Mingling with the Youth - Sequel IV
Sure enough Luke Russert mingled again with the future of the country to collect their ten cents in another pop journalism video with jolly background tunes that give such a bright feeling to the debates that one is prone to forget about the dark drowning economy for about four minutes.

His final piece of college visits led him to Hofstra University, the epicenter of U.S. politics on Wednesday night (October 15, 2008). The youth were already sick of Joe the (non) plumber and the extended time spent on campaign evaluation. One woman who previously had favored Obama switched to McCain because of the Republican's fancy for nuclear energy, a conservatively socialized woman was converted to Obama’s side because of his health care approach, a third woman was still “on edge”.

While this is the logical conclusion of his series of university visits during debates, it's probably among the weaker reports I've seen because it doesn't offer anything new.

The Good Stuff - A Lawsuit and Being "Other"
At the sidelines of the election frenzy the lawsuit of the Ohio Republicans has been crushed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Here’s a neat wrap up by NBC’s justice correspondent Pete Williams who puts law language into understandable talk.

An almost four minute piece told from a first person perspective shows an interesting approach to a topic that affects millions of U.S. Americans--being of two or more races, being the other. A topic I hadn’t heard about much before was made into a touching piece about the population’s future not only in the USA but worldwide.

And it is complimented by a very useful, informative, and well-designed feature: an interactive map that shows you the population of each state in terms of two or more races. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau which is indicated in a little credit button. More maps of that sort please!

Left Over Criticism
The only complaint that is left for me this week is the absence of Jill Biden and the usual suspects, issues such as science, communication and Internet policy. Plus, an article in the German prestigious political weekly magazine Spiegel hinted at the fact that Sarah Palin is the only one in the major candidate quartet who has not showed her health records yet to the public or journalists. Wouldn’t this be a helpful piece in the otherwise extensive Palin coverage?

Interviews seem to be the strength of mass media online these days at least when it comes to NBC News.com: NBC will air an interview with John McCain and Sarah Palin on Wednesday and Thursday (October 22 and 23, 2008).

The Man Behind The McCain Campaign in Ohio (Election 2008)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:20:00 +0200

Jessica Demczar
jdemczar@gmail.com

I was fortunate enough last week to be able to sit down with the Ohio state director for the McCain Campaign, Ryan Meerstein. It was interesting to meet with someone on the campaign staff, not just volunteers.

This is Ryan's job; he gets paid to organize the various events, volunteer efforts, and anything else the campaign needs done in Ohio. He does everything from help decide who should come to the buckeye state, to calling supporters for donations. It seems like it would be an overwhelming job, but he holds a lot of power and is always up-to-date on what's going on with the campaign.

But with only two weeks left until the election, Meerstein says it's all about getting the vote out. There are going to be lots of visits by Senator McCain and Governor Palin, and in these last two weeks, there's still a lot of work for Meerstein to do!Jessica Demczar
jdemczar@gmail.com

I was fortunate enough last week to be able to sit down with the Ohio state director for the McCain Campaign, Ryan Meerstein. It was interesting to meet with someone on the campaign staff, not just volunteers.

This is Ryan's job; he gets paid to organize the various events, volunteer efforts, and anything else the campaign needs done in Ohio. He does everything from help decide who should come to the buckeye state, to calling supporters for donations. It seems like it would be an overwhelming job, but he holds a lot of power and is always up-to-date on what's going on with the campaign.

But with only two weeks left until the election, Meerstein says it's all about getting the vote out. There are going to be lots of visits by Senator McCain and Governor Palin, and in these last two weeks, there's still a lot of work for Meerstein to do!

MSNBC-TV: Comparing Campaigns & Politics (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:23:00 +0200

by Brooks Jarosz
bj186905@ohio.edu

The third and final debate was...well, interesting to say the least. Of course, the name most discussed was "Joe the Plumber," mentioned 25 times. I was happy to see suburban Toledo, Ohio, my hometown, get so much publicity!

Reacting to the debate, I thought it was a valid representation of what each campaign stood for. Picking a winner and a losser seems to be a popular thing to do after a debate, so I'll give my opinion as well. While many opinions commended Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, I felt he was too laid back. On the other hand, Republican presidential candidate, John McCain was on the attack. Right off the top, he didn't seem to miss a beat. He was prepared to win and in many respects, did. Some critics say McCain's shifty eyes and intense movements made him seem angry and erratic. I think this spoke to the ultra conservatives who believe McCain will bring change.

Obama was laid back and relaxed trying to focus on the issues and trying to avoid major attacks. Many Obama supporters say they want to hear about the issues, mentioned many times on MSNBC. Either way, both candidates had a strategy for gaining more support to win the presidency.

"Hardball" Picks Apart Campaigns
Chris Matthews, host of "Hardball" had an interesting segment last week. He interviewed two strategists: one republican and one democrat. He asked Republican Strategist, Todd Harris why some states changed from 'for' McCain to 'lean' McCain in the state projections. Harris mentioned that much of it has to do with the unlimited amounts of money the Obama campaign has raised and how it's choosing to spend those funds. I have to agree and it's a good point to bring up that Obama's campaign is spending unprecedented amounts of green stuff while also giving millions of dollars away to local and state democratic parties. The Obama campaign just doesn't know what to do with all of their campaign contributions it's receiving. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is to be determined, but I can think of numerous other things the money could be used for to benefit American citizens... the economy maybe?

Harris also mentioned that Obama should be winning by double digits with the amount of spending that occurs day in and day out and that Independents are still in favor of the Republican candidate. Another good question raised, is Obama's race playing into some people's decision? I would say, unfortunately, yes, that plays a big role in many Americans' minds.

In projecting a winner, Democratic Strategist, Steve McMahon says some votes aren't even accounted for in the polls, thanks to the number of Obama supporters trying to get new voters to register. I can certainly attest to that as it was very prominent here in Athens. Every time I turned around, someone was there asking me to register. While Matthews, discounted McMahon's point of the electoral college, I agree with McMahon. Obama is projected to lead the electoral college count by 100 votes and I don't see McCain gaining that many states in two weeks, despite what has happened in history. Matthews always gets his opinions in here and there, but overall I enjoyed this dual.

Anti-Americanism...What is That?
Sometimes I don't get it. There are some stupid people out there and yes, they're in the political world too. MSNBC-TV spoke with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann about her views on Barack Obama. She said we need an investigation into Anti-Americanism in Congress. She also mentioned the media should be looking into this as well. Are you kidding me? Does she not think the vows taken as a Senator matter? All of this negative campaigning and comparing Obama to a terrorist makes me sick. Let's get to the issues!

MSNBC should be focusing more on things that actually matter and less on sensationalism. I did, however, enjoy the response they got on this issue from Colin Powell. He said if you're an American, that's what you are and Americans get strength through unity and diversity. It's just too bad the campaigns cause the nation to be divided. Let's hope we all come together...November 5th!by Brooks Jarosz
bj186905@ohio.edu

The third and final debate was...well, interesting to say the least. Of course, the name most discussed was "Joe the Plumber," mentioned 25 times. I was happy to see suburban Toledo, Ohio, my hometown, get so much publicity!

Reacting to the debate, I thought it was a valid representation of what each campaign stood for. Picking a winner and a losser seems to be a popular thing to do after a debate, so I'll give my opinion as well. While many opinions commended Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, I felt he was too laid back. On the other hand, Republican presidential candidate, John McCain was on the attack. Right off the top, he didn't seem to miss a beat. He was prepared to win and in many respects, did. Some critics say McCain's shifty eyes and intense movements made him seem angry and erratic. I think this spoke to the ultra conservatives who believe McCain will bring change.

Obama was laid back and relaxed trying to focus on the issues and trying to avoid major attacks. Many Obama supporters say they want to hear about the issues, mentioned many times on MSNBC. Either way, both candidates had a strategy for gaining more support to win the presidency.

"Hardball" Picks Apart Campaigns
Chris Matthews, host of "Hardball" had an interesting segment last week. He interviewed two strategists: one republican and one democrat. He asked Republican Strategist, Todd Harris why some states changed from 'for' McCain to 'lean' McCain in the state projections. Harris mentioned that much of it has to do with the unlimited amounts of money the Obama campaign has raised and how it's choosing to spend those funds. I have to agree and it's a good point to bring up that Obama's campaign is spending unprecedented amounts of green stuff while also giving millions of dollars away to local and state democratic parties. The Obama campaign just doesn't know what to do with all of their campaign contributions it's receiving. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is to be determined, but I can think of numerous other things the money could be used for to benefit American citizens... the economy maybe?

Harris also mentioned that Obama should be winning by double digits with the amount of spending that occurs day in and day out and that Independents are still in favor of the Republican candidate. Another good question raised, is Obama's race playing into some people's decision? I would say, unfortunately, yes, that plays a big role in many Americans' minds.

In projecting a winner, Democratic Strategist, Steve McMahon says some votes aren't even accounted for in the polls, thanks to the number of Obama supporters trying to get new voters to register. I can certainly attest to that as it was very prominent here in Athens. Every time I turned around, someone was there asking me to register. While Matthews, discounted McMahon's point of the electoral college, I agree with McMahon. Obama is projected to lead the electoral college count by 100 votes and I don't see McCain gaining that many states in two weeks, despite what has happened in history. Matthews always gets his opinions in here and there, but overall I enjoyed this dual.

Anti-Americanism...What is That?
Sometimes I don't get it. There are some stupid people out there and yes, they're in the political world too. MSNBC-TV spoke with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann about her views on Barack Obama. She said we need an investigation into Anti-Americanism in Congress. She also mentioned the media should be looking into this as well. Are you kidding me? Does she not think the vows taken as a Senator matter? All of this negative campaigning and comparing Obama to a terrorist makes me sick. Let's get to the issues!

MSNBC should be focusing more on things that actually matter and less on sensationalism. I did, however, enjoy the response they got on this issue from Colin Powell. He said if you're an American, that's what you are and Americans get strength through unity and diversity. It's just too bad the campaigns cause the nation to be divided. Let's hope we all come together...November 5th!

NBC-TV: Obama v Palin (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:58:00 +0200

by Samantha Pompeo
sp306305@ohio.edu

Anyone who has some knowledge of the national election can tell you that it's coming quick. It seems that just yesterday we were trying to determine who would be facing John McCain in the election. But thankfully, we're only 14 days away. In two weeks, voters will head to the polls to decide the next president of the United States. So, if you've been living underneath a rock, you may ask who are the running mates? If you watched some of NBC, it'd seem as if the race was Obama vs. Palin. Where's John McCain? In a Nightly News story, McCain isn't the first Republican you see. Why, it's Sarah Palin! And look how funny she is, appearing on Saturday Night Live. But where is McCain? Oh, here he is.. let's show him complaining about Obama again.

It's hard for the "liberal media" to rid itself of that title when the focus seems to be primarily on the liberals. The following sit-down interview with Barack Obama appeared on the Today Show this week, but where was the sit-down with John McCain?

In the piece, there's no mention of Matt Lauer visiting McCain on the campaign trail. But, there is mention of Sarah Palin's competence. Whenever Barack Obama is interviewed, the abilities of Sarah Palin are discovered. The same is apparent with Joe Biden. Lauer makes a big point of questioning Obama, and he responds eloquently. But, when is McCain questioned about Biden's ability to run the White House? He isn't. And the same should be said about Sarah Palin. America should be able to make a responsible decision about Palin's capability without the constant badgering of political analysts. I'll say it again, for the umpteenth time... where are the issues? When will networks such as NBC go back to the basics of what the election is really about... the issues. Lets hope that, with the election in sight, the networks will switch its focus to the real election.by Samantha Pompeo
sp306305@ohio.edu

Anyone who has some knowledge of the national election can tell you that it's coming quick. It seems that just yesterday we were trying to determine who would be facing John McCain in the election. But thankfully, we're only 14 days away. In two weeks, voters will head to the polls to decide the next president of the United States. So, if you've been living underneath a rock, you may ask who are the running mates? If you watched some of NBC, it'd seem as if the race was Obama vs. Palin. Where's John McCain? In a Nightly News story, McCain isn't the first Republican you see. Why, it's Sarah Palin! And look how funny she is, appearing on Saturday Night Live. But where is McCain? Oh, here he is.. let's show him complaining about Obama again.

It's hard for the "liberal media" to rid itself of that title when the focus seems to be primarily on the liberals. The following sit-down interview with Barack Obama appeared on the Today Show this week, but where was the sit-down with John McCain?

In the piece, there's no mention of Matt Lauer visiting McCain on the campaign trail. But, there is mention of Sarah Palin's competence. Whenever Barack Obama is interviewed, the abilities of Sarah Palin are discovered. The same is apparent with Joe Biden. Lauer makes a big point of questioning Obama, and he responds eloquently. But, when is McCain questioned about Biden's ability to run the White House? He isn't. And the same should be said about Sarah Palin. America should be able to make a responsible decision about Palin's capability without the constant badgering of political analysts. I'll say it again, for the umpteenth time... where are the issues? When will networks such as NBC go back to the basics of what the election is really about... the issues. Lets hope that, with the election in sight, the networks will switch its focus to the real election.

The Real America (Fox/McCain)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:32:00 +0200

This week Sarah Palin has made many references to the "real America" and people being "pro-America"which I think is an interesting card to be played. The McCain camp is playing on the American people's emotions and the fears that they are not good citizens. Saying "pro-America" is just another buzz word that is targeting middle class small town Americans. Obama has been playing up to the middle class, because- well that who all of his policy's will benefit. The McCain camp is trying to steal some of those voters by making them think that they need to be part of the pro-American society that needs to vote for the good ol' boy and his lovely side kick. Fox News has been playing up on this idea by repeating the buzz words over and over in their news casts and talk shows. Hannity even went on to say that the real America is the small towns and encompasses the hard working middle class people. People that live in America's big cities aren't "pro-America," they aren't part of the real America? Small town hard working citizens can't vote for a liberal man? The small mill town I come from is full of very hard working Union men and women who are informed enough to know that Republican policies do not favor them economically and usually are not in line with their values. When Joe Biden toured Ohio last week he visited many small Ohio towns with people who seemed pretty "pro-America" to me. The American Postal Workers I spoke with at the rally in Athens and the students I talked to who are paying their way through school seemed pretty real to me.

- On a side note, Bill O'Reilly gave our Sherrod Brown a shout out on his show today- talking about a speech he made in Athens along with a few other Ohio cities, and then again at the Athens County Democratic dinner on Friday night. I found the story right on the money and very funny- Bill did not. http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.htmlThis week Sarah Palin has made many references to the "real America" and people being "pro-America"which I think is an interesting card to be played. The McCain camp is playing on the American people's emotions and the fears that they are not good citizens. Saying "pro-America" is just another buzz word that is targeting middle class small town Americans. Obama has been playing up to the middle class, because- well that who all of his policy's will benefit. The McCain camp is trying to steal some of those voters by making them think that they need to be part of the pro-American society that needs to vote for the good ol' boy and his lovely side kick. Fox News has been playing up on this idea by repeating the buzz words over and over in their news casts and talk shows. Hannity even went on to say that the real America is the small towns and encompasses the hard working middle class people. People that live in America's big cities aren't "pro-America," they aren't part of the real America? Small town hard working citizens can't vote for a liberal man? The small mill town I come from is full of very hard working Union men and women who are informed enough to know that Republican policies do not favor them economically and usually are not in line with their values. When Joe Biden toured Ohio last week he visited many small Ohio towns with people who seemed pretty "pro-America" to me. The American Postal Workers I spoke with at the rally in Athens and the students I talked to who are paying their way through school seemed pretty real to me.

- On a side note, Bill O'Reilly gave our Sherrod Brown a shout out on his show today- talking about a speech he made in Athens along with a few other Ohio cities, and then again at the Athens County Democratic dinner on Friday night. I found the story right on the money and very funny- Bill did not. http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html

FoxNews.com: All Obama? (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:13:00 +0200

by Alex Mazer
am158905@ohio.edu

I was looking at the Foxnews.com site when I came across an article that was about the democratic vice presidential candidate. The title of the piece was Biden: Obama Will be 'Tested' by World in First 6 Months of Administration. In this article, Biden is depicted as being a little apprehensive of Obama being elected.

The article starts off with Biden saying that if or when elected, within the first six months of his presidency, Obama will be "tested" with an international crisis. To me, I think this statement was a bad idea on Biden's part. In my opinion it shows a lack of confidence in the candidate.

A lot of the articles on the site recently have been highlighting more of the negatives on both campaigns. I don't like to hear about all the bad things going on in the campaigns. Personally, I would much rather hear about the issues and campaign updates.

One of the problems I found with the Fox election website is the fact that all of the headlines have Obama's name in them. There is no diversity with the stories. It almost looks like Fox is a cheerleader for Obama right now. So where are the stories about McCain? Is Fox avoiding the Republican party?

Fox has almost gone to the other extreme and is now over-covering the Democratic race. Maybe they are trying to protect McCain and Palin from further scrutiny.by Alex Mazer
am158905@ohio.edu

I was looking at the Foxnews.com site when I came across an article that was about the democratic vice presidential candidate. The title of the piece was Biden: Obama Will be 'Tested' by World in First 6 Months of Administration. In this article, Biden is depicted as being a little apprehensive of Obama being elected.

The article starts off with Biden saying that if or when elected, within the first six months of his presidency, Obama will be "tested" with an international crisis. To me, I think this statement was a bad idea on Biden's part. In my opinion it shows a lack of confidence in the candidate.

A lot of the articles on the site recently have been highlighting more of the negatives on both campaigns. I don't like to hear about all the bad things going on in the campaigns. Personally, I would much rather hear about the issues and campaign updates.

One of the problems I found with the Fox election website is the fact that all of the headlines have Obama's name in them. There is no diversity with the stories. It almost looks like Fox is a cheerleader for Obama right now. So where are the stories about McCain? Is Fox avoiding the Republican party?

Fox has almost gone to the other extreme and is now over-covering the Democratic race. Maybe they are trying to protect McCain and Palin from further scrutiny.

Fox News Channel: Plumbers, Debates and October Surprises (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:03:00 +0200

By Allison Herman
AH215206@ohio.edu

Holy Joe! Ohioan Joe the Plumber is everywhere this week after the final presidential debate brought his small business concerns to the national stage. I turned on Fox News several different times, and it seemed that if Joe Wurzelbacher wasn’t in the story, he was on various news shows doing interviews. I can’t decide whether or not his 15 minutes of fame are worthy or not. I like that he’s a regular guy, trying to build a business for himself and he’s voicing his concerns to the presidential candidates. I just don’t know if it’s being taken too far.

One think I liked about this week’s Fox News Channel election coverage was some surprisingly intelligent debate between Fox News anchors and correspondents. They were commenting on a remark Joe Biden made about Barack Obama facing major international issues early in his presidency. The correspondents were discussing whether or not Barack Obama would be ready to deal with foreign policy issues if he is elected in November. I felt like one was playing devil’s advocate, but regardless, the rhetoric showed both sides of the fence quite well.

To me, the most interesting bit of information on Fox this week was the anticipation of an October Surprise. There were countless teases saying that Colin Powell could drop the October Surprise if he came out saying he supported Barack Obama. Now that Colin Powell has come out supporting Barack Obama, I think it's interesting but I don’t know how much weight it will have as far as an October Surprise. Typically, endorsements don’t mean too much, and I don’t know if anyone on the fence will sway to the Democratic side because of what Powell says, or any Republicans who would have voted for McCain before the endorsement won’t anymore.

By Allison Herman
AH215206@ohio.edu

Holy Joe! Ohioan Joe the Plumber is everywhere this week after the final presidential debate brought his small business concerns to the national stage. I turned on Fox News several different times, and it seemed that if Joe Wurzelbacher wasn’t in the story, he was on various news shows doing interviews. I can’t decide whether or not his 15 minutes of fame are worthy or not. I like that he’s a regular guy, trying to build a business for himself and he’s voicing his concerns to the presidential candidates. I just don’t know if it’s being taken too far.

One think I liked about this week’s Fox News Channel election coverage was some surprisingly intelligent debate between Fox News anchors and correspondents. They were commenting on a remark Joe Biden made about Barack Obama facing major international issues early in his presidency. The correspondents were discussing whether or not Barack Obama would be ready to deal with foreign policy issues if he is elected in November. I felt like one was playing devil’s advocate, but regardless, the rhetoric showed both sides of the fence quite well.

To me, the most interesting bit of information on Fox this week was the anticipation of an October Surprise. There were countless teases saying that Colin Powell could drop the October Surprise if he came out saying he supported Barack Obama. Now that Colin Powell has come out supporting Barack Obama, I think it's interesting but I don’t know how much weight it will have as far as an October Surprise. Typically, endorsements don’t mean too much, and I don’t know if anyone on the fence will sway to the Democratic side because of what Powell says, or any Republicans who would have voted for McCain before the endorsement won’t anymore.

CNN.com: Joe the Plumber Makes the A List (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:30:00 +0200

by: Julie Hartz
jh101105@ohio.edu

Three words I never thought would bother me now make me want to throw a glass at any TV that blares them. "Joe the Plumber." Joe the Plumber has accomplished a lot in his life. He's obviously, a successful plumber, he's established himself as a world figure, and he almost made me smash a TV during the final presidential debate on Wednesday.

I understand the importance of politicians relating to 'normal people', but there IS such a thing as a dead horse. And beating it. And that is exactly what McCain and Obama did during the presidential debate.

You can watch the full video of Joe Wulzerbacher questioning Obama's tax policy here, which is what prompted the hot topic for the debate:

Well, looking into the infamous Joe, I decided to investigate some articles about him. I was surprised to find that he makes about $250,000 or more a year. CNN got a chance to talk to him about the debate and his huge role in it.

But what kind of effect has this phenomenon had on McCain and Obama's campaigns? It's actually brought a whole different interest and participation in voters. At campaign rallies across the nation, attendees are now going by "Rose the Teacher", "Phil the Bricklayer", and so on and so forth. by: Julie Hartz
jh101105@ohio.edu

Three words I never thought would bother me now make me want to throw a glass at any TV that blares them. "Joe the Plumber." Joe the Plumber has accomplished a lot in his life. He's obviously, a successful plumber, he's established himself as a world figure, and he almost made me smash a TV during the final presidential debate on Wednesday.

I understand the importance of politicians relating to 'normal people', but there IS such a thing as a dead horse. And beating it. And that is exactly what McCain and Obama did during the presidential debate.

You can watch the full video of Joe Wulzerbacher questioning Obama's tax policy here, which is what prompted the hot topic for the debate:

Well, looking into the infamous Joe, I decided to investigate some articles about him. I was surprised to find that he makes about $250,000 or more a year. CNN got a chance to talk to him about the debate and his huge role in it.

But what kind of effect has this phenomenon had on McCain and Obama's campaigns? It's actually brought a whole different interest and participation in voters. At campaign rallies across the nation, attendees are now going by "Rose the Teacher", "Phil the Bricklayer", and so on and so forth.

CNN-TV: Colin Powell did what?! (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:29:00 +0200

by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

Just in case you haven’t heard, Colin Powell is endorsing Barack Obama for president.

Last Sunday, the former Republican Secretary of State announced that he was supporting the Democratic candidate. Powell made his announcement to Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press over on the peacock network. Even though CNN didn’t get the big announcement, it was ready for post-game coverage.

Now, I understand that Powell’s announcement didn’t exactly come as a surprise. CNN Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger says the Obama camp has “courted” Powell for months, and there were Internet rumblings all last week. Still, as soon at Meet the Press was over, CNN was on the air with two hours of reaction and analysis. On Late Edition, Wolf Blitzer hosted two political figures: former New York City mayor and presidential hopeful for the GOP Rudy Giuliani and Congressman Artur Davis, a Democrat from Alabama. They were followed by a discussion panel made up of CNN political strategists.

This made me wonder, what if Powell hadn’t made the announcement? What if he endorsed McCain instead...or didn’t endorse anyone at all? Would they have still interviewed the same guests and just asked them different questions? Or did they have backup guests lined up to talk about the economy? Obviously, this raises a lot of questions about what it’s like to be a CNN producer; so much coordination is involved for even short segments. By any means, I was impressed by the immediacy of CNN’s coverage of the Colin Powell announcement.

So how big of an impact will Powell’s endorsement of Obama have on the election? Some political analysts say it could be substantial. Powell was classified as one of the “big gets” for the candidates. (The panel listed Al Gore and Ted Kennedy in the same category.) At a time when it’s all about undecided voters, CNN’s David Gergen says Powell gave a voice to moderate Republicans. For instance, Powell talked about how turned off he was by the Republicans dwelling on Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers. This might speak to moderates who are still undecided. While all of the CNN panelists agreed Powell could influence voters, Republican Strategist Leslie Sanchez points out that he's still only one person.

One person not pleased at all with Powell's endorsement is Stephen Colbert. Take a look:

What kind of impact (if any) do you think the Colin Powell endorsement will have?by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

Just in case you haven’t heard, Colin Powell is endorsing Barack Obama for president.

Last Sunday, the former Republican Secretary of State announced that he was supporting the Democratic candidate. Powell made his announcement to Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press over on the peacock network. Even though CNN didn’t get the big announcement, it was ready for post-game coverage.

Now, I understand that Powell’s announcement didn’t exactly come as a surprise. CNN Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger says the Obama camp has “courted” Powell for months, and there were Internet rumblings all last week. Still, as soon at Meet the Press was over, CNN was on the air with two hours of reaction and analysis. On Late Edition, Wolf Blitzer hosted two political figures: former New York City mayor and presidential hopeful for the GOP Rudy Giuliani and Congressman Artur Davis, a Democrat from Alabama. They were followed by a discussion panel made up of CNN political strategists.

This made me wonder, what if Powell hadn’t made the announcement? What if he endorsed McCain instead...or didn’t endorse anyone at all? Would they have still interviewed the same guests and just asked them different questions? Or did they have backup guests lined up to talk about the economy? Obviously, this raises a lot of questions about what it’s like to be a CNN producer; so much coordination is involved for even short segments. By any means, I was impressed by the immediacy of CNN’s coverage of the Colin Powell announcement.

So how big of an impact will Powell’s endorsement of Obama have on the election? Some political analysts say it could be substantial. Powell was classified as one of the “big gets” for the candidates. (The panel listed Al Gore and Ted Kennedy in the same category.) At a time when it’s all about undecided voters, CNN’s David Gergen says Powell gave a voice to moderate Republicans. For instance, Powell talked about how turned off he was by the Republicans dwelling on Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers. This might speak to moderates who are still undecided. While all of the CNN panelists agreed Powell could influence voters, Republican Strategist Leslie Sanchez points out that he's still only one person.

One person not pleased at all with Powell's endorsement is Stephen Colbert. Take a look:

What kind of impact (if any) do you think the Colin Powell endorsement will have?

Can Obama just ride it out? (CNN: Obama)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:50:00 +0200

Fifteen days until the election and Obama is still ahead in the polls, despite a narrowing lead. Does the Obama campaign have room to lie back and ride out the November election wave? With the importance of this election to so many people, I think Obama and his supporters would be smartest to campaign more diligently than ever in these last two weeks. Luckily for them, the Obama campaign agrees with me. CNN reported today that supporters are working as fervently as ever to secure an Obama win with phone calls and canvassing.

Political analysts and contributors on CNN refrain from making any predictions, and they often express an attitude that says anything can happen in the next two weeks.

On October 16 Bill Maher warned viewers of overconfidence on CNN's Larry King Live, saying,

"We should not become overconfident...I think what's sad is that apparently the only way we can elect a Democrat is if there's an absolute and utter calamity. And then people get it through their heads--Oh, you know what maybe this time we don't elect the guy we want to have a beer with. We have to get serious. We may even have to, God forbid, vote for the black guy."

Maher goes on to explain the opposite of the Bradley Effect, or the Reverse Bradley Effect. Normally, the Bradley effect says that people don't want to appear racist, and so they don't say they won't vote for Obama. But the Reverse Bradley Effect is said to occur when people who are ashamed to admit they are voting for an African American but behind closed doors actually are voting for that person. Maher uses the example of racists who realize Obama has better policies, and suggests that this will bring an advantage to Obama on November 4.

Whether the Obama campaign can rely on the Reverse Bradley Effect or not, CNN is definitely getting brownie points from Obama supporters this week for positive coverage.

On October 16, McCain and Obama's speeches at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner showed the lighter side of the campaign trail. Both made comedic speeches mainly taking jabs at themselves and sometimes each other. The coverage showed both candidates in a personable, more favorable light than the recent attack ads have shown.

To further Obama's positive coverage, Colin Powell endorsed Obama on Sunday, which CNN analysts say will serve as a catalyst for increasing Obama support from independent and undecided voters. Wolf Blitzer even added that Powell's endorsement confirms Obama's "innate ability to be commander-in-chief."

It may seem like the poll margin is crunching, but CNN seems to be providing more positive coverage as the campaign trail comes racing to an end. Is the Obama campaign happy with the coverage? I'm not sure, but if I were David Plouffe I'd be pretty satisfied. Not only are the campaign messages getting out, but CNN is pushing other positive, ancillary messages through the tube, for the left wing's viewing pleausure.Fifteen days until the election and Obama is still ahead in the polls, despite a narrowing lead. Does the Obama campaign have room to lie back and ride out the November election wave? With the importance of this election to so many people, I think Obama and his supporters would be smartest to campaign more diligently than ever in these last two weeks. Luckily for them, the Obama campaign agrees with me. CNN reported today that supporters are working as fervently as ever to secure an Obama win with phone calls and canvassing.

Political analysts and contributors on CNN refrain from making any predictions, and they often express an attitude that says anything can happen in the next two weeks.

On October 16 Bill Maher warned viewers of overconfidence on CNN's Larry King Live, saying,

"We should not become overconfident...I think what's sad is that apparently the only way we can elect a Democrat is if there's an absolute and utter calamity. And then people get it through their heads--Oh, you know what maybe this time we don't elect the guy we want to have a beer with. We have to get serious. We may even have to, God forbid, vote for the black guy."

Maher goes on to explain the opposite of the Bradley Effect, or the Reverse Bradley Effect. Normally, the Bradley effect says that people don't want to appear racist, and so they don't say they won't vote for Obama. But the Reverse Bradley Effect is said to occur when people who are ashamed to admit they are voting for an African American but behind closed doors actually are voting for that person. Maher uses the example of racists who realize Obama has better policies, and suggests that this will bring an advantage to Obama on November 4.

Whether the Obama campaign can rely on the Reverse Bradley Effect or not, CNN is definitely getting brownie points from Obama supporters this week for positive coverage.

On October 16, McCain and Obama's speeches at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner showed the lighter side of the campaign trail. Both made comedic speeches mainly taking jabs at themselves and sometimes each other. The coverage showed both candidates in a personable, more favorable light than the recent attack ads have shown.

To further Obama's positive coverage, Colin Powell endorsed Obama on Sunday, which CNN analysts say will serve as a catalyst for increasing Obama support from independent and undecided voters. Wolf Blitzer even added that Powell's endorsement confirms Obama's "innate ability to be commander-in-chief."

It may seem like the poll margin is crunching, but CNN seems to be providing more positive coverage as the campaign trail comes racing to an end. Is the Obama campaign happy with the coverage? I'm not sure, but if I were David Plouffe I'd be pretty satisfied. Not only are the campaign messages getting out, but CNN is pushing other positive, ancillary messages through the tube, for the left wing's viewing pleausure.

CBSNews.com: A Few Small October Surprises (Election '08: TV)

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:38:00 +0200

by Cristina Mutchler
cm306704@ohio.edu

Colin Powell Endorsing...Obama?
A surprise for many, former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced over the weekend that he is endorsing Democrat Barack Obama for president. Although Powell said that Obama and his competitor John McCain are both qualified to become the leader of our nation, he thinks that Obama is better suited to handle the current economic problems as well as our standing internationally. Powell described Obama as a "transformational figure" and said that we need a president who represents generational change. Next, Obama announced that Colin Powell will play a large role as a presidential advisor in his administration. The surprises just keep coming!

Middle Class McCain
Also over the weekend, Republican John McCain cast himself as the "guardian of middle-class workers and small-business owners who fuel the economy." During a rally at Otterbein College here in our home state, McCain said that he won't raise taxes on small businesses, unlike his opponent Barack Obama.

McCain went from the Columbus area to Toledo, near "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher's Holland home, and even mentioned him at the rallies after the plumber was taped questioning Obama's tax plan in regards to his two-man plumbing shop. McCain also got creative with names, saying that he was campaigning "on behalf of Joe the Plumber and Rose the Teacher and Phil the Bricklayer and Wendy the Waitress."

On another interesting note, while in Ohio McCain also held a conference call with Jewish leaders and was endorsed by The Columbus Dispatch.

Voter Mix Ups
A Washington Post story on the CBSNews.com website talked about the thousands of U.S. voters across the country that are required to now establish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order to be able to vote on November 4th. This mix-up was a result of new state registration systems that are rejecting the voters' eligibility by fluke. States are using new systems that are switching from locally managed lists to state-wide lists.

The result? A bunch of lawsuits, and arguments among Democratic/Republican state officials, including here in Ohio. All of this is just adding to confusion on Election Day, with no way of knowing how many voters are affected by this issue nationwide.

by Cristina Mutchler
cm306704@ohio.edu

Colin Powell Endorsing...Obama?
A surprise for many, former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced over the weekend that he is endorsing Democrat Barack Obama for president. Although Powell said that Obama and his competitor John McCain are both qualified to become the leader of our nation, he thinks that Obama is better suited to handle the current economic problems as well as our standing internationally. Powell described Obama as a "transformational figure" and said that we need a president who represents generational change. Next, Obama announced that Colin Powell will play a large role as a presidential advisor in his administration. The surprises just keep coming!

Middle Class McCain
Also over the weekend, Republican John McCain cast himself as the "guardian of middle-class workers and small-business owners who fuel the economy." During a rally at Otterbein College here in our home state, McCain said that he won't raise taxes on small businesses, unlike his opponent Barack Obama.

McCain went from the Columbus area to Toledo, near "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher's Holland home, and even mentioned him at the rallies after the plumber was taped questioning Obama's tax plan in regards to his two-man plumbing shop. McCain also got creative with names, saying that he was campaigning "on behalf of Joe the Plumber and Rose the Teacher and Phil the Bricklayer and Wendy the Waitress."

On another interesting note, while in Ohio McCain also held a conference call with Jewish leaders and was endorsed by The Columbus Dispatch.

Voter Mix Ups
A Washington Post story on the CBSNews.com website talked about the thousands of U.S. voters across the country that are required to now establish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order to be able to vote on November 4th. This mix-up was a result of new state registration systems that are rejecting the voters' eligibility by fluke. States are using new systems that are switching from locally managed lists to state-wide lists.

The result? A bunch of lawsuits, and arguments among Democratic/Republican state officials, including here in Ohio. All of this is just adding to confusion on Election Day, with no way of knowing how many voters are affected by this issue nationwide.

MSNBC.com: Endorsements and Underdogs (Election '08: TV)

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:56:00 +0200

Jaime Baker
jb220705@ohio.edu

This past week, MSNBC.com was all over Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama. Powell was secretary of state for George W. Bush, and a member of the Republican party. A major thought was that Powell was endorsing Obama because of his race, but Powell has denied it. It seems as though choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate was the final nail in the coffin for John McCain, according to Powell. Powell says his decision raises questions about McCain's judgment.

Another good part of last week for Obama was the announcement of the money raised for his campaign last month. Obama raked in over $150 million, which absolutely shatters records. Average donations were around $86. When put in context of just how bad the economy is, it's an even bigger deal. The money has shown that he has secured a foothold in many states that have not voted Democratic in the past.

John McCain, on the other hand, is busy playing the underdog--literally. McCain is casting himself as a middle-class guardian and at the same time taking over the role of underdog in the presidential race. Americans tend to root for the underdog, so McCain is trying to play it up to see if it will help get more votes.

McCain is also reeling a bit from comments Powell made about his judgments and decisions. Choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate seems to be something that has turned sour for McCain. McCain now also needs to defend his party and supporters, because Powell seems to be pushing that McCain is allowing people to make derogatory comments about Obama and his race. It sounds like McCain may have some serious work to do.

Smiling Through the Mockery
Sarah Palin finally made an in-the-flesh appearance on Saturday Night Live this past week. NBC scored it's highest ratings for late-night in 14 years. But Chevy Chase, who is one of the biggest names of SNL, said he thought Palin coming on was a terrible decision. He said people are totally unimpressed with Palin. Sounds like Palin just can't win.

Jaime Baker
jb220705@ohio.edu

This past week, MSNBC.com was all over Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama. Powell was secretary of state for George W. Bush, and a member of the Republican party. A major thought was that Powell was endorsing Obama because of his race, but Powell has denied it. It seems as though choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate was the final nail in the coffin for John McCain, according to Powell. Powell says his decision raises questions about McCain's judgment.

Another good part of last week for Obama was the announcement of the money raised for his campaign last month. Obama raked in over $150 million, which absolutely shatters records. Average donations were around $86. When put in context of just how bad the economy is, it's an even bigger deal. The money has shown that he has secured a foothold in many states that have not voted Democratic in the past.

John McCain, on the other hand, is busy playing the underdog--literally. McCain is casting himself as a middle-class guardian and at the same time taking over the role of underdog in the presidential race. Americans tend to root for the underdog, so McCain is trying to play it up to see if it will help get more votes.

McCain is also reeling a bit from comments Powell made about his judgments and decisions. Choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate seems to be something that has turned sour for McCain. McCain now also needs to defend his party and supporters, because Powell seems to be pushing that McCain is allowing people to make derogatory comments about Obama and his race. It sounds like McCain may have some serious work to do.

Smiling Through the Mockery
Sarah Palin finally made an in-the-flesh appearance on Saturday Night Live this past week. NBC scored it's highest ratings for late-night in 14 years. But Chevy Chase, who is one of the biggest names of SNL, said he thought Palin coming on was a terrible decision. He said people are totally unimpressed with Palin. Sounds like Palin just can't win.

McCain Campaign: The Student Factor (Election 2008)

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:18:00 +0200

Jessica Demczar
jdemczar@gmail.com

The youth vote has been a big focus of the Obama Campaign throughout this campaigning season. It seems like the McCain campaign hasn't focused on getting the youth vote out nearly as much as the Obama campaign, but I spoke with the head of the College Republicans for the state of Ohio about how much they do to promote the youth republican vote in the state. He spoke about all the chapters around the state and how much they do to get the vote out and draft volunteers.

I also spoke with the Athens County Victory Director for the McCain Campaign about how a small town like Athens stays connected with the campaign.

It's interesting to talk with some of the smaller outlets of the campaign. To make the big, national campaign come together, it really is all about the small town Republican organizations working hard to get the vote out. John McCain doesn't have time to come to every small town in America, so he really has to depend on the headquarters in Columbus to spread the word to the smaller town headquarters throughout the state.

Though I was unfortunately not able to talk with any students, I was happy that I was able to talk with someone from Athens, who could give me the perspective of a small town organization trying to keep up with a national campaign.Jessica Demczar
jdemczar@gmail.com

The youth vote has been a big focus of the Obama Campaign throughout this campaigning season. It seems like the McCain campaign hasn't focused on getting the youth vote out nearly as much as the Obama campaign, but I spoke with the head of the College Republicans for the state of Ohio about how much they do to promote the youth republican vote in the state. He spoke about all the chapters around the state and how much they do to get the vote out and draft volunteers.

I also spoke with the Athens County Victory Director for the McCain Campaign about how a small town like Athens stays connected with the campaign.

It's interesting to talk with some of the smaller outlets of the campaign. To make the big, national campaign come together, it really is all about the small town Republican organizations working hard to get the vote out. John McCain doesn't have time to come to every small town in America, so he really has to depend on the headquarters in Columbus to spread the word to the smaller town headquarters throughout the state.

Though I was unfortunately not able to talk with any students, I was happy that I was able to talk with someone from Athens, who could give me the perspective of a small town organization trying to keep up with a national campaign.

Joe the plumber, McCain isn’t Bush but an underdog… McCain’s week in a nutshell (NBC John McCain Blog)

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:03:00 +0200

This week, John McCain’s message strayed slightly from relying on attacks on Barack Obama and leaned toward a more voter friendly approach: personalizing the economy by relating it to people named Joe.

The strategy, considered a success by many, kept McCain away from bad press regarding his incessant attacks and allowed him to relate to his target audience- the middle class. The following clip outlines McCain’s strategy.

NBC picked up on McCain’s strategy and provided him with much more positive coverage than the 2 weeks prior. He finally was given a chance to get his message out to the NBC viewers. His main messages, Joe the plumber, that he is not Bush and his image as the underdog.

Palin even received more love from NBC, being invited to guest appear on SNL. It was a type of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” in the mockery of Palin. Her appearance further personalized her image, this time in a more friendly light.

Another positive piece was done on Palin regarding her status with families of special needs children. NBC gave time to covering the softer side of the mother. The McCain camp wants to focus on her motherly nature and her work for special needs children and NBC helped them with that.

Of course there were some negative aspects of the campaign covered this week, including a piece about the “first dude,” Todd Palin. Attention was given to the scandal in Alaska where Todd is being accused of having too much influence on government affairs. He had been traveling at the expense of the state and meeting with special interests, essentially acting as a lobbyist. The piece, although not a complete plus for the campaign, did give Todd a break by ending the clip comparing him to the influential VP wives such as Lynda Bird Johnson.

McCain’s strategy, taking advantage of his underdog status, also picked up attention from the network. In nearly every clip featuring McCain, he is seen commenting on his plan to rise from his underdog image. This message is extremely important to be received by the media because it will call any McCain voters to action by declaring the necessity of their votes.

So with all the attention given to Joe the plumber, did McCain’s tactic work? I would say, YES! The fact is the idea got him coverage… much better coverage then last week’s strategy of excessive attacks against Obama. The “Joe the plumber” message did several things for McCain. First, it called out to an audience that McCain desperately needs to reach to win. Secondly, put a face to the economy, which makes it easier for many to comprehend. Many people see themselves in Joe the plumber, but not in the name “Wall Street,” which had currently been the main frame of the economy in the election. Thirdly, it got the media to continuously replay Joe the plumber’s interaction with Obama, when he told Obama his tax plan would hurt him. Essentially, Joe the plumber worked for McCain!

McCain had a much better week in the world of NBC news coverage this week. His messages were clear and all were covered accurately. Despite McCain’s prior stubborn stance on remaining on his path of attacking, I believe he figured out that with so much negativity, it is tough to gain anything but negative coverage. Perhaps the McCain camp will learn a lesson that being positive and keeping with solid, relatable messages seems to work much better than attacks!

Players or Politicians? (Fox: Obama)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:32:00 +0200

15 Joes for McCain. 5 for Obama. That summed up the debate in a nutshell, as FOX news reported just moments after the third and final presidential debate between candidates McCain and Obama. Kind of like, well, a final score.

Other FOX News contributors discussed different analogies, one of my favorites being the tennis match one. According to the contributor, McCain looked as if he were running all over the court while Obama was smoothly knocking em' back on the opposing side. Yet another contributor compared the debate to "an old heavyweight title fight": McCain appeared to come out strong, but he lost it through and through as Obama "hung in there."

Did I, at some point during the debate, flip to ESPN?

No, perhaps not. But I don't think the Obama campaign would have had a problem with the sports-like coverage. Obama as a Serena Williams or a Muhammad Ali on the political scene isn't an image that would hurt just mere weeks before the election. In Wednesday night's horse race, Obama took the reins, which is a comfortable position to be in during the countdown to Nov. 4.

However, while Obama was clearly the dominant fighter, FOX also reported that there was "no knock out punch," in other words, no huge winner. In a FOX focus group depicting a room of 23 voters, none of which supported Obama at the start of the debate, said they were still voting for McCain although they thought Obama was the clear winner of the debate. The great irony? Frank Luntz was leading the focus group.

And while McCain obviously wasn't as eloquent, one of the FOX news contributors had to highlight one of his so-called sharpest moments, which was when McCain turned to Obama and said, "I'm not President Bush." It's no surprise there that the majority of the same viewers responded favorably to that question.

Also noteworthy was the question regarding the vice presidential candidate picks. According to FOX News, Obama handled himself well. Obama didn't bash Sarah Palin, but McCain didn't play her up either. Again, another point for the Obama strategists.

Did I, at some point during the debate, flip to ESPN?

MSNBC.com: Economic Plans and Picture Perfect Lives (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:11:00 +0200

Jaime Baker
jb220705@ohio.edu

The last two days have produced big announcements of economic plans for the presidential candidates. Monday, Barack Obama proposed putting house foreclosures on hold and giving tax breaks to businesses to help creat jobs. These new proposals included a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures by some banks, a $3,000 tax credit for each new job created, and a plan to let voters withdraw without tax penalties up to a maximum of $10,000, from their retirement savings plans through the end of next year.

John McCain fired back on Tuesday with his own plan. McCain set out a $52.5 billion plan to help the economy. He called for the elimination of taxes on unemployment benefits, lowering what the government takes from seniors as they draw on retirement accounts and accelerating tax deductions for people forced to sell assets at a loss in the troubled market. McCain also said that if he is elected president, he would make sure the Treasury Department guarantees 100 percent of all savings over the next 6 months.

Candidates Lives in Pictures
One of my favorite new parts of MSNBC's website in their section that includes pictures of the candidates throughout their lives. Barack Obama's photos were more focused around his childhood and his family life. John McCain's photos had very few family pictures, but a lot of pictures from his time in the military.

I found this very interesting, because Obama has made a very big point of putting his family in the limelight to show how family-oriented he is. But McCain has used a lot of his military past as an argument as to why he should be elected. These pictures match almost perfectly to some of the campaigning tactics they've been using.Jaime Baker
jb220705@ohio.edu

The last two days have produced big announcements of economic plans for the presidential candidates. Monday, Barack Obama proposed putting house foreclosures on hold and giving tax breaks to businesses to help creat jobs. These new proposals included a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures by some banks, a $3,000 tax credit for each new job created, and a plan to let voters withdraw without tax penalties up to a maximum of $10,000, from their retirement savings plans through the end of next year.

John McCain fired back on Tuesday with his own plan. McCain set out a $52.5 billion plan to help the economy. He called for the elimination of taxes on unemployment benefits, lowering what the government takes from seniors as they draw on retirement accounts and accelerating tax deductions for people forced to sell assets at a loss in the troubled market. McCain also said that if he is elected president, he would make sure the Treasury Department guarantees 100 percent of all savings over the next 6 months.

Candidates Lives in Pictures
One of my favorite new parts of MSNBC's website in their section that includes pictures of the candidates throughout their lives. Barack Obama's photos were more focused around his childhood and his family life. John McCain's photos had very few family pictures, but a lot of pictures from his time in the military.

I found this very interesting, because Obama has made a very big point of putting his family in the limelight to show how family-oriented he is. But McCain has used a lot of his military past as an argument as to why he should be elected. These pictures match almost perfectly to some of the campaigning tactics they've been using.

ABC - TV: Too Much Negativity, What Happened to Campaigning? (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:04:00 +0200

Monique Ozanne
meozanne@gmail.com

Post debate results showed Presidential nominee Barack Obama pulling head of Republican nominee John McCain. Despite these results, and the McCain Campaign knowing they needed to change up their tactics, Obama still prevailed in last week's debate.

Over the weekend however, a different story surfaced. Both campaigns have spent most of the past week campaigning all over Ohio, but the McCain campaign has shown a change in direction in their campaign. Outside of rallies in the past week there have been several reports about opposition for Obama displayed in a more racist style. In response to these and the other negative campaign ads, polls are showing that this approach may be backfiring against the campaign. Traditional Republican states such as North Carolina, where ABC was last night, are showing that Obama is pulling ahead in the race.

ABC news highlighted that the McCain campaign has gone off track and McCain seems more concerned with attacking Obama then campaigning.

Here is an example of the type of advertisements McCain's campaign has been putting out.

In contrast, Obama's advertisements have been covering his campaigning and how he plans on dealing with major issues.

Continuing 50 States in 50 Days
Among the coverage last night in North Carolina, ABC seems to be getting a little obsessed with polls. I have found that news outlets find polls a safe way to be able to make predictions and keep the topics and debates lively and entertaining. Not that the polls may not be true, but a lot of the election packages that ABC is producing are packied with full screen graphics displaying polling results. Their polls show a 26%-59% ratio of campaign ads that are attack ads between Obama and McCain. They also show a 2:1 ratio that the economy is a winning issue for Obama compared to McCain.

What will be most interesting in these final weeks is what the outcome of the final debate will be, and which states the candidates will focus on other than Ohio. We have discussed, and I have read and heard a lot about the anticipation of an October surprise.Monique Ozanne
meozanne@gmail.com

Post debate results showed Presidential nominee Barack Obama pulling head of Republican nominee John McCain. Despite these results, and the McCain Campaign knowing they needed to change up their tactics, Obama still prevailed in last week's debate.

Over the weekend however, a different story surfaced. Both campaigns have spent most of the past week campaigning all over Ohio, but the McCain campaign has shown a change in direction in their campaign. Outside of rallies in the past week there have been several reports about opposition for Obama displayed in a more racist style. In response to these and the other negative campaign ads, polls are showing that this approach may be backfiring against the campaign. Traditional Republican states such as North Carolina, where ABC was last night, are showing that Obama is pulling ahead in the race.

ABC news highlighted that the McCain campaign has gone off track and McCain seems more concerned with attacking Obama then campaigning.

Here is an example of the type of advertisements McCain's campaign has been putting out.

In contrast, Obama's advertisements have been covering his campaigning and how he plans on dealing with major issues.

Continuing 50 States in 50 Days
Among the coverage last night in North Carolina, ABC seems to be getting a little obsessed with polls. I have found that news outlets find polls a safe way to be able to make predictions and keep the topics and debates lively and entertaining. Not that the polls may not be true, but a lot of the election packages that ABC is producing are packied with full screen graphics displaying polling results. Their polls show a 26%-59% ratio of campaign ads that are attack ads between Obama and McCain. They also show a 2:1 ratio that the economy is a winning issue for Obama compared to McCain.

What will be most interesting in these final weeks is what the outcome of the final debate will be, and which states the candidates will focus on other than Ohio. We have discussed, and I have read and heard a lot about the anticipation of an October surprise.

CNN-TV: "Race in this Race" (Election '08: TV)

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:07:00 +0200

by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

It’s the elephant in the room: the issue of race in the presidential election. Personally, I thought race would be a bigger issue in the media than it has been, especially for the 24-hour cable channels. However, I’ve been following CNN’s election coverage for more than a month now and haven’t seen much of a focus on race...until last weekend.

Last Sunday, CNN devoted several prime time slots to the issue of race. However, it was the race of the voters- not the candidates- that was the topic of discussion. Anchor Don Lemon did a live phone interview with radio host James Harris: an African-American man who supports John McCain. After Harris was made famous for a comment at a McCain rally, he said the hate mail started pouring in.

WWatch as Harris addresses McCain at a rally in Wisconsin.

I need to applaud Don Lemon, who is also
African-American, for how he handled the interview. He asked Harris the question, “What do you say to people who say, ‘What have Republicans done for black people?’” This caused Harris to erupt in an angry outburst, yelling, “Well, what have Democrats done for black people?!” Lemon kept his cool and simply responded that he would have to refer Harris’s question to a CNN political analyst. I was impressed by Lemon’s ability to keep his cool during a tense situation on live television (even if he had wanted to add his two cents.)

So how big of a role will race actually play in the election? A CNN poll from last month suggests that it could be pretty substantial. Here are the findings:

Barack Obama would receive six more percentage points of support if prejudice were not an issue.

A small group of Democrats polled (2.5%) say they may turn away from Obama because of his race.

Of the 8% of Democrats surveyed who are voting for McCain, half say race was a factor in making their decision.

The poll was conducted partly online in hopes people would be most honest about their attitudes about race. Still, the article points out that it’s difficult to quantify and trust these numbers. As we discussed in class, we’ll have to wait and see if those people who “just can’t vote for a black man” vote for McCain...or just stay home on Election Day.by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

It’s the elephant in the room: the issue of race in the presidential election. Personally, I thought race would be a bigger issue in the media than it has been, especially for the 24-hour cable channels. However, I’ve been following CNN’s election coverage for more than a month now and haven’t seen much of a focus on race...until last weekend.

Last Sunday, CNN devoted several prime time slots to the issue of race. However, it was the race of the voters- not the candidates- that was the topic of discussion. Anchor Don Lemon did a live phone interview with radio host James Harris: an African-American man who supports John McCain. After Harris was made famous for a comment at a McCain rally, he said the hate mail started pouring in.

WWatch as Harris addresses McCain at a rally in Wisconsin.

I need to applaud Don Lemon, who is also
African-American, for how he handled the interview. He asked Harris the question, “What do you say to people who say, ‘What have Republicans done for black people?’” This caused Harris to erupt in an angry outburst, yelling, “Well, what have Democrats done for black people?!” Lemon kept his cool and simply responded that he would have to refer Harris’s question to a CNN political analyst. I was impressed by Lemon’s ability to keep his cool during a tense situation on live television (even if he had wanted to add his two cents.)

So how big of a role will race actually play in the election? A CNN poll from last month suggests that it could be pretty substantial. Here are the findings:

Barack Obama would receive six more percentage points of support if prejudice were not an issue.

A small group of Democrats polled (2.5%) say they may turn away from Obama because of his race.

Of the 8% of Democrats surveyed who are voting for McCain, half say race was a factor in making their decision.