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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM OCTOBER 29, 2008
Barack Obama qualified as Story of the Day by throwing his money around. He spent at least $3m on half an hour of primetime television on three of the four major broadcast networks and three cable channels to an air an infomercial. ABC, the lone exception to the advertising sale, gave the Democratic candidate prominence on its newscast instead, as anchor Charles Gibson traveled to North Carolina for an interview. NBC and CBS both led with John McCain on the campaign trail in Florida.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR OCTOBER 29, 2008: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
OBAMA CHANNELS PEROT Barack Obama qualified as Story of the Day by throwing his money around. He spent at least $3m on half an hour of primetime television on three of the four major broadcast networks and three cable channels to an air an infomercial. ABC, the lone exception to the advertising sale, gave the Democratic candidate prominence on its newscast instead, as anchor Charles Gibson traveled to North Carolina for an interview. NBC and CBS both led with John McCain on the campaign trail in Florida.
The timing of the infomercial, just six days before Election Day, was "designed to infuse some new enthusiasm into the waning days of this race," Obama's aides told CBS' Dean Reynolds. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell relayed the response from a jaundiced McCain camp--"a gauzy feelgood infomercial paid for by broken promises," a reference to the Democrat having reneged on his intention to abide by the less affluent federal financing system. O'Donnell's colleague Lee Cowan noted that this was the first time since 1992 that a Presidential candidate had purchased a primetime half-hour of television. He reminded us of Ross Perot's charts and graphs.
No one evoked the name of Lyndon LaRouche.
As for his interview with ABC anchor Gibson, Obama pledged an administration of "modesty and humility" if he happened to win, in an echo of the incumbent President's pledge prior to his election in 2000 about a George Bush foreign policy. In response to McCain's accusation that his support for the graduated income tax amounted to a policy of wealth redistribution, Obama reminded us that "the biggest promoter of the early progressive income tax was John McCain's hero--Teddy Roosevelt." What has Obama missed most during his 20 months on the campaign trail? His daughters and "fixing them some waffles" for breakfast.
MCCAIN’S BIG FOUR ABC's Ron Claiborne (no link) was in Florida where both candidates were campaigning. He noted that the Sunshine State was one Barack Obama "can afford to lose. He still has other paths to win this election." But for John McCain, "if he does not win Florida it is going to be tough for him." Not just Florida, Chip Reid added on CBS. McCain must win all four of the big states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida. Reid performed that glass-half-full experiment with a pollster's margin of error to show that a 48%-41% lead for Obama--plus or minus 4%--could mean a "virtual tie" of 44%-45%. "There is a flip side," Reid shrugged. It could also mean a 52%-37% landslide.
Then CBS had Jeff Greenfield follow up with an Electoral College map that showed Obama with a "commanding lead" in enough states to amass the 270 votes he needs. For McCain to win, he would have to hold all of states that voted for George Bush in 2004--except for Iowa, Colorado and New Mexico--and turn over the blue Pennsylvania too. "I am running out of cliches," Greenfield complained. "He has to throw the Hail Mary. He has to hole out from the bunker. He has to convert the 7-10 split."
TOMBSTONES AND READING LISTS CBS anchor Katie Couric concluded her series of Presidential Questions of the two candidates with a poser on their management styles, on their reading lists--Toni Morrison and Ernest Hemingway--and on their epitaphs. Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama plans to be cremated, apparently. Each envisioned the words on his own tombstone. "He served honorably," was McCain's hope. "He tried to give something of himself to make the world better," was Obama's.
HEADING FOR THE HILL In a campaign year that has been dominated by the oversized personalities vying to be President, too little attention has been paid by the network newscasts to House and Senate races. Let's hope that in the final week more stories will follow the vignettes by Mark Potter from Miami for NBC. He brought us Tim Mahoney, the Democrat from Palm Beach, who was elected in 2006 as a "family values candidate" and has now become a debate no-show after admitting "multiple extra-marital affairs." The race between Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Raul Martinez in Miami has the incumbent Republican being accused of "taking a suitcase of money from an indicted politician" and the Democrat, a former Mayor of Hialeah, being reminded of his 17-year-old conviction for extortion and racketeering, since overturned on appeal.
COVER UP THE PARAPHERNALIA NBC unveiled its (866) OUR-VOTE service to deter intimidation of would-be voters as part of its Making Your Vote Count series. Rehema Ellis ran us through some folk myths about voter disqualifications. No, those with foreclosed homes do not lose the right to vote. No, students who vote where they study do not lose eligibility for financial aid or for their parents' healthcare coverage. Yes, even parking ticket scofflaws may vote. Yes, some states do forbid ballot access to voters wearing buttons, pins, hats and other partisan paraphernalia. Only Georgia and Indiana turn voters away who do not have government-issued photo ID.
THE ONE PERCENT SOLUTION The Federal Reserve Board made the day's major economic news as it lowered short-term interest rates to 1%. ABC's Betsy Stark (no link) counted nine cuts in interest rates in the last 13 months in order to cure the problem of "homes that are not selling; consumers that are not buying; and businesses handing out more pink slips than jobs." On CBS, Anthony Mason showed us "a small army of distressed homeowners" protesting outside FannieMae's headquarters in Washington. He pointed out that interest rates on 30-year home mortgages are rising even as the short-term cost of money is being slashed. NBC's Christina Brown consulted personal financial planners, who recommended that every household's rainy day fund should have enough cash set aside to survive for three months in the event of a layoff: 80% of middle class families fail to meet that standard, she reported--and presumably 100% of poor households too, although Brown did not mention them.
Then there is the automobile industry. General Motors and Chrysler will both be bankrupt by next summer at the rate they are burning cash, CBS' Cynthia Bowers told us. They have gone to Washington to apply for a $10bn federal bailout to help them merge and stay in business. Detroit is "desperate to stay afloat."
FDA RAPPED ON BPA Both NBC's Tom Costello and ABC's Lisa Stark (no link) covered dissent in the ranks of the Food & Drug Administration. When the FDA issued a finding that Bisphenol A, the synthetic hormone used to manufacture many plastic bottles, poses no threat to human health, it commissioned an independent panel to double-check its conclusions. Stark summarized: "It was a major omission when the FDA failed to consider numerous studies in animals that have linked BPA to cancer, diabetes and other health problems. Instead they depended on industry-sponsored research to conclude BPA is safe."
NO STREET CRED In its Your Money watchdog series, ABC showed off publicity pictures of the Hilton Village beach resort in Hawaii and La Quinta spa and golf course in Palm Springs to castigate the Justice Department. The two tourist complexes were used for staff conferences for federal bureaucrats. David Kerley suggested that if the DoJ wants to sponsor a conference on gang violence it should hold it in the inner city instead.
PAYING ATTENTION BY NOT PAYING ATTENTION NBC's closing feature was dubbed Mind Matters. Robert Bazell showed us neurological studies from UCal-San Francisco. They demonstrate that when people fail to focus as they get older "it has nothing to do with losing memory." Instead we tend to lose the ability to ignore distractions: "Older people concentrate on too much. They cannot easily shut out what is irrelevant." The young, by contrast, can read a book as the radio blares, shutting out conversations continuing all around them--and retain most every word.
HERE’S GAFFNEY Adrienne Gaffney has joined our happy band of news junkies who "watched last night night's newscasts...so you do not have to." Here are her observations on the same content Tyndall Report just monitored at Vanity Fair magazine's Culture & Celebrity blog.
The timing of the infomercial, just six days before Election Day, was "designed to infuse some new enthusiasm into the waning days of this race," Obama's aides told CBS' Dean Reynolds. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell relayed the response from a jaundiced McCain camp--"a gauzy feelgood infomercial paid for by broken promises," a reference to the Democrat having reneged on his intention to abide by the less affluent federal financing system. O'Donnell's colleague Lee Cowan noted that this was the first time since 1992 that a Presidential candidate had purchased a primetime half-hour of television. He reminded us of Ross Perot's charts and graphs.
No one evoked the name of Lyndon LaRouche.
As for his interview with ABC anchor Gibson, Obama pledged an administration of "modesty and humility" if he happened to win, in an echo of the incumbent President's pledge prior to his election in 2000 about a George Bush foreign policy. In response to McCain's accusation that his support for the graduated income tax amounted to a policy of wealth redistribution, Obama reminded us that "the biggest promoter of the early progressive income tax was John McCain's hero--Teddy Roosevelt." What has Obama missed most during his 20 months on the campaign trail? His daughters and "fixing them some waffles" for breakfast.
MCCAIN’S BIG FOUR ABC's Ron Claiborne (no link) was in Florida where both candidates were campaigning. He noted that the Sunshine State was one Barack Obama "can afford to lose. He still has other paths to win this election." But for John McCain, "if he does not win Florida it is going to be tough for him." Not just Florida, Chip Reid added on CBS. McCain must win all four of the big states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida. Reid performed that glass-half-full experiment with a pollster's margin of error to show that a 48%-41% lead for Obama--plus or minus 4%--could mean a "virtual tie" of 44%-45%. "There is a flip side," Reid shrugged. It could also mean a 52%-37% landslide.
Then CBS had Jeff Greenfield follow up with an Electoral College map that showed Obama with a "commanding lead" in enough states to amass the 270 votes he needs. For McCain to win, he would have to hold all of states that voted for George Bush in 2004--except for Iowa, Colorado and New Mexico--and turn over the blue Pennsylvania too. "I am running out of cliches," Greenfield complained. "He has to throw the Hail Mary. He has to hole out from the bunker. He has to convert the 7-10 split."
TOMBSTONES AND READING LISTS CBS anchor Katie Couric concluded her series of Presidential Questions of the two candidates with a poser on their management styles, on their reading lists--Toni Morrison and Ernest Hemingway--and on their epitaphs. Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama plans to be cremated, apparently. Each envisioned the words on his own tombstone. "He served honorably," was McCain's hope. "He tried to give something of himself to make the world better," was Obama's.
HEADING FOR THE HILL In a campaign year that has been dominated by the oversized personalities vying to be President, too little attention has been paid by the network newscasts to House and Senate races. Let's hope that in the final week more stories will follow the vignettes by Mark Potter from Miami for NBC. He brought us Tim Mahoney, the Democrat from Palm Beach, who was elected in 2006 as a "family values candidate" and has now become a debate no-show after admitting "multiple extra-marital affairs." The race between Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Raul Martinez in Miami has the incumbent Republican being accused of "taking a suitcase of money from an indicted politician" and the Democrat, a former Mayor of Hialeah, being reminded of his 17-year-old conviction for extortion and racketeering, since overturned on appeal.
COVER UP THE PARAPHERNALIA NBC unveiled its (866) OUR-VOTE service to deter intimidation of would-be voters as part of its Making Your Vote Count series. Rehema Ellis ran us through some folk myths about voter disqualifications. No, those with foreclosed homes do not lose the right to vote. No, students who vote where they study do not lose eligibility for financial aid or for their parents' healthcare coverage. Yes, even parking ticket scofflaws may vote. Yes, some states do forbid ballot access to voters wearing buttons, pins, hats and other partisan paraphernalia. Only Georgia and Indiana turn voters away who do not have government-issued photo ID.
THE ONE PERCENT SOLUTION The Federal Reserve Board made the day's major economic news as it lowered short-term interest rates to 1%. ABC's Betsy Stark (no link) counted nine cuts in interest rates in the last 13 months in order to cure the problem of "homes that are not selling; consumers that are not buying; and businesses handing out more pink slips than jobs." On CBS, Anthony Mason showed us "a small army of distressed homeowners" protesting outside FannieMae's headquarters in Washington. He pointed out that interest rates on 30-year home mortgages are rising even as the short-term cost of money is being slashed. NBC's Christina Brown consulted personal financial planners, who recommended that every household's rainy day fund should have enough cash set aside to survive for three months in the event of a layoff: 80% of middle class families fail to meet that standard, she reported--and presumably 100% of poor households too, although Brown did not mention them.
Then there is the automobile industry. General Motors and Chrysler will both be bankrupt by next summer at the rate they are burning cash, CBS' Cynthia Bowers told us. They have gone to Washington to apply for a $10bn federal bailout to help them merge and stay in business. Detroit is "desperate to stay afloat."
FDA RAPPED ON BPA Both NBC's Tom Costello and ABC's Lisa Stark (no link) covered dissent in the ranks of the Food & Drug Administration. When the FDA issued a finding that Bisphenol A, the synthetic hormone used to manufacture many plastic bottles, poses no threat to human health, it commissioned an independent panel to double-check its conclusions. Stark summarized: "It was a major omission when the FDA failed to consider numerous studies in animals that have linked BPA to cancer, diabetes and other health problems. Instead they depended on industry-sponsored research to conclude BPA is safe."
NO STREET CRED In its Your Money watchdog series, ABC showed off publicity pictures of the Hilton Village beach resort in Hawaii and La Quinta spa and golf course in Palm Springs to castigate the Justice Department. The two tourist complexes were used for staff conferences for federal bureaucrats. David Kerley suggested that if the DoJ wants to sponsor a conference on gang violence it should hold it in the inner city instead.
PAYING ATTENTION BY NOT PAYING ATTENTION NBC's closing feature was dubbed Mind Matters. Robert Bazell showed us neurological studies from UCal-San Francisco. They demonstrate that when people fail to focus as they get older "it has nothing to do with losing memory." Instead we tend to lose the ability to ignore distractions: "Older people concentrate on too much. They cannot easily shut out what is irrelevant." The young, by contrast, can read a book as the radio blares, shutting out conversations continuing all around them--and retain most every word.
HERE’S GAFFNEY Adrienne Gaffney has joined our happy band of news junkies who "watched last night night's newscasts...so you do not have to." Here are her observations on the same content Tyndall Report just monitored at Vanity Fair magazine's Culture & Celebrity blog.
