THE CNN ANGLE
CNN staffers on the floor of the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul
were buoyant Sunday afternoon after the mid-afternoon announcement
that the Republican convention was being revamped and adjusted in
tone because of looming Hurricane Gustav.
One cameraman with the all news network moved his camera and
positioned it behind the Louisiana delegation’s signage, which from
the angle included a shot of the RNC podium, when a colleague asked
why he’d moved from his original spot, the CNNer said, “A press guy
I know from Obama in Denver suggested it might be a good shot.”
Within ten minutes three other remote cameras and seven still
photographers were taking shots from the same location.
DIRTY TOOLS
As Obama operatives scour records in Alaska for dirt on Gov.
Sarah Palin, they are also seeking embarrassing
materials about her husband. And it isn’t just the Obama campaign.
Several left-wing groups with ties to MoveOn.org have used their
network to offer as to $5,000 for damaging employment or personal
information about him.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has asked the DNC to coordinate
surrogates that appear on camera to attack Gov. Palin. “Last
Friday, the Democrat women they put all looked old and tired,
nothing like what folks were seeing from Palin,” says an Obama
media adviser. “It was like, ‘we don’t have any good-looking
younger representatives to put up?’”
GLOVES OFF
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may be
putting on a brave face for the cameras after losing out to Gov.
Sarah Palin for the veepship, but his ever-loyal
cadre of aides and consultants and conservative media types
continue to work for him.
Almost every critical remark made about Palin on a recent
briefing call about her selection came from political consultants
with ties to Romney. Those comments were planted, says one, because
they knew that reporters would be on the call.
PRACTICE AND POLISH
Sen. Barack Obama’s pitch perfect response
regarding the announcement of an impending birth in the Palin
family (“my mother had me when she was 18”) was not without a
series of edits and rehearsals, according to some Obama
insiders.
“For tough questions we know he will get to questions we plant
with reporters that we want asked, [senior campaign staff] will
rehearse [Obama’s] answer with him.”
The goal: to get his inflection and tone, as well as the
content, just right.
“After he flubbed the hypothetical question about his own
daughter’s pregnancy, the campaign has worked with him to avoid
what appear to be insensitive or unthoughtful answers,” says an
Obama Senate staffer.
