News Cut: August 27, 2008 Archive

Denver Diaries: 'Radar' jumps the Obama ship

Posted at 11:06 AM on August 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: The political conventions

Last night I decided the line to get into Pepsi Center was too long for my taste, so I strolled around downtown Denver, just to see what interesting people might be around.

I stopped into a McDonald's for a bite to eat and ran across this distinguished gentleman and his wife. I saw he had a delegate tag on.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "All the action is down at Pepsi Center and you're a delegate."

"I was down there but needed to come back for some medicine," he said.

I asked him where he's from. He's from Iowa. We then talked about a few more things, including the fact I'm from neighboring Minnesota and eventually I asked him where in Iowa he lives.

"Ottumwa," he said.

"You know what I'm going to ask you now, right?" I said.

He stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Radar."

He is, in fact, Don Shaffer (and his wife is Pat). And he is the person on whom the character of Radar O'Reilly was based in the book that later became the movie and TV series M*A*S*H. Richard Hornberger (who took the name Richard Hooker) thinly disguised the characters in the book as soldiers who served with him in an Army field hospital in Pyongyang, Korea. Shaffer was company clerk and a chaplain assistant. When the unit had to "bug out" to escape the advancing Chinese, Shaffer had to drive two USO members. One was Joe DiMaggio.

He told me the real "Hot Lips" Hoolihan was "much more beautiful than Ms. Swit," and that the soldier on whom Klinger was based was gay (and was named Springer), but it was the Army that was trying to throw him out , while he wanted to stay in the service.

He served in both Korea and Vietnam and -- after concluding his service in intelligence work -- became a professor of history and political science.

Shaffer said he was always interested in politics. He hitch hiked to Des Moines in the '40s to see Thomas Dewey and Harry Truman open their campaign offices.

And now here he was, sitting in a McDonald's in Denver, another Hillary Clinton delegate who won't vote for Barack Obama. He says he didn't like what he said the Obama forces did in Iowa's caucuses, taking advantage of the state's same-day voter registration rule to pack the caucuses. "Many of them were Republicans and you'll never see them again," he said.

As precinct captain, he tried to get the other Clinton supporters in Ottumwa to support Obama. None would. "I won't vote for John McCain," he told me.

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Security at the convention

Posted at 12:31 AM on August 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: The political conventions

These are delegates and dignitaries arriving around 8 p.m. (9 Twin Cities time) at Pepsi Center, to see Hillary Clinton speak. I love the expression of the woman on the right. She just saw this...

It was a heck of a line to get through security. It didn't seem to be moving very fast and I wasn't certain people would get into the center in time to hear Clinton speak. But they did.

Where would this fit around Xcel Center? It feels to me as though the perimeters and various security zones are farther away from the arena than what's planned for St. Paul, although I can't prove it.

A bridge over a small river is where the delegate buses come in. I don't know why there's a tent over it. Perhaps there's some secret scanning equipment in there they don't want us to see. More likely: It's really hot out in the sun.

Here's where the traffic is detoured. I'd guess that if this were downtown St. Paul, this spot is about the same distance from the Pepsi Center as the MPR News Cut World Headquarters is from Xcel Energy Center.

On the other side of that spot, life goes on. People are out on the 16th Avenue mall (a much larger Nicollet Mall). Getting into restaurants is no problem.

There's no way St. Paul competes with this shopping area, by the way. Plenty of shops, plenty of restaurants. Hamm's Plaza is cute and all but one brew pub, a Jimmy John's, a Walgreen's and a closed movie house doesn't cut it in the competition.

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Live-blogging Midmorning: The young voter analyzed

Posted at 8:05 AM on August 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (16 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, The political conventions

(It's a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call for MPR's Midmorning staff. Producers Nancy Lebens and Chris Dall prepare for today's show hours before broadcast time. Kerri Miller is working in the background)

I'm live-blogging Midmorning today from (9-9:45 a.m. CT). We're talking about the youth vote and we'd like to put your views on the air. During the session on election reform the other day, it was fascinating how much of the effort is tied to the young voter. Why? Because the young voter isn't as committed to voting, according to research. They're impatient, they move faster in the world, and if the voting process doesn't go smoothly, they'll move on and go do something else.

And yet, the political parties are courting the youth vote.

If you have a view to share with the world, type it up below. Because Midmorning this week is being broadcast in several markets, it would be great if you'd indicate where you're from.

Our guests are: Molly Andolina, associate professor of political science at DePaul University; Robert Biko Baker, executive director of the League of Young Voters;
Justin Rockefeller, political activist, and co-founder and National Program Director of Generation Engage; and you.

9:05 a.m. - I'm listening to Kerri and the guests talking off-air. "How long are we on for?" one of the guests asks. "About 40 minutes," Kerri says. "Wow! Thorough," came the reply.

9:10 a.m. - Justin says "this time around is different" regarding the youth voter. We were told it would make a difference in '04; it didn't. He says New York is one of the places where it's difficult to get young people to turn out.

Minnesota is one of the places where young people do turn out. Baker says same-day registration is one of the reasons for that.

Molly Andolina says young people have never turned out since 1972 (that would be me!). Young people are more likely to move around, and less likely to be involved in their communities. The gap in voter participation between young people and old people grew widest for Generation X in the '80s but they closed the gap in '04.

9:15 a.m. Good comments already. Social networking is the way to ground young people into the community. So that has to show up this year at the polls if true, right? I was walking down the street yesterday marveling at all of the people who were disengaged from where they were. They were all texting or on the phone. Maybe a young person's definition of community isn't geographic. Maybe their community is their "friends on the other end of the message."

9:17 a.m. - Baker says peer-to-peer networking is the best way to increase voter participation. "We sent African Americans into Latino neighborhoods and it didn't work," he said.

"This generation needs authenticity; they've been marketed to since birth. They don't want a politician or a musical person telling them who to vote for," Andolina says.

9:21 - Krissy from New York City says, "you know how you can put signs in your yard? They have the same thing on Facebook and everytime your friend joins a group, a sign pops up that says 'your friend is supporting Obama.'

"It works," Baker says. "This is the 21st century and the tools we use right now are going to be used for the next 20-30 years."

9:23 a.m. - Rockefeller says face-to-face is still going to be important, "because young people want to get out and socialize."

9:25 a.m. - Andolina says the current generation is more willing to sacrifice and represents the new "greatest generation." We've got to discussion that. Where's the evidence that the young generation is willing to sacrifice to the degree that the World War II generation did, as Andolina seemed to suggest?

9:28 a.m. - Rockefeller says the war is "not in the abstract" for young people and remains an issue. Biko Baker says the economy and college debt (he has $140,000 in college debt.Is that usual?) are main issues.

9:35 a.m. - "This generation volunteers more than any previous generation," Rockefeller says. I need to start seeing some data on some of these generational comparisons.

9:37 a.m. - I want to go back to something Andolina said. "Authenticity." There's almost nothing authentic about politics. This convention is a perfect example. Maybe one of the reasons young people don't engage more, is that they think politics is fake. Comments?

9:42 a.m. - A good exchange between a caller and Rockefeller. "Obama looks like change, but is he change?" The caller, a 16 year old, says she's seeing much more interest in school in politics than before.

9:44 a.m. - Here's a link that a guest just mentioned. Generation Vote.

Here's the link for Generation Engage.

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Denver Diaries: How retail ramps up

Posted at 3:01 PM on August 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: The political conventions, The political conventions

The following dispatch comes from my colleague Nikki Tundel

The Denver Police Department isn't the only organization bringing in back-up from around the state. Walgreen's is also supplementing its staff with muscle from beyond the capital city.

I stopped in one of the chain's downtown stores and was promptly greeted by seven employees, all in matching blue shirts. There were at total of 27 employees working the floor. Given that workers outnumbered customers, most of the staff members were busy straightening the packages of toilet paper and rearranging the rows of air fresheners. (I will admit that the place looked great.)

Not only did Walgreen's recruit additional staff, it also decided to hawk some political merchandise, right along side the bags of beef jerky and boxes of hair dye. The store was offering convention T-shirts, shot glasses, water bottles and Pez dispensers. Plus, it was selling electronic dolls of Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama. All three sing and wiggle around when you squeeze their hands.

That's all well and good. But, according to one manager, the biggest seller this week has been tobacco.

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Denver Diaries: Reporter Romney

Posted at 10:07 AM on August 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, The political conventions

Being a "credential challenged" member of the media (the DNC insisted it couldn't give arena credentials to all the media), I was intrigued by the above photo, which appeared this morning on the front page of the Denver Post.

Let's look closer...

Oh really, governor? Press? You couldn't get your own credential? And who was the very important member of the media who gave up his/her access for you?

I'm betting I'll be posting more stories today than Mitt Romney. From outside Pepsi Center, of course.

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How to be a political convention volunteer

Posted at 4:05 PM on August 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: The political conventions

I know a lot of you in the Twin Cities are planning to volunteer during the Republican National Convention. You've probably had some sort of training, but perhaps you're still unsure just how you're supposed to act.

The News Cut School of Political Convention Volunteering is now in session. Everyone quiet down, we have a special guest with us today.

Jim Felder of Yellow Springs, Ohio was spending last winter in South Carolina when he saw Barack Obama speak at his alma mater. "We should try to go to the convention," he said to his wife. "We should go as volunteers."

So they drove to Denver from Ohio this week and stopped at a volunteer center. He was assigned the task of going out on the street, handing out maps of the city and being nice to people.

He's good at it.

And you can be, too. Just watch this:

Remember: This course is pass-fail. The final is next week.

Class dismissed.

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Walking away from history

Posted at 3:55 PM on August 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: The political conventions

I wonder if Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address was as good in person as it reads on paper?

I didn't watch Hillary Clinton's speech to the Democratic National Convention last night because I don't really like convention speeches as delivered. They're full of applause lines and rehearsed spontaneity.

But take the same speech and read it off a printed page later, and the beauty of the writing shines, regardless of whether you agree with their meaning.

So today I picked up a copy of the transcript of her speech at the convention press office, and read it on the light-rail ride back to the hotel. I'm sure it was powerfully delivered, but I'll bet it was more powerfully written.

Here's the line that I found compelling in its simplicity:

"My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election year my daughter got to vote for her mother for president."

Forget about Obama vs. Clinton and Obama vs. McCain for a second and let's ponder this pretty powerful point.

Today, Sen. Clinton released her delegates so they can vote for Barack Obama in a show of unity. In the end, they'll nominate Obama by acclimation in the belief that such an action will somehow make a difference to someone who isn't strutting about Denver this week.

Sen. Clinton, whether you agree with her or not, has done something over the last two years that no other woman in history has done -- she came close to being nominated to run for president by her (major) party.

Now the discussion I hope you'll have here: Pretend you're a delegate pledged to Mrs. Clinton. You've worked for two years and you believe her accomplishment is as meaningful as that vote her daughter got to cast for her. You're at the end of the road and you have one opportunity to tell your grandchildren that you did something particularly meaningful in the history of the country's politics.

How can you not cast that vote?

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The 15,000

Posted at 11:27 PM on August 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: The political conventions

The Columbia Journalism Review has a hysterical piece that chronicles the 15,000 journalists who are here.

14,000 are wearing terrible suits
4,021 are smuggling bad-mouthing the convention
500 don't have credentials but are trying desperately to get them.
150 are in the CNN grill

He left out "fixing their hair" (see above). It appears to be all TV hosts know how to do when the camera isn't on.

(H/t: Sasha Aslanian)

The article is an enjoyable read. But a serious comment attached to it makes a stab at more serious endeavors.

The problem with such tiring criticism of the national political conventions is that it comes from critics who simply don't understand what really happens there every four years. The conventions are about a lot more than just nominating a president, selecting a vice president and adopting a platform to get them elected. National political conventions are about change. The real lasting changes take place off the convention floor, out of the camera lens' range, in each state caucus, rump session and hospitality suite. Tomorrow's leaders grab the reins, yesterday's fade into history. Ideas are exchanged between state and local government officials who learn proven new ways to solve their problems. New courses are charted at the state, county and city levels. That's what most of the reporters assigned to cover these gatherings of the nation's political leaders and volunteers are doing in Denver and will be doing in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Too bad the talking heads don't understand that.

I haven't been tagging along with the Minnesotans -- we've got plenty of reporters here to do that -- but a glance bears witness to the rising powers in the DFL. Names like Tarryl Clark, R.T. Rybak, Patricia Torres Ray contrast with the names from the 1996 convention in Chicago -- Paul Wellstone, Roger Moe, Skip Humphrey. If you're in the mood for a trip down whatever-happened-to-him lane, sift through the 1996 election story archive.

Useless convention trivia - A vice presidential candidate automatically becomes the person-to-beat to succeed the person at the top of the ticket if elected. Joe Biden will be 74 in 2016 -- two years older than Sen. John McCain is now.

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