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Thursday, August 28, 2008
Just in case you missed the news release…
The Republican National Committee had a bit of an email malfunction Thursday, Aug. 28, spamming reporters email accounts across the country.
About 80 emails, most of them news releases attacking Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, went out between 6:19 p.m. and 8:01 p.m. The news releases date back to July and have headlines such as “Dr. NObama” and “Obama’s Drilling Dilemma.”
Blair Latoff, spokeswoman for the RNC, apologized for the onslaught of old news releases. “Apparently our server dumped all the emails that we sent over a period of months all at once,” she said, adding that the party is working to correct the problem.
The emails arrive on the eve of Republican Sen. John McCain’s speech at Wright State University’s Nutter Center in Fairborn. There is rampant speculation that he will announce his vice presidential pick early Friday or during the speech.
One presumes the RNC will have the problem worked out fast enough that the email deluge won’t clog reporter’s email accounts and keep us from getting the news release we’re all waiting for: McCain’s announcement of a running mate.
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Democrats rock INVESCO Field
DENVER - Democrats gathered in INVESCO Field, usually the home of the football Denver Broncos, to hear Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech of the party’s presidential nomination.
It was the first outside acceptance speech in nearly 50 years - John F. Kennedy accepted the nomination at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles in 1960.
“John McCain is not a maverick. John McCain is a yes man,” Howard Dean, Democratic national chairman, said, warming up the crowd on Thursday, Aug. 28.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia reminded the Democrats that Thursday was the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in Washington, D.C.
Obama was to speak at 8 p.m. Colorado time - 10 p.m . in Ohio. By 6 p.m. Colorado time most of the seats in the 76,000-seat stadium were filled with more people still filing in.
Sheryl Crow also warmed up the flag-waving crowd.
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Politics and the blogosphere
DENVER — Among the 15,000 or so journalists attending this year’s political conventions is a small army of bloggers that has been embraced by the parties.
Here at the Democratic National Convention, they’ve been operating at an 8,000-square foot headquarters dubbed The Big Tent, sponsored by the Daily Kos, Google, and other high-tech companies. They’ll pack the tent and move to St. Paul next week for the Republican convention.
Four years ago, bloggers numbered in the dozens at these quadrennial events. This year, the parties themselves are giving credentials to about 200 carefully selected bloggers, and hundreds more have been invited to share The Big Tent.
Nick DeCenzo and David Potts of Ohio are among the bloggers credentialed by the Democrats. They operate Buckeyestateblog.com, which draws more than 50,000 page views a month. That’s enough Web traffic to cover their costs through a small amount of advertising, they say.
DeCenzo, 29, from Cleveland, describes the site as a “democratic community blog” the purpose of which is “to help get Democrats elected.” He and his partner, Potts, 21, a student from the Marietta area, share their one credential to the Pepsi Center, taking turns observing events on the convention floor.
While one is in the arena, the other is likely to be found back in the tent. For their $100 registration fee, they get two meals a day, free Wi-Fi access to the Internet, free beer and smoothies and the occasional 10-minute massage.
They also get access to politicians bloggers otherwise might not be able to get near. An upstairs room in the tent is home to daily briefings. Politicians are drawn there by the promise of instant exposure on the Net.
It’s a quaint notion, but it wasn’t that long ago that journalists operated in a 24-hour news cycle, dictated largely by the printing schedules of newspapers and the nightly news. That was disrupted by the advent of cable news networks and exploded by the blogosphere.
“This really speeds up the news cycle,” DeCenzo says. “When you get a story that’s viral (like John McCain’s failure to remember how many houses he owns) it becomes instantaneous - jumping from blog to blog. It really compresses the news cycle.”
That’s both good and bad, say DeCenzo, whose day job is with a software company and whose only previous experience in journalism was in high school. Speed is the plus, of course, but the quality of many blogs “is not as good as a professional journalist.”
What keeps them going? “Basically, it’s a labor of love.”
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in resident at Wright State University. Email him at jeff@jeffbruce.net. More political news at daytondailynews.com/politics.
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Ohio Dems honor “My Girl” Rep. Tubbs Jones
DENVER - Ohio Democrats celebrated the life of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland as they gathered for their last breakfast meeting at the Democratic National Convention.
The Rev. Marvin McMickle, a Baptist minister, said on Thursday, Aug. 28, that he and Tubbs Jones, who died last week, both were fans of the Temptations. In Tubbs Jones’ honor, he recited the words to the group’s classic “My Girl.”
Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin joined other members of Delta Sigma Theta, in a singing tribute to their departed sorority sister.
Gov. Ted Strickland remembered a last meeting with Tubbs Jones.
“She gave me a hug. She kissed me on the cheek and she told me she loved me,” said Strickland said.
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Protest tourism
DENVER — All week long, battalions of black-clad cops in riot gear have loitered around downtown ready to confront anticipated anti-war demonstrators. They finally got their chance Wednesday.
Following a concert by Rage Against the Machine, which drew an estimated 8,000 people, about half of the concert-goers hit the streets for a march to the Pepsi Center where the Democratic National Convention was holding its roll call vote that would ultimately nominate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president.
The blocks-long parade was funneled through the streets by police flanking the marchers on bicycles, horseback and squad cars. Police blockades stalled traffic, both car and pedestrian, throughout the downtown area, but unlike protests on Monday that resulted in 107 arrests, this demonstration was peaceful.
Lawyers for protestors detained earlier in the week have promised lawsuit for the “illegal mass arrests.”
On a personal note, my route to an appointment at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, convention headquarters, was blocked by the cops and marchers. On impulse, I waded into the parade and edged my way from one side of the street to the other, weaving in and out of chanting demonstrators, signs aloft.
When I got to the opposite curb, a cop on a bike tried to block my way. “Hey, I’m just crossing the street,” I told him. I slipped between his front wheel and the back wheel of the cop in front of him and didn’t look back.
So, for a brief moment, I got to share some of the excitement. Call it protest tourism.
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Obama rally in Dublin open to public
DENVER - Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden will bring their “On the Road to Change” battleground state bus tour to Dublin, a Columbus suburb, for a rally open to the public on Saturday, Aug. 30.
Obama and Biden will begin their trip after Obama formally accepts the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday, Aug. 28, with Biden as his running mate.
Tickets are not required for the rally but an RSVP is strongly encouraged, the campaign announced on Thursday, Aug. 28. To RSVP, please visit the campaign Web site at www.oh.barackobama.com http://www.oh.barackobama.comhttp://www.oh.barackobama.com .
The rally is at Dublin Coffman High School, 6780 Coffman Rd, Dublin, OH 43017. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. and the rally is to start at 6:45 p.m.
Earlier Saturday, Sens. Obama and Biden will be joined by their wives, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, at the memorial service for Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones in Cleveland
On Sunday, Obama and Biden will hold a discussion on the economy in Toledo.
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Eye On Ohio: RNC ‘Right’ ad
By Jonathan Riskind
The Columbus Dispatch
The ad: “Right,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Republican National Committee.
Where to see it: The Republican National Committee says it has paid between $2 million and $2.5 million to air this spot in “major markets in Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and western Pennsylvania.” View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Narrator: “Who has the experience to govern our nation?”
Hillary Clinton: “Sen. McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign. I will bring a lifetime of experience. And Sen. Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002.”
Narrator: “Barack Obama. He gives a great speech. But now Americans must ask ourselves: Should we elect the most inexperienced presidential candidate of our times? Or was she right?”
Video: The ad opens with photos of Barack Obama and John McCain with a “who has the experience” question written underneath. Then it goes to the clip of Hillary Clinton disparaging Obama’s experience during the Democratic rivals’ bitter primary fight. There are shots of Obama making a speech and people cheering, and the narrator poses the final question.
Analysis: This Republican National Committee ad, although legally an “independent expenditure” that can’t be coordinated with the McCain campaign, continues a theme sounded by McCain and Republicans almost from the minute Obama picked Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., as his running mate.
The GOP is more than happy to beat on Obama by using criticisms of him, and sometimes praise of McCain, by Biden and Clinton.
On the one hand, Clinton said it, no getting around that. And at the time, Democrats just knew that if Obama won the nomination, she had handed Republicans a campaign commercial. On the other hand, Clinton has made it clear that she believes an Obama administration would be far preferable to a McCain administration on issues such as abortion rights, the economy and education.
“I just want to make it absolutely clear we cannot afford four more years of George W. Bush’s failed policies in America, and that’s what we would get with John McCain,” Clinton told the New York delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. “Now I understand that the McCain campaign is running ads trying to divide us, and let me state what I think about their tactics and these ads: I am Hillary Clinton, and I do not approve that message.”
Jonathan Riskind is a reporter in the Washington bureau of The Columbus Dispatch. E-mail: jriskind@dispatch.com.
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Eye On Ohio: McCain ‘3 a.m.’ ad
By Ellen Belcher
Dayton Daily News
The ad: “3 a.m.,” 30 seconds.
Producer: McCain campaign.
Where to see it: It’s airing in battleground states, including Ohio, and in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Narrator from Hillary Clinton ad that aired in the primary: “It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?”
Announcer: “Uncertainty. Dangerous aggression. Rogue nations. Radicalism.”
Clinton: “I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And, Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.”
Announcer: “Hillary’s right. John McCain for president.”
McCain: “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Video: The ad opens with footage from arguably Sen. Hillary Clinton’s most controversial — and maybe most effective — ad from the primary. A mother cracks the door to a dark bedroom of a sleeping child. The voiceover asks, “Who do you want answering the phone,” an unsubtle suggestion that Clinton is prepared to be president and Barack Obama is not.
The footage then shows tanks barreling over windswept ground, a missile being launched and hooded jihadists on the march.
Next, it’s back to Clinton saying Obama’s claim to fame is a single speech. Pay close attention and you’ll see Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in the frame to Clinton’s left.
After showing type saying “Hillary’s right,” there’s a flattering portrait of McCain.
Analysis: The McCain campaign is mining and milking Clinton’s criticism of Obama during the primary for all it’s worth. This is at least its third ad featuring Clinton since Obama announced Saturday, Aug. 23, that he had chosen Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate. In the previous ads, he’s said Obama passed over Clinton for VP because she told the truth about him; in another, a former Clinton delegate declares she’s switched to backing McCain.
This ad began airing Tuesday, Aug. 26, the second day of the Democratic Convention and the day that Clinton was making her speech appealing for party unity. It’s the McCain campaign’s reminder that no matter what Clinton is saying now, once upon a time — and not long ago — her criticism of Obama was scathing.
Ellen Belcher is the editorial page editor of the Dayton Daily News. E-mail: ebelcher@daytondailynews.com.
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