Politics

Is There an Echo in Here?

by Diane Farsetta — September 27, 2004 - 11:00pm

"The Kerry campaign has enlisted congressional Democrats to play down expectations of the challenger's performance in the first presidential debate this Thursday, and then flood the airwaves with jubilant analysis that he has won it." Kerry campaign officials asked press secretaries of Democratic members of Congress "to schedule their bosses on television and ra

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The Hill, September 28, 2004

Ballot Boxing in Iraq and Afghanistan

by Diane Farsetta — September 26, 2004 - 11:00pm

U.S. lawmakers blocked a proposed "covert CIA operation to aid [Iraqi] candidates favored by Washington" - suggested because their opponents might have "covert backing from other countries, like Iran." Leading up to Afghanistan's October 9 elections, U.S.

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Time, September 27, 2004

Telling the Media to MoveOn

by Diane Farsetta — September 23, 2004 - 11:00pm

U.S. media "gives inordinate attention to fly-by-night groups with little evidence of real support. Why? Because these groups' sensational claims make for entertaining and easily produced news stories. The result is that a Swift Boats Veterans for Truth has greater impact on the national debate than long-established activist organizations," writes the Center for Media and Democracy's Diane Farsetta.

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AlterNet, September 24, 2004

Angry Seniors, Paid Doctors and the Lobbyists Who Love Them

by Diane Farsetta — September 23, 2004 - 11:00pm

"Seniors' anger and confusion as the Bush administration phases in the ambitious Medicare overhaul" may help Democratic candidates in November - unless an astroturf PR campaign succeeds.

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Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2004

PR Lessons From The Campaign Trail

by Laura Miller — September 19, 2004 - 11:00pm

The presidential campaign trail offer lessons to the "public affairs community, the PR people paid to push the issues. But what they're watching isn't so much who wins, but how they do it," PR Week's Douglas Quenqua writes. "Nearly every technique for moving public opinion, every tactic employed by public affairs people to get an issue on the radar or to get legislation passed, traces its roots back to a political campaign - usually a presidential one.

Main Source: 
PR Week (sub. req'd.), September 20, 2004

The Problem with Polls

by Diane Farsetta — September 19, 2004 - 11:00pm

"Something has methodologically gone awry when polls are swinging about this wildly," writes David Price, about presidential campaign polling.

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CounterPunch, September 20, 2004

On the Green Stump, Down Under

by Diane Farsetta — September 16, 2004 - 11:00pm

The environment is "the sleeper issue of Australia's October 9 election," and Prime Minister John Howard, "once regarded as the nemesis of conservationists - [is] vigorously courting the green vote." Howard pledged Aus$2 billion for "the country's ailing river systems, prompting Labor leader Mark Latham to respond with a billion-dollar package of his own." At the same time, Howard's Deputy Prime Minister attacked the Green Party, saying th

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Agence France-Presse, September 17, 2004

Changing the Subject, for Fun and Electoral Profit

by Diane Farsetta — September 14, 2004 - 11:00pm

George Bush "has succeeded in making more Americans see the war in Iraq as part of the broader war on terrorism," reports the Wall Street Journal.

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Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2004

Marketplace of Campaign Ideas

by Diane Farsetta — September 9, 2004 - 11:00pm

"If you're some group with an agenda, an ax to grind or an issue to promote, now's the time," said the Campaign Media Analysis Group's president. "Political advertising by smaller groups, and individuals in some cases, is popping up across the country," reports Associated Press, "on top of the millions of dollars that larger, partisan groups have spent" on ads.

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Associated Press, September 10, 2004
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