Larry Craig flops; Anderson Cooper on Sesame Street; a mini-rant; and more...
The Lineup
- MTP: Stephen Colbert; PBS's Judy Woodruff, Doris Kearns Goodwin, National Review's Kate O'Beirne and Sally Bedell Smith (author, "For Love of Politics - Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years") on gender and the presidential race
- FTN: Mitt Romney (R-MA)
- This Week: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE); roundtable of Laura Ingraham, Mark Halperin, Donna Brazile and George Will; Tommy Lasorda
- FNS: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Mike Huckabee (R-AR)
- Late Edition: Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA); Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI); Lebanese parliamentarian Walid Jumblatt; World Bank Pres. Robert Zoellick; Iraqi gov't spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh; Russian pres. candidate Garry Kasparov; roundtable of Elaine Quijano, Bill Schneider, and Gloria Borger
More TV Alerts (all subject to change)
- Political Capital w/ Al Hunt (Bloomberg, repeats throughout weekends): Richand Land of the Southern Baptist Convention on evangelicals and Rudy Giuliani; report on crises in Pakistan and Turkey
- Chris Matthews Show 10/20-10/21: Erin Burnett, Joe Klein, Andrew Sullivan, Kathleen Parker discuss "Can the Democrats win the White House even when they promise to raise taxes? How late night comedy shows have already caricatured the `08 candidates." Quotes here.
- Newsmakers (C-SPAN, 10am, Sunday): Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for Office of the Iraqi Prime Minister
- 60 Minutes (CBS, Sun): Valerie Plame; the origins of Mega-Fires; Col. Morris Davis on why he's upset about judicial process for Guantanamo detainees
- GOP debate 8pm on FNC, 9/21. (Pre-show at 7:30pm; post-show at 9:30pm)
- Morning Joe (MSNBC): Mayor Mike Bloomberg (R-NYC) 10/22; Frank Rich 10/22;
- Today Show: Valerie Plame on 10/22
- GMA: Laura Bush 10/22; Robin Roberts reports from Middle East 10/22 & 10/23
- Ellen DeGeneres: John & Elizabeth Edwards 10/22
- LKL: Valerie Plame & Joe Wilson 10/22; at 8pm, Orlando Bloom, Jeff Corwin, Heather Mills, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper on 10/23 to preview "Planet in Peril"
- Tavis Smiley (PBS): Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 10/22; Robert Reich 10/23; Col. Stephen Twitty 10/24; Rep. George Miller (D-CA) 10/25
- Charlie Rose (PBS): CIA dir. Michael Hayden 10/22
- Regis & Kelly: Anderson Cooper 10/23
- "The Noose: An American Nightmare" a CNN special 10/23, 8pm?
- "Planet in Peril" a CNN documentary. 10/23 & 10/24 at 9pm.
I know that the info for the 10/23 8-9pm slot on CNN is conflicting. I'll try to sort out what's up later.
Sunday Talk Ratings for Last Week's Shows
MTP wins again. Last week's guests here.
Or You Could Just Bankroll TPM Muckraker
Group Plans to Provide Investigative Journalism
As struggling newspapers across the country cut back on investigative reporting, a new kind of journalism venture is hoping to fill the gap.
Paul E. Steiger, who was the top editor of The Wall Street Journal for 16 years, and a pair of wealthy Californians are assembling a group of investigative journalists who will give away their work to media outlets.
The nonprofit group, called Pro Publica, will pitch each project to a newspaper or magazine (and occasionally to other media) where the group hopes the work will make the strongest impression. The plan is to do long-term projects, uncovering misdeeds in government, business and organizations.
The wealthy Californians are major Dem donors, Herbert M. and Marion O. Sandler. They're pitching in $10M, and various foundations will provide the rest of the funding. Aside from Steiger, here are others involved in this:
Richard J. Tofel, a former assistant publisher and assistant managing editor of The Journal, has been hired as general manager. Board members will include Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard scholar of African and African-American studies; Alberto Ibarguen, a former publisher of The Miami Herald, who is currently president and chief executive of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; James A. Leach, a former congressman from Iowa who directs Harvard’s Institute of Politics; and Rebecca Rimel, president and chief executive of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Plame
Valerie Plame criticizes some journalists, WaPo editorial page, Bush, etc. in new book. Because Plame is covered by the CIA's publication rules, Laura Rozen (who blogs at War & Piece) writes about Plame's early years at the CIA.
She's on 60 Minutes Sunday night:
More
The Influence of ChiTrib's Howard Witt
Thought this was an interesting post by publius on the Senate Republicans' filibuster everything strategy, and how it's "too-clever-by-half."
Living Paycheck to Paycheck Gets Harder
The Larry Craig interview on NBC in primetime got just 5.7M viewers.
Behind the scenes at ABC News' webcast.
Ann Coulter's website was hacked last week.
'08 Election Cycle Media Spend to Hit $2.7 Bil. $2.7B!?!
It's not just the crush of early primaries in January and February, instigating an early rush of advertising likely to hit a high point in December and January. It also has to do with a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows issue advocates, 527s and labor unions to spend earlier and with less restriction.
On top of that, almost every single presidential contender is opting to go off the federal fundraising system. That allows them to raise and spend as much money as possible. [...]
"There are so many new tools available to us, everything from cable to search to social networking sites," says Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of the New Democratic Network, which recommends ad strategies to Democratic candidates and is creating a series of party-building spots. "People need to experiment with all these new tools." In particular, Rosenberg feels the "ratio between broadcast and cable spending is way out of whack."
That opinion is shared by Fred Davis, CEO of Strategic Perception Inc., a Republican-leaning political consultancy based in Hollywood, Calif. Davis has been known to chastise cable operators for being asleep at the wheel, because in the past they haven't made it easy for politicians to take advantage of cable's ability to geo-target voters right down to the neighborhood. [...]
"[Consumers] with above-average Internet use are more likely to be Republican or swing voters," Castellanos says, citing other Scarborough research. On the flip side, "Democrats are watching a lot more TV than Republicans, about 15 percent more." It's the Web that's filling the GOP TV gap, he says. Local station sites as well as MSNBC.com and Washingtonpost.com "are a good market for us."
Remainders
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) knew Barack Obama's father and mother and first met Barack Obama when he was a baby. And now they're both in Congress. Small world. Also made me a little sad for Barack, given that a colleague probably knew his father better than he did.
US Atty Patrick Fitzgerald is engaged.
In case you missed it, Stephen Colbert is running for president, but only in his home state of South Carolina. A representative has already contacted the SC Dem Party about filing. I give this publicity stunt an A+ for effectiveness! Reactions from the Palmetto State here.
Speaking of running for president... it's time to Draft Katherine Harris for president!
Anderson Cooper dropped by Sesame Street.
Ellen Pompeo (Grey's Anatomy), Martin Scorsese, Maria Bartiromo, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at the National Italian American Foundation 32nd Anniversary Awards Gala last Saturday in DC. More photos from Getty. Rudy Giuliani, Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia were there as well.
Images courtesy of Getty for news & commentary purposes only
CNN held a premiere for Planet in Peril in Hollywood, CA 10/17. Jeff Corwin, Matthew McConaughey, Lance Armstrong, and Sanjay Gupta attended.
The 14th Annual Funniest Celebrity in DC event (raises money for VH1's Save the Music and Institute of Musical Traditions) was held 10/17. You can watch Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-PA) routine here.
ABCNews has an article and video of Larry Wilmore and his TDS colleagues. Article on John Oliver here.
Jokes & Lines of the Week
Via Hotline 10/19, SC Dem Party Chair Joe Werner:
"I've gotten more calls about Stephen Colbert than our primary date change, and that's actually real"
Jokes, via Hotline and About.com:
Lynne Cheney's eighth cousins 'revelation' really hit a chord with the comedy writers last week. There were just a ton of jokes about it.
- Letterman: "Obama and Cheney are actually cousins, but Barack did not inherit the family sneer."
- Leno: "Isn't that amazing, Obama and Cheney related? Dick Cheney now has more blacks and gays in his own family than in the entire Republican Party."
- Conan: "Earlier this week, Vice President Cheney's wife said that Vice President Cheney is actually a distant cousin of Barack Obama. At first Obama was skeptical, then he remembered that his great-great-grandmother once had a demon out of wedlock."
- Leno: "Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani says he's going to try to follow Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment that a Republican should never attack another Republican. Let's hope he has better luck with the 11th commandment than he did with the 7th commandment."
- Leno: "According to a new report, security screeners at our nation's airports -- this is scary -- failed to find fake bombs hidden on undercover agents 60% of the time. ... President Bush said today, 'Well, who cares about fake bombs?'"
- Leno: "Last week, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to fight global warming. Congratulations to Al Gore. ... Not to be outdone, today the oil companies named President Bush 'Man of The Year.'"
And to Close...
CAN THE HIGHER UPS IN THE PARTY AND IN THE STATES JUST BLEEPIN' SETTLE ON A PRIMARY/CAUCUS CALENDAR?!!!!
I agree with First Read on this:
Welcome to the theater of the absurd. The possibility that both parties will have two separate primary calendars is growing more likely by the day, especially after the Iowa GOP set Jan. 3 as its date and the South Carolina Dems are set for Jan. 26 (when the SC GOP is going on Jan. 19). While it may make sense in the backrooms of a rules and bylaws committee meeting at the RNC or DNC, the average voter is probably going to be confused. What is the unintentional consequence of that? Will independents end up not participating in Iowa? Will only the most partisan activists know when their primary is? The fact that we're potentially inside of 80 days before voting begins and the candidates don't know EXACTLY when the various election days are seems beyond ridiculous.
I agree with the idea that IA and NH shouldn't get to have all the early primary/caucus fun and that key early primaries and caucuses should also be held in states with more diverse populations. I understand what the DNC wanted to do, and I get the motivations of states like FL and MI. I also get that IA and NH like being first and like the tradition. But seriously, at this stage of the game it is time to...
DECIDE ON A BLEEPIN' CALENDAR FOLKS. PLEASE!