That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Many commentators have mistaken the name Barack Obama with Osama bin Laden, but this gaffe by Dan Rather is one of the more bizarre I have seen (via The Daily Dish)...
Gay Marriage: A new Field Polls shows 51% of Californians opposed to a ban on gay marriage, and just 42% in favor of it. The campaigns have not really started, but it is not a good sign for an initiative to start out with such dismal numbers. (via Towleroad.) "Batman" Bounce: Sellout crowds expected for the premiere of "The Dark Knight" this weekend will be treated to a cameo: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). From the Chicago Tribune's The Swamp:
"Leahy, who as has been widely reported, is a huge
Batman fan, has a cameo role as a brave older gentleman who confronts
the Joker after the evildoer crashes a swank party.
"Reaching deep inside himself, and perhaps doing a little method
acting to channel the feelings he has had over the years for President
Bush and Vice President Cheney, Leahy doesn't really seem to be acting.
He displays the same gruff manner that can often be observed on the
Senate floor or in Senate Judiciary Committee which he chairs."
Franken Help:Eric Schultz, an adviser to John Edwards' campaign, is heading north to Minnesota to try to boost Al Franken's Senate race, per the Fix. Meanwhile, independent Dean Barkley has launched a new Website, Senatorbarkley.com. He served in Washington for several months in 2002, filling the rest of Paul Wellstone's term.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
It's been a very busy morning here, so posting is a bit light...
Al Gore gave what was billed as a major new speech on the climate crisis. "Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years."
Gathered for the speech the D.C. crowd: will.i.am and Libertarian candidate for president Bob Barr.
More details from the arrest of the actors in Oliver Stone's "W."
Sumner Redstonefaces deposition in Dan Rather's suit against CBS.
On the Emmy front, "Recount" gets multiple nominations for Kevin Spacey, Tom Wilkinson, Dennis Leary, Bob Balaban and, of course, Laura Dern (who played Katherine Harris). Director Jay Roach and writer Danny Strong also are nominated, as is the TV movie itself.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Late night comics are having trouble coming up with anything funny to say about Barack Obama, and it's not just the furor over the New Yorker satiric cover that has them worried about laughs.
Bill Carter writes in the New York Times, "Jokes have been made about what Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton really thought about Mr. Obama during the primaries, and about the vulgar comments the Rev. Jesse Jackson made about him last week. But anything approaching a joke about Mr. Obama himself has fallen flat.
"When Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” recently tried to joke about Mr. Obama changing his position on campaign financing, for instance, he met with such obvious resistance from the audience, he said, “You know, you’re allowed to laugh at him.” Mr. Stewart said in a telephone interview on Monday, “People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them.”"
“We’re carrion birds,” Stewart says. “We’re sitting up there saying ‘Does he seem weak? Is he dehydrated yet? Let’s attack.’ ”
Something tells me they will get their moment, as the candidate moves into general election mode. Rove Rules: At the Television Critics Assn. Tour in Beverly Hills, former White House aide Karl Rove said that he "has not been personally subpeonaed by Congress," reports Variety's Daniel Frankel, and then cited executive privilege as a reason for not testifying before a congressional committee.
"It's not between me and Congress. I've not asserted any personal privilege. This is between the White House and Congress," Rove said.
The issue centers on "the ability of the president to receive advice from senior advisers and for those senior advisers not to be at the beck-and-call of Congress for testimony," Rove said.
Rove may be held in contempt of Congress as the chairman of a House subcommittee has taken the first steps toward finding him in violation of a committee's order.
Rove also defended his relationship with Fox News and his relationships with advisors to the campaign of John McCain. Huff Stuff: Arianna Huffington offers more criticism of Obama's recent moves. "My problem isn't that Barack Obama doesn't always agree with me. My problem is that Barack Obama has started to not always agree with himself -- falling prey instead to the Conventional Wisdom sirens."
She calls on Obama to get more sleep to get in touch with his inner compass, and challenges the media's portrayal of Obama's moves as a right vs. left issue.
"Not everyone is approaching everything in this campaign from a right vs left perspective. Stop trying to force everything into that tired old way of looking at American politics."
Remnick's Response: New Yorker editor David Remnick "likened what the magazine has done to what "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" do every weeknight on television," reports Variety's William Triplett. Triplett adds, "He said the point of the cover was to satirize the many right-wing rumors and innuendoes that have spread virally about the Democratic candidate."
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
It's safe to say that most of those who will get the next issue of the New Yorker in their mailboxes will end up voting for Barack Obama anyway. That's why it's hard to get too worked up over their latest cover, which features the candidate in head dress, his wife in the garb of a militant and a flag burning in the fireplace of the Oval Office.
It's a satire on all of the rumormongering that surrounds the Obama campaign. And while it surely looks like something that would be cooked up by the National Review, the fact that it has drawn such a rebuke from the campaign and that of John McCain's team speaks to the perils of any kind of humor at this point in the cycle, whether you are the candidate, a surrogate or just an observer.
Sure, to see it is to immediately wonder if it is of questionable taste, but that usually is what all satire is. I give the whole hubbub just a few more hours, after which much will be quickly forgotten.
Obama Auction: Given his track record, Shepard Fairey is one artist who easily could have satirized Obama in one of his renegade images, but instead the Obama supporters created the ubiquitous Obama "Hope" poster. He's donated one of three fine art versions of the poster to Art for Life, which benefits Russell Simmons' Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. The first phase of an online auction ends Tuesday at noon.
Money Raised: Obama collected about $1.2 million at a Newport Beach fund-raiser on Sunday night, with Lou Gossett, L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti and NASCAR racer Tim Woods II in attendance. Another fund-raiser in San Diego also collected more than $1 million for the candidate.
More on "Access": The New York Times' David Carr weighs in on the propriety of Obama having his two daughters in on the "Access Hollywood" interview.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
It may be hard to stop a "Hulk" villain from chomping on a cigar, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, known to light up himself in his famous Sacramento stogie tent, has found a way to wag a finger at it. At least when youth are watching.
He'll announce a state health plan this morning in which five Hollywood studios will begin putting state-produced anti-smoking PSAs before non-R-rated DVDs, starting with Sony's release of "21" on July 22. The sixth major studio, Fox, has its own PSAs in the works and word is that they will sign on to the state plan, too.
Will it be enough to mollify critics? Members of the American Medical Assn. Alliance in particular have been highly critical of depictions of smoking in summer tentpoles --- which are driven by teen audiences --- and are calling for automatic R ratings for gratuitous depictions of smoking in movies.
But such a stringent mandate doesn't sit too well when viewed against creative freedom, in particular when smoking is used in an historical context. (Think "Good Night, and Good Luck.") The MPAA now takes smoking into consideration when weighing ratings, but it does not commit to an automatic "R" rating for flagrant puffing up.
Hypocrisy alert: I have had a cigar or two in my day, and I admit that I must have looked a bit ridiculous.
More Bundlers: Prodded by the New York Times, the Obama campaign released the updated list of campaign bundlers. Among those industry names disclosed on Thursday: Jamie Denenberg, Rob Friedman, Irena and Mike Medavoy, Kelly Meyer, Eric Paquette, Paula Weinstein, Anna Wintour and John Emerson, the latter of whom was a Hillary Clinton bundler for her run. No word yet on McCain updating his list.
In the Works: Sarah Jessica Parker is doing a pilot for HBO called "Washingtonienne," based on the novel by D.C. blogger Jessica Cutler.
Obama in the O.C.: He raises money at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach --- a Republican stronghold. But Orange County is losing its rep as a right wing bastion.
Redford on '08: Robert Redford outlines the stakes: "You can kiss the Democratic party goodbye" if Obama loses.
"I think Obama is not tall on experience . . . but I believe he's a really good person. He's smart. And he does represent what the country needs most now, which is change.
"I hope he'll win. I think he will. If he doesn't, you can kiss the Democratic Party goodbye. I think we need new voices, new blood. We need to get a whole group out, get a new group in."
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Barack Obama says that he now regrets the decision to allow his children to appear on "Access Hollywood," even though he and wife Michelle had pledged to keep their kids out of the spotlight.
"It was an exception, it was Malia's birthday, we were in Montana, everybody was having a good time," he told "Good Morning America." "I think we got carried away a little bit. Generally what makes them so charming is the fact that they're not spending a lot of time worrying about TV cameras or politics and we want to keep it that way."
He said the interview gave "a little bit of pause, Michelle and I, particularly given the way it sort of went around the cable stations. I don't think it's healthy and it's something that we'll be avoiding in the future."
Barack and Hillary: Obama and Hillary Clinton raise money in New York City tonight at the Grand Hyatt. The word is that one of Clinton's top fund-raisers, Haim Saban, has had conversations with Obama, but he has yet to publicly declare for the candidate.
No Elephant Hunt: TV One, the cabler aimed at African American viewers, will cover the Democratic convention but not the GOP gathering. Network chief Johnathan Rodgers told the AP: "We are not a news organization. We are a television network that is designed to celebrate African-American achievement. That is why we are covering this convention. If Hillary (Clinton) was the nominee, we would not be covering this year's Democratic convention."
I'm pleased to announce the debut on Wednesday of a new feature --- "Wilshire & Washington" on the radio.
I'm be hosting a half-hour BlogTalkRadio show on politics, entertainment and new media along with my co-hosts, Maegan Carberry and Teresa Valdez Klein, two bloggers on the left and the right (and sometimes right in the center).
The program will go live at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and will be available on the BlogTalkRadio reader on the right side of the screen.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
A few quick notes this morning...
The candidates' affinity for entertainment news shows has spilled over into the general election with the appearance of Barack Obama and his family on "Access Hollywood." It wasn't exactly a grilling. “I’m baffled by this whole thing myself, because I hate to shop,” Obama said on the show. He was answering a question from Maria Menounos about his status as a fashion icon.
ABC News reports, "The Obamas have largely shielded their daughters from the national media spotlight to-date and the campaign said the girls were eager to talk to entertainment reporter Maria Menounos and her boyfriend because she had recently interviewed the Jonas Brothers, a teen pop band.
"The Obama campaign said they became so comfortable that they decided to join the interview, which the Obama campaign characterizes as a whim."
No Go: Mike Murphy, the political strategist-turned-producer, will not be joining the McCain campaign, and instead is said to be looking at a gig at NBC News.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
During my weeklong visit to Minneapolis, I wasn't paying much attention to the brewing war between Fox News and the New York Times until columnist David Carr took the Ailes team to task in today's paper. Carr castigates the relentless push back from the Fox News PR department for anything that suggests the news channel is losing its status as numero uno cable news network. I myself have been on the receiving end of some of this, when a flack hounded me for not seeing the news value in a piece on Chris Wallace's anniversary on "Fox News Sunday."
But what Carr rightly points out as egregious is a segment that aired on "Fox & Friends" a week ago, in which host Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade took aim at NYT's Jacques Steinberg's "attack" reporting on the network. They were referring to an article that talked about CNN's election year gains in the ratings, charged that Steinberg's editor, Steve Reddicliffe, essentially sent Steinberg out as an "attack dog" to write the story because of his own grudge against News Corp. Reddicliffe is the former editor in chief of TV Guide, and left the company in 2002.
While that charge is as ridiculous as a "terrorist fist jab" --- just about every media reporter has covered the election year ratings flux --- the ethically challenged part is "Fox & Friends"'s doctoring of photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe, uncovered by media watchdog site Media Matters for America, to make them look more sinister. According to Carr, Fox News has tried to brush off such photo doctoring for humorous effect as commonplace in the cable universe, but it sure didn't seem that way in the segment, below.
I have my own bias, as I used to work for Reddicliffe, a wildly well-liked and respected editor at TVG whose departure actually signaled years of serious decline of the magazine into irrelevance.
Rove's Mum: Variety's William Triplett, meanwhile, reports that Fox News commentator Karl Rove is facing contempt proceedings for violating a congressional subpeona.
Triplett writes, "The ominous statement from Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) is the latest volley in an ongoing skirmish between a House subcommittee and Rove’s attorney over an investigation into alleged politicization of the Justice Dept.
"In a recent CBS “60 Minutes” report, Rove’s name was mentioned in connection with the possibly politically motivated prosecution of a Democratic governor."
Former FCC chair Reed Hundt wonders why the story didn't get more attention. He writes on Talking Points Memo, "Obviously, the media gives a great deal of play to Karl Rove's comments. Not just Fox, but everyone reports with great attention his words. But meanwhile Mr. Rove refuses to testify to Congress. There's no law that I'm aware of which supports his position. He seems to be a willful lawbreaker. Does that not deserve mention when he is on TV or in newspapers?"
Soldier Story: Kimberly Peirce, director of "Stop Loss," will attend a press conference on Thursday in Washington to talk about the Stop Loss Compensation Act, being backed by Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
And More: U.S. military seeks more influence in Iraq war pics...Mia Farrow disappointed in President Bush's commitment to go to the Olympics.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Happy Fourth of July...
Here in Minnesota, Sen. Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken are canvassing the state at various hometown parades in their race.
Tim Gihring of Minnesota Monthly finds Franken walking a tightrope as polls show him trailing Coleman in what should Democratic year. "Minnesotans have already
voted for such nontraditional candidates as Wellstone and Ventura
(though it should be noted that Jesse, in a three way race, won office
with 37 percent of the vote). Voters are no less likely to favor a
former funnyman like Franken. It just depends on how he pitches
himself. “People here are willing to accept eccentricity—Ventura and
Wellstone had their share of eccentricities—so long as the candidate
isn’t being fake, isn’t playing games with them,” says Schier. “That’s
the challenge for Al Franken. The real Al Franken has to become
apparent to Minnesotans in a way that they approve.”
"It’s a
challenge Franken still seems to be struggling with. As he tries to
define himself with voters, does he play up his sense of humor, or play
it down? Does he reveal, as at the U of M event, his inner geek? Or
does he try to live up to the smart aleck persona people expect?"
Those I have talked to here suggest that Franken has been perhaps serious on the trail, perhaps enough to make him like a conventional DFL candidate, ones who have come up short against well-financed incumbents.
And a word of warning for Franken: Ventura is considering an independent Senate bid, perhaps enough to peel away the "throw the bums " out vote.
Minnesota, the site of the Republican convention, could be in play in the presidential race, particularly if John McCain picks Gov. Tim Pawlenty to be his running mate. Although presidential seasons of late have started with the assumption that the Land of 10,000 Lakes is a battleground state, in the end it has always been reliably blue. No other state has gone to the Democrats for the past eight straight presidential elections. The last time Minnesota went to the Republicans was in 1972.
Obama and Iraq: Barack Obama's comment yesterday that he might "refine" his position on Iraq fueled considerable attention that this was another example of flip-flopping, and the candidate organized a second press conference to deny that his position on troop withdrawal is changing.
It's interesting, however, how quickly his "refine" statement traveled and how quickly so many assumed that he was changing his position on Iraq. He's already been accused of not-so-subtle shifts on NAFTA and gun control, so this would ostensibly fit right into that narrative.
The campaign sought to dispel that.
“Let me be as clear as I can be,” he said, per the New York Times “I intend to end this war. My first day in office I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in, and I will give them a new mission, and that is to end this war — responsibly, deliberately, but decisively.
“And I have seen no information that contradicts the notion that we can bring our troops out safely at a pace of one to two brigades a month, and, again, that pace translates into having our combat troops out in 16 months’ time.” McCain's Movie: Jeffrey Ressner and Kenneth P. Vogel of The Politico takes a look back at "Faith of My Fathers" --- the movie. Don't remember it? That's probably because it was a TV movie that ran on A&E in 2005, and although it scored good ratings for the cabler, longforms have a tough time enduring in a cluttered landscape. Shawn Hatosy played McCain in the pic. A coincidental tidbit: Scott Glenn played McCain's father in the pic; he plays Donald Rumseld in Oliver Stone's "W."
Other items: Obama inspired songs pop up in the Caribbean...State department officials found to be snooping on celebrity passports...Will the election degenerate into a debate over who is more patriotic? Or has it already?
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
First off, I've been a little lax in these roundups, as I've been working through a few deadlines, but hopefully I'll be getting back to this business.
The Politico today features what I would call an expose of the use of the term "political strategist" to identify dozens of expert talking heads on cable TV.
Daniel Libit writes, "Among the things that the proliferation of TV cable news has wrought is slackened standards for what constitutes a political strategist. Now used as a catchall tag for a whole host of people with varied — and often peripheral — backgrounds in electoral politics, the term has all but lost its meaning."
He leads with Jane Fleming Kleeb, who "went on “The O’Reilly Factor” two weeks ago to talk about global warming, a topic on which, by her own admission, she’s hardly an expert. So who, then, is Jane Fleming Kleeb? Well, according to the Chyron that flashed across the screen after Bill O’Reilly introduced her, she is a “Democratic strategist.” But she’s hardly that, either."
"“The first time they called me a strategist,” Fleming Kleeb recalls, “I literally laughed on TV.”" Barack in Spirit: Barack Obama was just a couple of miles away at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion last night, but his presence was big at the BET Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium.
From the AP: ""If we all register and vote, we will have the first black president in the history of America," Sean "Diddy" Combs told the crowd Tuesday at the Shrine Auditorium before chanting "Obama or Die" - a declarative remix of his neutral "Vote or Die" motto from the 2004 presidential election, when he attempted to boost the youth vote."
Obama & Scarlett: Obama, meanwhile, tried to put some distance between himself and Scarlett Johansson, whom the Politico reported several weeks back e-mails back and forth with the presidential candidate.
"She sent one email to Reggie, who forwarded it to me," Obama said, referring to his 26-year-old personal assistant, Reggie Love, per the Washington Post. "I write saying, 'thank you Scarlett for doing what you do,' and suddenly we have this email relationship."
Prepared for Battle: Pro and con gay marriage advocates hire big PR guns for the expected battle in California.
MTV Ads: MTV will accept political ads for the first time, perhaps an opportune moment with Obama in the race.
Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) arrived a little bit late to a Beverly Hilton on Sunday, tardy enough to be able to stand in relative obscurity near the back of the ballroom, where a parade of celebrities were pitching the new G.I. Bill, one of his signature issues.
He didn't seem to look around to identify the notables who were in the audience, an eclectic mix of liberal legends, socialites and stars, including Robin Williams, Lisa Kudrow, Bob Balaban, Swoosie Kurtz, Judith Balaban Quine, Stanley and Betty Sheinbaum, James Whitmore and Frank Gehry along with two dozen war veterans from WWII to Iraq, the most famous among them being 82-year-old Gore Vidal.
Instead, Webb fixed his serious gaze at the woman at the podium, Sally Field.
In almost quixotic terms, Field described the 17-month path that the bill took from Webb's first day as a freshman senator to now, attached to an Iraq war supplemental funding bill expected to be passed in the Senate with President Bush pledging not to veto it. The legislation would dramatically increase the education benefits to returning veterans.
Then, Field introduced him as a "real-life Mr. Smith."
To a standing ovation, he took the microphone and quipped, "Thank you very much for that Sally. I'd like to think I'm a little bit shrewder than Mr. Smith."
There were a few chuckles in the crowd.
Then he apologized for his casual attire, blue polo shirt and khaki cargo pants, noting that he didn't have time to change but didn't want to show "disrespect" to the well-dressed crowd.
The event was planned by the Campaign for a New GI Bill at a time when the prospects of the bill's passage looked more iffy, and was designed to be non-partisan. But it was all but impossible for politics not to enter the proceedings, not the least of which was the fact that Webb is an oft mentioned running mate for Barack Obama.
Noting the original opposition to the bill, co-sponsored with Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), on the grounds that it would hurt recruitment or would be too expensive, Webb said, "The thing that surprised me was that the administration would oppose this concept, including some of the top Senate Republicans, including one running for president."
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presided over his first same-sex wedding on Monday when he married Oscar-winning producer Bruce Cohen and his partner, Gabriel Catone.
But all was not entirely peaceful. From the Los Angeles Times: "Moments after the champagne was poured, a woman who introduced herself as the "Angel of the Trinity" strode up to the podium to denounce the ceremony and call Villaraigosa an "adulterer" -- a reference to his extramarital affair with a television reporter."
"It doesn't spoil our day. It doesn't take away our joy," Cohen told City News Service. "And it certainly doesn't change the fact that we are legally married in the state of California."
Cohen is a longtime friend of Villaraigosa's, and is co-hosting a fund-raiser for him this weekend.
Straying a bit from politics, here's a personal note. Longtime Hollywood publicist Howard Brandy died today at age 79.
With a career representing an eclectic list that included Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Lionel Ritchie and the Monkees, as well as the campaigns for an array of films including "Young Frankenstein" and "The Last Emperor."
From Variety: "His long relationship with "Rocky and Bullwinkle" creator Jay Ward led to several classic publicity stunts. One was a cross-country trip allegedly trying to create a national referendum urging statehood for Moosylvania, which ended in Ward and Brandy pulling up at the White House in full costume on the day the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted.
"The strong-jawed visage of Canadian Mountie Dudley Do-Right was modeled on the profile of Brandy."
With a high pitched gravelly voice and twinkling eyes, Howard was a good and great friend, ever supportive, always with a great sense of wit, and definitely of the old school of public relations. In fact, he didn't even call it P.R. but press agenting, a nod to the time when such jobs were all about planting stories and clients' names in the papers.
Howard also was a great friend to many a reporter and editor --- not an easy feat where we are so easily adversaries. I got to know him later in his career, over the past 10 years, and quickly realized what a stockpile of goodwill he had throughout much of the entertainment journalism community. And for those he wasn't crazy about --- well, there was usually a good reason for it.
He also had an eclectic list of clients, many of whom were trying to plunge into the entertainment world. One day Howard set me up to have lunch with Bill Bonnano, the son of the head of the infamous Bonnano crime family and the source of Gay Talese's "Honor Thy Father." Bonnano was pitching a book and a Showtime miniseries about his family's life story, and I don't think Howard could ever stop laughing when Bonnano told him of my unusually tense demeanor during our meal. (A very large bodyguard named Anthony tagged along).
In our many lunches, when we would share many stories, he always was at his best when he could share about his wife, Rose, and his daughters, Rebecca, Eden and J.C., and son Adam.
I will miss Howard, and my heart goes out to his family, as well as to his longtime associate Julia.
The more that George Carlin provoked, the more he landed in the mainstream.
His best known routine, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television," led to the Supreme Court's landmark FCC vs. Pacifica Foundation decision in 1978, which affirmed the government's ability to regulate broadcast indecency. Yet Carlin kept getting gigs in prime time on shows like "Tony Orlando and Dawn," not to mention the distinction of being the first host of "Saturday Night Live."
Even free of the "dangerous" material, Carlin was a gifted stand up performer with an unrelenting and inquisitive wit. He was among Johnny Carson's most frequent guest hosts, all while he created headlines in stage performances for his dark take on religion, politics and drugs.
And the feds hardly silenced Carlin's material. By the time that the Supreme Court ruled in FCC vs. Pacifica, Carlin was a regular face on HBO, appearing in specials that helped drive the pay cabler's subscriptions. It was a sign of just how far behind the government was in keeping pace with technology and the ability of creative minds to capitalize on it.
The irony is that in the same month of his death, the high court is once again about to rule on broadcast indecency, this time over the networks' fines for so-called fleeting expletives.
The ruling could once again have great ramifications on the broadcast media, just as the "Seven Words" decision did many years ago. Carlin again will have the last laugh. It's not just because his routines will live on via YouTube, but that he will be honored posthumously this fall in Washington. Days before he died, he was informed that he would receive the Mark Twain Prize in November, to be handed out at the Kennedy Center just a few miles away from the steps of the Supreme Court.
Being honored by the Los Angeles Press Club last night, former ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff said that his wife wouldn't let him return to Iraq and that he had a "10% chance" of going to Afghanistan.
Instead, he's been covering returning Iraqi vets and raising money for his foundation, which specializes in helping members of the armed forces with serious head injuries. Woodruff was nearly killed and suffered several head injuries when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle in Iraq in January, 2006.
Woodruff was the winner of the Daniel Pearl Award at the club's 50th annual dinner, held at the Biltmore in downtown L.A. Other highlights included KNBC anchor Ana Garcia, who, while receiving the Joseph M. Quinn Lifetime Achievement Award, said that it was especially emotional to receive the honor because she started kindergarten not knowing a word of English, having emigrated to the U.S. from Spain when she was a young girl.
And Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, receiving the President's Award, was especially biting toward Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell and his chief innovation executive, Lee Abrams, the latter of whom has been the subject of much amusement with his string of effusive e-mails that unintentionally reveal how little he knows about the newspaper business and Los Angeles. For instance, Lopez insisted that Abrams was not aware that the Times had correspondents in Baghdad.
Of particular amusement was Lopez's recounting of his visit to Zell's Malibu beach home, hoping to befriend the new owner of the Tribune. It provoked an angry response from his new boss, who later told him. "Stay the fuck away from my home!"
Los Angeles Times editor Russ Stanton was in the audience, and seemed to take it all in stride.
KTLA's Stan Chambers, who has been reporting on the air for 60 years, accepted a special honor for late anchor Hal Fishman, for whom the evening was dedicated.
The program book also took note of the death of Tim Russert. That was the subject of one of the more uncomfortable moments of the evening, when emcee Harry Shearer tried to crack a few one-liners about the excessive coverage of the NBC personality's death. Few laughed.
To mark the 50th year of the ceremony, longtime L.A. newsman Buster Sussman was also honored. he joined the LAPC shortly after it was formed in 1947.
By the way Wilshire & Washington was nominated for best website from a news organization, but the top prize went to Reason Online. Second was W&W, following by LATimes.com with honorable mention.
Was this week a turning point in the way that the media covers gay marriage?
That is the topic of my next column in the print edition of Variety, which is published on Sunday and can be found here, or here's the full text:
On the first full day of same-sex weddings in California last week, just up the street from the West Hollywood site where paparazzi wait to capture the shopping habits of tabloid darlings, a team of photographers and TV crews tracked every step of another celebrity: George Takei, aka Sulu from “Star Trek,” who with his partner Brad Altman were among the first to obtain a marriage license.
Nearby were a handful of antigay-marriage picketers and a man in a devil costume, matched on the other side of the issue by two men dressed like flying nuns.
But the media horde wasn’t focusing on those sideshows; rather, thecadre was angling to capture the emotions of the couples themselves.
“There is nothing extraordinary,” Takei said to reporters as Altman held their license. “We are just like John and Mary. We are just part of the diversity of America.”
He was right. With the white tents and wedding cakes and tuxedos and white dresses, there was a hint of the ordinary about it all, and that may have been best signaled in the way that much of the media covered the historic moments.
Local stations went live throughout the day of the unfolding nuptials. Network morning shows and “Entertainment Tonight” pressed for interviews. The Los Angeles NBC affiliate set up a camera at West Hollywood Park for a daylong, continuously streaming Web feed of wedding ceremonies.
Barack Obama's first general election campaign ad, which starts airing today, is obviously designed to introduce himself to voters who may not know him --- or who may have fallen to the unending flurry of e-mail rumors about his background.
A rundown:
Emotion: Tugs at the patriotism and rural values in all of us, even if we don't own a flag and grew up in the city. "If I have the honor of taking the oath of office as president, it will be with a deep and abiding faith in the country I love."
Authenticity: Doesn't wrap the candidate in the flag --- Old Glory doesn't even appear --- but tries to tie his biography to the American experience. He emphasizes not his home state of Hawaii, but Kansas. "I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn’t have much
money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland
where they grew up."
Coherence: Gets across his love of American values. But like all candidates, there's the laundry list of accomplishments. "That’s why I passed laws moving people from welfare to work, cut taxes
for working families and extended health care for wounded troops who’d
been neglected."
Originality: This is a pretty standard format, complete with the light music in the background; the candidate in close up, staring right into the camera and the requisite shot of hugging a senior on the trail. But in a campaign that threatens to devolve into whether he is patriotic enough, it's what is needed, particularly in the handful of red states (Georgia, North Carolina, Alaska) where the ad is running.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Barack Obama's decision to bow out of the public financing system for the general election will undoubtedly come under a great deal of criticism, not just from the McCain campaign but advocates of campaign finance reform. Yet it underscores what a different, Internet-driven fund-raising operation he has created, one that has had the effect of diminishing the influence of any one major bundler, including those in the entertainment business. It will put pressure on McCain to drop out of public financing as well, but given his handicap in online fund-raising, if he does he will have to depend on the party money men to raise cash quickly.
At Hickory Hill: Obama did raise money last night for the DNC at the home of Ethel Kennedy. From the Politico Playbook: "Just got back from our DNC dinner event at Hickory Hill with Barack. …
The Kennedy magic is alive and well. Before dinner … the skies broke
open with a fury of wind and water. In minutes it was over, and a
double rainbow appeared over McLean as the first guests arrived. Upon
arrival, the entire [Kennedy] family -- 18 in all -- lined up along the
front hall with an engaging story, a quick smile, a fun joke to welcome
each guest. The bar served the traditional Hickory Hill Lime Daiquiris,
complete with lime rind around the rim. Frank Sinatra blared through
the house. High hopes. Barack arrived after the last guest to a big
welcome from the family. One granddaughter ran out to the terrace: ‘I
touched him! He talked to me!’ As dinner began, Ethel Kennedy stood to
say the traditional grace, ending with: ‘And thank you, God, for Barack
Obama, the most exceptional presidential candidate in 50 years.” One more note: For more than an hour, the campaign insisted that the pool reporter not leave the pool house. (Not making this up). It only adds to his press contingent's frustrations about access to the candidate. Where's the Speaker: Larry Sinclair, who is pitching scandalous information about Obama, appeared at the National Press Club on Wednesday to tell his story, then left the room and disappeared. He'd been arrested for some outstanding warrants.
It's been some time since we've heard from Jared Paul Stern, the former New York Post reporter who Ron Burkle alleged was trying to extort him --- apparently to get information, and better column items, about former President Clinton.
Patrick Range McDonald of the LA Weekly reports that a New York State Supreme Court judge tossed out Stern's defamation suit against Burkle, writing that his complaint reads like a "Mickey Spillane novel." Judge Walter Tolub wrote that the complaint failed to "identify any of the supposedly false and defamatory statements that any of the defendants ever made or conveyed. Additionally, and equally important, is that the complaint does not deny that any acts or quotes attributed to plaintiff were untrue."
Stern plans to appeal, writing to McDonald that the decision "read like a love letter to the Clintons and ignored several basic tenets of the law."
McDonald, who secured a rare interview with Burkle just a few weeks ago, writes that the "entire Burkle/Stern episode never smelled right to me. Stern was never charged with a single crime, although no less a law enforcement agency than the FBI investigated Burkle's claim that Stern tried to shake him down. Still, Stern played a mighty high price--he was run out of New York City and its publishing world after Burkle played hard ball with him. Any journalist, or any supporter of the free press in this country, should keep an eye on this case."
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Tim Russert is remembered today at a private funeral in Washington, followed by an invitation-only memorial service at the Kennedy Center. Thousands of mourners, including President and Laura Bush, paid their respects at a wake and viewing at St. Albans School on the grounds of Washington's National Cathedral. Barack Obama and John McCain attended services this morning. Revival of HWPC?: The Politico's Jeffrey Ressner reports that some of Los Angeles' top female activists are planning a Sept. 27 fund-raiser for Senate candidates. The group includes alums from the Hollywood Women's Political Committee, the org that wielded great influence in the 1980s and 90s until it was disbanded in 1997 over concerns about the excessive amount of money in politics.
Now, the Campaign: The Los Angeles Times has extensive coverage of all of the same-sex weddings throughout Southern California on Tuesday --- and the images of all the joyous couples may be the most effective ways of defeating a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay unions.
Nevertheless, the race is on the raise extensive amounts of money and to get ad spots on the air. Groups like the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Human Rights Campaign are among the big donors trying to defeat the ballot measure, while Colorado-based Focus on the Family is a big backer of efforts to pass such a ban.
Among the individual contributors so far: "Will & Grace" co-creator Max Mutchnick, who chipped in $5,000 to defeat the constitutional amendment, and character actor Orson Bean, who contributed $100 to the effort to pass it.
More Coverage: Karen Ocamb rounds up all the marriages on the Bilerco Project, with input from a consortium of journalists around the state.
She also reports that as of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, 648 marriage licenses were issued in Los Angeles County. Farrow's Address: Mia Farrow spoke about the Darfur crisis to the United Nations Security Council today.
Jolie's Message: Angelina Jolie debuted a spot for World Refugee Day.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Barack Obama is preaching to parents to turn off the TV set, but he's also not opposed to the idea of further government regulation to help them shield their kids from objectionable content.
Responding to e-mailed questions from Broadcasting & Cable, Obama believes that technology can solve many of the problems --- but he didn't rule out the prospect of extending regulation to cable and satellite providers, just as the feds oversee broadcast TV.
Obama tells B&C, "We have established a precedent that government should act to
protect kids in a nonintrusive way on broadcast radio and TV. That does
not mean that we need the same rules for other media, but it does
require us to respect and remain true to the principle that our kids
cannot protect themselves -- parents are their first line of defense,
and regulation can make it easier for parents to exercise that
responsibility. I am focused on ensuring that parents have the tools to
protect their kids from offensive material. I prefer technological
solutions to this challenge rather than extending content regulation to
cable and satellite. Given modern technology and increasingly
sophisticated cable and satellite boxes and services, the market should
be able to rise to meet the market demand to protect kids from indecent
content. If the market fails to meet that demand, legislative and
regulatory action may be necessary -- but it must be crafted carefully
and focus not on content censorship, but rather on tools for parents."
Obama opposes efforts to loosen media ownership rules, and even signaled that the current regulations are perhaps too lax given that they have not prevented consolidation.
Obama and Israel: Howard Berman will be the featured speaker tonight in Beverly Hills for an event to talk about Barack Obama's Mideast policy. It's also designed to tamp down false rumors that have long been circulating on the Internet about Obama's positions on Israel, ones that the candidate himself has addressed in a speeches and before AIPAC two weeks ago. Irena and Mike Medavoy are co-hosts of the event.
A Son Remembers: Luke Russert shared memories of his father Tim in an appearance on NBC's "Today" this morning.
Tom Brokaw hosted a special tribute to Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" this morning, opening with an empty chair and an empty table.
Variety's William Triplett reports that plans apparently are in the works for a memorial service on Wednesday at the Kennedy Center, according to one source.
Triplett also writes that Russert's death leaves NBC with a big loss not only with "Meet the Press" but with their coverage of this historic election.
Triplett writes, "Overall, the reminiscences and comments painted a portrait of a man the likes of which NBC will be hard pressed to replace. Indeed, none of the other networks could ever find one to knock Russert off his perch as the top-rated Sunday-morning talkshow host."
He added, "NBC said it has received 13,000-plus emailed condolences, and their was, over the weekend, a growing memorial of flowers and personal notes left outside the NBC D.C. bureau."
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Mark Penn sizes up what went wrong with Hillary Clinton's campaign on GQ.com.
The interview is a defense of his role as strategist and pollster --- and clearly an effort to not go down in history as the fall guy of the Clinton campaign.
Some of the nuggets:
On whether why the campaign ran Hillary as "inevitable":
"Inevitability is a concept from the opponents, okay? We ran, though, as somebody who was the front-runner, as somebody who had the strength. She had the experience. She had, you know, then, the political establishment behind her. You know, front-runners typically win against challengers. That’s been the pattern. So it was never a notion that she was inevitable. It was a notion, though, that she was running as a big candidate, the kind of person you want to turn to as president and you say, “I really believe this is somebody who can do this job, and do this job the way the great presidents have done this job.” Right? And so to be that, I think Hillary Clinton fits that mold. And that just having her, you know, wander around to, you know, candy stores… But it’s very interesting when they talk about an “inevitable” campaign. We never used the word inevitable. Ever."
On his previous (often mocked) statement that the campaign didn't have the money:
"Well, I think you also have to realize that there are some other things here that people don’t talk about as much. And I think you have to realize that it was always anticipated that if things didn’t go well in Iowa—and Iowa was the toughest place—that there would be $25 million left in the kitty in order to go into the next round of states. Instead, the cupboard was bare."
On how the Obama campaign used "microtargeting":
"I think, at the end of the day, they really did what they had to when they had to. They didn’t think twice about taking her on when they had to. They did it. They just did it. And I think they were right to go after the progressive voters who were Democrats in Republican states that were ripe for a candidacy like his, and they did it very well. And I think that they sold him as a brand. It’s very funny: You know, they talk about my book Microtrends, and in reality their campaign was well microtargeted. They finely targeted several constituencies in order to put together their coalition and even to turn out unexpectedly large numbers of young people. They had a great organization."
Hollywood Moves: Alex Isenstadt of Politicker/NY Observer writes that the industry already is seeing movement of Clinton fund-raisers to the Obama camp. "While U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is reportedly urging her top presidential donors to provide funds to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), it appears that one constituency will need little convincing: those in the Hollywood community."
He reports that the Dreamworks trio that held Obama's first big fund-raiser in town is planning another fete soon.
Sinatra Speaks: Nancy Sinatra testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday urging lawmakers to force broadcast radio stations to pay royalties to performers and record companies when the stations air their songs.
Couric's Call: Katie Couric's charges that the media was sexist in their coverage of Hillary Clinton gets a push-back from Keith Olbermann, who calls the claim "Kool-Aid-ish." And Couric gets the tag of "worst person in the world."
Convention Line-Up: Broadcast networks plan at least three hours of coverage --- on par with 2004.
Jones Bio: Former Georgia Rep. Ben Jones, a.k.a. Cooter on "Dukes of Hazzard," writes about his battle with alcoholism in his new autobiography.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Gina Gershon calls Vanity Fair's story on former President Clinton's relationship with her a "crazy, outrageous lie that has nothing to do with me." The magazine, however, says that the story "does not indicate that former President Bill Clinton had an improper relationship" with Gershon, but "merely examines the concerns of some of Clinton’s aides about reports of his behavior."
Here's what Todd Purdum wrote: "Over the last few years, aides have winced at repeated tabloid reports about Clinton’s episodic friendship and occasional dinners out with Belinda Stronach, a twice-divorced billionaire auto-parts heiress and member of the Canadian Parliament 20 years his junior, or at more recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California."
Vanity Fair is right; it does not indicate an improper relationship, and it's doubtful that Gershon will be able to mount much of a legal action. But surely the suggestion of an improper relationship is certainly there, in the same way that author Kitty Kelly, in her biography of Nancy Reagan, wrote of the First Lady's "lunches" (using quotation marks) with Frank Sinatra. To argue otherwise is a bit disingenuous.
All of this is entirely in keeping with Vanity Fair's conversational tone, as if you are listening in at a dinner party. It's essentially putting on paper rumors that have gone around for years. And were Hillary Clinton still in the race, the story undoubtedly would signal a new level of scrutiny directed at her husband --- and it could very well give the Obama campaign an excuse for not putting her on the ticket.
Franken OTR: A follow up to an earlier post: Al Franken is still telling jokes, just not on the record.
With Hillary Clinton poised to exit the race, the race for her fund-raisers is off and running.
Sim Farar, one of her national finance co-chairs, says that he has heard from the Obama and McCain campaigns, and the McCain camp even set up a meeting with the Republican nominee later this month in Santa Barbara.
McCain is making a pitch for Clinton fund-raisers and donors.
If he were to jump to McCain, it would be a big deal, obviously. But their meeting may turn out to be nothing more than a meet and greet. At a gathering of Los Angeles Obama and Clinton supporters in March, it was Farar who called for party unity. And on Wednesday, he sounded like he just needed a cooling off period.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," he says. "I need a couple of days."
Farar is among the Clinton fund-raisers angling for a Veep slot for the New York senator.
He added that he did not want to make any decisions until Clinton spekas to supporters later this week.
"It's kind of sad," Farar said. "We all started this 17 months ago."
Update: Obama was in NYC on Wednesday night, where he held a fund-raiser on Park Avenue that drew Caroline Kennedy, Sarah Jessica Parker and Ted Sorensen. (Via The Page)
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Welcome back after a brief break for the Memorial Day weekend...
Here's some catch up items...
Oprah Winfrey's ratings have dropped 7 percent this year --- but it's uncertain whether her endorsement of Barack Obama has anything to do with it, reports the New York Times. Winfrey herself has admitted that she has endured charges of disloyalty for not backing Hillary Clinton, and the talk show host's Website has been chalk full of vitriolic comments. But daytime ratings are down overall, and her staffers point this out when explaining the ratings erosion. Remark & Retract: Fox News analyst Liz Trotta is the latest to apologize for bringing up assassinations, this time in an attempt at humor.
Mountains and Mole Hills: In a story that the Clinton campaign distributed to its media list, John Harris of the Politico dissects the media's reaction --- or over reaction --- to Hillary Clinton's RFK comments. Meanwhile, James Poniewozik finds Keith Olbermann's reaction to Clinton over the top --- to say the least. Bloggers and Franken: Minnesota's politics are amplified more than ever this year by bloggers, one of whom broke a story about Al Franken's finances. Franken got good news in a Rassmussen poll, that shows his campaign in a dead heat with incumbent Norm Coleman.
Still for Hagee: John McCain disavowed televangelist John Hagee last week, but Joe Lieberman is still scheduled to appear at the controversial preacher's Washington-Israel Summit.
And More Ellen: Ellen DeGeneres asks Jenna Bush whether she can have her wedding at the Crawford ranch. (via Daily Dish).
Ellen DeGeneres is bound to be one of the most effective voices in swaying opinion as same-sex marriage proponents work to defeat a proposed California ballot measure.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
It took a while, but John McCain has rejected and denounced two high-profile televangelists: John Hagee and Rod Parsley. The final straw for the former was the revelation of a comment Hagee made in which he said that Adolf Hitler was fulfilling God's will by forcing Jews back to Palestine. The latter described Islam as an "anti-Christ" religion.
McCain, who has had a tenuous relationship with the religious right, courted their support this cycle, to the point where he declined to drop Hagee even well after it was known that the Texas pastor had a propensity for wacky pronouncements. (Catholics="the great whore"). Many bloggers and some mainstream journalists pressed the double standard of it all, with Barack Obama's campaign nearly derailed over Rev. Jeremiah Wright while Hagee and Parsley went largely unnoticed. But that was destined to change as time went on and progressive media outlets continued to produce pieces like this one, from Robert Greenwald's Brave News Films.
The irony is that, given that the pastors are televangelists, their body of work is presumably much more accessible, available and familiar --- and perhaps that is one reason why they didn't have as great an impact in the way that Wright did. From the PTL scandals of the 1980s to Pat Robertson's post-9/11 rants, it's kind of what we've come to expect from the televangelists. Just turn on the TV any day to see Trinity Broadcasting (where Hagee has a time slot), and it is a bizarre stew of religious zealotry and Rococco stagecraft. It was McCain who called leaders on the religious right "agents of intolerance" in 2000 --- so he knew what kind of territory he was venturing into as he courted their support this election cycle. That's why it's all the more intriguing that it has backfired.
Republicans in Hollywood: As I mentioned earlier this week, Republicans in Hollywood are organizing a big push for McCain, and today the Washington Times runs a list of McCain supporting celebrities. Among them: Wilford Brimley, Dick Van Patten and Rip Torn, all of whom have contributed. Suffice it to say, it does run longer, but what to watch for is if the Republican nominee gets any Clinton backers should she fail in her quest for the Democratic nod.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
John McCain guests on "The Ellen Show" on Thursday, less than a week after Ellen DeGeneres announced that she and partner Portia de Rossi would wed in California following the state Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage.
McCain is opposed to gay marriage --- as are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama --- but the way he answers any questions asked about his views could be indicative of how far he is willing to press the issue in the general election. With a constitutional ban on gay marriage poised for the California ballot, it will be interesting to see if DeGeneres presses him to take a position, given that McCain opposed a nationwide constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage back in 2004. But McCain is anxious to see California in play, or at least a little bit competitive, and the ballot initiative could have the net effect of rallying the conservative base in the Golden State. So he is, as Jake Tapper of ABC News writes, walking a tightrope.
Writes Tapper, "The fact that McCain is reaching out to DeGeneres' viewers -- an act that would have been close to unthinkable during the Republican primaries -- is indicative of how the conservative Republican is attempting to pivot towards the political center and reach out to independent voters and Democrats, while his would-be opponents continue to battle it out in the five remaining Democratic primaries."
Meanwhile, the fact that DeGeneres landed McCain --- only the latest presidential candidate to visit her show --- speaks to the importance of her audience. Her marriage announcement could have more power in framing the issue to middle America (or inland California) than any amount of advertising or news debate. That's why it was a bit amusing hearing marketing expert Laura Ries opine on Fox News that Ellen's announcement was an intrusion of a talk show host's personal life into a national program. "Talk show hosts are best when we know little about them, when they put light on the guest and not their own issues," she said, via Towleroad. Her point: Johnny Carson never talked about his marriage on "The Tonight Show." Actually, he did, in numerous jokes about paying alimony.
Views of the Candidate: Timothy Noah of Slate wonders whether HDTV will hurt John McCain like TV hurt Richard Nixon in the famous Nixon-Kennedy debates of 1960. That's when the cameras were unforgiving of Nixon's 5 o'clock shadow, while JFK looked brighter and friendlier.
Noah writes, "As someone who'd pooh-poohed the age issue, I found myself gasping at McCain's mug as transmitted in glorious HDTV. Wrinkles, blotches, liver spots, scarry tissue—none of these were hidden by McCain's makeup. As McCain cracked wise ("What do we want in our next president? Certainly someone who is very, very, very old."), I found myself thinking, Jeez, he doesn't look like a guy who'll turn 72 this August. He looks like a guy who'll turn 82."
All the more ironic is that McCain has been a big champion of HDTV in the Senate.
Also via Mediabistro, Gary Kamiya of Salon asks why the press is giving a pass to McCain's association with "bat-shit holy men" but "condemns Obama to talk show hell for the same sin."
Clinton Vs. Media II: Hillary Clinton tells the Washington Post that sexism has played a role in the campaign, including that generated by the media. "It's been deeply offensive to millions of women," Clinton said. "I believe this campaign has been a groundbreaker in a lot of ways. But it certainly has been challenging given some of the attitudes in the press, and I regret that, because I think it's been really not worthy of the seriousness of the campaign and the historical nature of the two candidacies we have here."
"The manifestation of some of the sexism that has gone on in this campaign is somehow more respectable, or at least more accepted, and . . . there should be equal rejection of the sexism and the racism when it raises its ugly head," she said. "It does seem as though the press at least is not as bothered by the incredible vitriol that has been engendered by the comments by people who are nothing but misogynists."
Eastwood on Clinton: Clint Eastwood tells The Politico's Jeffrey Ressner that he can't understand why people are asking Hillary Clinton to drop out. “Everybody’s trying to talk her into folding, but it doesn’t seem like the spirit of Americana,” Eastwood said.
“Put yourself in the place of [Clinton]: You’ve gone out there and made a thousand speeches, and you’ve shaken a million hands and you’ve been out there working your ass off,” Eastwood said. “And then somebody comes up and says, ‘Why don’t you just drop out of it?’”
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Hillary Clinton is taking on the media on the campaign trail and in an ad that was unveiled over the weekend, deploying a strategy designed to drum up voter anger and resentment over pundits' propensity to call the race over.
"There are some folks, you can see them on TV every night, who wanted
it to be over for me after Iowa, and every time they say it, something
funny happens, the voters don't agree," Clinton said in Kentucky yesterday, per ABC News. "And so what I'm
hopin', what I am hoping is that on Tuesday you're going to send a real
message to a lot of those folks who didn't want you to vote, who don't
want me to keep fighting for you and fighting for our country."
While such a message can stir up enthusiasm, it hasn't seemed to work that well this campaign for other candidates. Rudy Giuliani cited the punditry in the waning days of his Florida campaign, and John Edwards last year took on Fox News. Barack Obama took aim at ABC News for its pre-Pennsylvania debate, then quickly dropped the approach after even some supporters acknowledged that it made him look whiny.
And this could just add more fuel to Clinton's fire: Tim Russert (who is featured in one of Clinton's ads) asked his "Meet the Press" panel about it on Sunday, and the consensus among them was that it was an oft-deployed last minute tactic of a candidate in the waning days of a campaign.
"Recount" Promo: HBO Films is offering Los Angeles residents the chance to experience what it was like to be a Florida resident, circa 2000. They are putting the "actual Votomatic Florida voting machines" used in the election on display at the Grove shopping complex on Tuesday, allowing people to judge for themselves whether they could have effectively cast a ballot whether it be butterfly or hanging chad.
Franken's Polling: Al Franken, who is in Los Angeles for a fund-raiser on Wednesday, trails incumbent Norm Coleman 51-44, according to the latest StarTribune poll.
Dual Signs: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Brentwood home includes lawn signs for both John McCain and Barack Obama. He has endorsed McCain, his wife Maria Shriver (as well as their daughter) have endorsed Obama. Via Laobserved.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released this statement.
"I respect the Court’s decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling. Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."
One note: It was a very bizarre morning watching the ruling on CNN, which originally announced that the court had essentially ruled against gay marriage, only to correct itself about 10 minutes later.
California's state Supreme Court will deliver its ruling on Thursday on whether the state can continue to ban same sex marriages.
The repercussions are obviously huge, not only because it may clear the way for same-sex marriage in the largest state in the country, but it has potential political ramifications come November.
Opponents of same-sex marriage are expected to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot then, leading to the question of whether John McCain campaigns in favor of a gay marriage ban and thereby inspires enough turnout on the right to put California in play. The wild card in all of this is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has endorsed McCain but is on record as opposing the proposed constitutional amendment.
Backers of the amendment last month submitted 1.1 million signatures to get the ban on the November ballot. The Secretary of State is analyzing the documents to verify if they have the 694,354 needed to qualify.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Hillary Clinton hits her stride after the West Virginia blowout, but the media covering her appears to be checking out. The Washington Post's Dana Milbank trails the "ex-candidate" (as he calls her) from D.C. to Charleston, W. Va., noting "Exhibit A: There are two press buses waiting at the hotel here for Clinton's trip to her victory rally in West Virginia, but the entire press contingent doesn't quite fill one. It isn't until the entourage arrives at Dulles Airport that Clinton aides learn that the second bus is still idling, empty, at the hotel."
One note about last night's coverage on the cable news networks: Chris Matthews continues to get teased over his "feeling up my leg comment" he made earlier in the primary season about one of Barack Obama's speeches. When Clinton campaign chair Terry McAuliffe suggested to Matthews that he would get the same feeling from his candidates' victory speech, Matthews told him to get some new material. Fighting Back: John Kerry blogs on Huffington Post that GOP leaders are engaging in distortion of Barack Obama's recent interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg about Obama's ties to the Jewish community. House GOP leader John Boehner criticized Obama for calling Israel a "constant sore" in the Middle East --- even though Obama clearly was talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kerry writes, "...Rather than seriously disputing that, or, even better, offering a vision of their own on how to find peace in the Middle East and security for Israel, Rep. John Boehner and Rep. Eric Cantor - senior leadership in the House GOP -- decided to ignore the actual meaning of English words and simply invent something Barack Obama didn't say."
Penn Pals: A couple days ago Obama supporter Kal Penn urged the president and vice president of College Democrats --- two superdelegates --- to get off the fence and endorse. On Thursday, they did, via YouTube and for Obama. Colbert Response: Stephen Colbert couldn't let pass the recently surfaced YouTube meltdown of Bill O'Reilly on "Inside Edition" circa early 1990s. He came up with his own moment.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
Howell Raines sees a shift in the way that the media covers election, fueled by Barack Obama's candidacy. His Portfolio essay, in fact, can be seen as a counterbalance to the recent New York Times profile of new political pundit Karl Rove.
An Obama win, Raines suggests, will change the dynamic of campaign coverage because it will signal that mainstream journalists' lionization of attack politics and the master pros behind it is outdated.
Raines recounts a panel he was on last month with Karl Rove, and he writes, "Rove, of course, pointed out that tolerating a racist preacher, as Obama did, is different from cozying up to racist politicians, and he’s right. Wright has never had the legal authority to block state prosecution of Klan murderers, as Wallace routinely did back in his days of hobnobbing with presidents.
"Rove ridiculed Obama at length for suggesting a moral equivalence between black and white racism. “We’re all morally equivalent to a guy who says ‘Goddamn America’ and AIDS was a virus concocted by the government as a genocidal tool,” Rove said. To make matters worse, he added that Obama “then concludes by suggesting that the morally equivalent black and white anger ought to find its outlet against the real enemy, which is corporate America.”
"Rove’s outburst was notable, I told the audience, “because you’ve just heard the Republican campaign in a nitroglycerin tablet,” should Obama get the nomination. Actually, I was dazzled by the cogency of Rove’s case against Obama. Clearly, if perhaps unintentionally, he had outlined a G.O.P. swift-boat game plan, updated for the 2008 general-election campaign. Obama’s crazy preacher and the candidate’s sociological observations about guns, religion, and working-class bitterness have given the G.O.P.’s video pistoleros all the fodder they need for the television commercials you’ll see after Labor Day."
Another "Fahrenheit": Michael Moore plans a sequel to "Fahrenheit 9/11," Variety reports. The pic will be released in 2009, after President Bush is out of office. More on "W": Cindy Adams gets more details on Oliver Stone's "W," including these nuggets from page 42. "Checking a map, being told it passed "Humint," whereupon the President of the United States asks, "What's 'Humint' again?" and being told "It's Human Intelligence." A scene in which, auditing an Iraqi intercept, W. asks, "Wolfowitz, got any Maalox on you? . . . and while you're at it, trim your ear hairs." And Cheney checking his heart pills."
Smoke Out: Eugene Levy stars in a new in-theater public service announcement that offers to help people quit smoking. "All it takes is a little movie magic to make a cigarette disappear," Levy says in the 30-second spot, as he tries in vain to vanquish the tobacco stick. The spot is released by the American Cancer Society, the Entertainment Industry Foundation and the Will Rogers Institute, and directed by Paul Flaherty.
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
A "Saturday Night Live" skit over the weekend skewered Hillary Clinton in a big way ("My supporters are racist"), to the point that MSNBC's Chuck Todd asks, "anyone else sense that SNL --- which was pretty tough on Obama early on --- is trying TOO hard to win over Obama folks with that cheap-shot filled parody?"
"SNL" did what it often does: Take some piece of satire and then beat it to death. In other words, they haven't quite figured out the adage of less is more.
Pundit Parsed: The New York Times profiles Karl Rove in his new role as Fox News pundit --- dispensing advice not just to John McCain but to the Democrats. “Wouldn’t taking his advice be a littl
It's safe to say that most of those who will get the next issue of the New Yorker in their mailboxes will end up voting for Barack Obama anyway. That's why it's hard to get too worked up over their latest cover, which features the candidate in head dress, his wife in the garb of a militant and a flag burning in the fireplace of the Oval Office. 
It may be hard to stop a "Hulk" villain from chomping on a cigar, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, known to light up himself in his famous Sacramento stogie tent, has found a way to wag a finger at it. At least when youth are watching.
The candidates' affinity for entertainment news shows has spilled over into the general election with the appearance of 
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