Elizabeth Warren(ing) Concern

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

The Elizabeth Warren (D-High Cheekbones) Dustup is starting to look like a major mismatch.

From today’s Boston Herald column by Joe Battenfeld:

Elizabeth Warren brings no peace to Dems

Elizabeth Warren’s stumbling efforts to douse the firestorm surrounding her claims of being a Native American minority have raised concerns among local and national Democrats who are questioning her campaign’s competence.

“There’s nobody watching this that doesn’t think she’s in big trouble,” one well-known Massachusetts Democrat said.

Nobody except readers of the Boston Globe, that is.

From today’s Boston Globe Letters to the Editor:

Absurd attacks on Warren over minority status

RE “Directories identified Warren as minority ” (Metro, April 30): I am nonplused about Senator Scott Brown’s attacking Elizabeth Warren for claiming minority status as a Native American. I am an enrolled Cherokee and have been on the faculty of three universities. I have listed myself as Native American because fact sheets request ethnicity, but I can assure you that no university hired me because of that. Sure, the universities claimed me as part of their minority faculty, but they hired me for competence.

The idea that Warren should have hidden her identity lest some future political opponent claim that she’s a fraud is absurd. Would Brown question how much black, Hispanic, white, or Asian blood an opponent might have?

Leave Warren’s ethnicity alone, and get back to the issues.

Clarence Duncan

Upton

Mr. Duncan might be nonplused (or more normally nonplussed), but here’s guessing plenty of other Massachusetts voters are plenty plussed over Warren’s apparent hypocrisy/opportunism/cluelessness.

Which leads us to the question that’s been lingering in the background from the start:

Is Elizabeth Warren not ready for prime time?

Discuss among yourselves.

 

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Consumers Union Goes Public Over Facebook’s Privacy Violations

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Advertising Age reports that Consumers Union has run a full-page ad in Politico blasting Facebook’s privacy policy.

Consumers Union Blasts Facebook in Full-Page Ad

Consumers Union took out a full-page ad in Politico today bashing Facebook’s privacy policies–or lack thereof. While the ad copy seems written to an average consumer, its placement in Politico is obviously an attempt to catch the eye of politicians.

The ad:

The text:

“Facebook and its users have a special relationship — one that makes the Web a more fun and social place. But Facebook has been keeping track of practically everything you’ve ever done on their site — and lots of other sites — and will only share some of that with you. Now they support allowing the government broad access to your records. Meanwhile, a national survey by Consumer Reports projected that nearly 13 million U.S. Facebook users have never set privacy controls — an essential step in using the biggest social network safely. Facebook should think twice about how it shares your private information … and so should you.”

The ad directs readers to hearusnow.org, which urges readers to “Tell Facebook to strengthen privacy!”

With Facebook about to go public, could privacy issues queer the deal?

 

Originally posted on the Newer! Improveder! Sneak ADtack!

 

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It’s Good To Live In A Two-Daily Town (My Big Cat Fight Wedding Edition)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Today’s Boston Herald front page says it all:

Jessica Heslam’s story is a hoot, filled with colorful quotes from the wedding brawlers.

And the Boston Globe?

A bland page 3 piece (headline “Wedding party ends in arrests”) that’s largely based on the police report of the arrrests.

This time, the Globe was a (not-so) lively index to the Herald, instead of the other way around.

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It’s Good To Live In A Two-Daily Town (Circulation Figures Edition)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

The Audit Bureau of Circulations has just released the latest figures for the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald, and as usual, the local dailies inhabit parallel universes in their coverage of the numbers.

For starters, the Globe report appears in the Business section; the Herald covers its circulation in the news section.

But the differences go way beyond that.

The Ledes

Boston Globe:

The Boston Globe’s paid circulation has grown for the first time since September 2004, according to an independent auditor of newspaper circulation.

Boston Herald:

The number of visitors to the Herald’s website has soared by a staggering 25 percent in the past year as more readers get their content online, the latest statistics show.

Some 2.6 million unique visitors — the most significant measure of website traffic — come to bostonherald.com on average every month.

The Actual Numbers

The Globe fudged its circulation by adding digital subscribers (aka lunch money):

Average Sunday circulation was 365,512 for the six months that ended in March, an increase of 2.5 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Average daily circulation rose nearly 2.9 percent during those same six months, to 225,482.

The numbers include print circulation and digital subscriptions to BostonGlobe.com, which was launched in October.

The Herald reported a knee-buckling decline in its print numbers:

The Herald’s print circulation was reported in the latest audit as 108,548 daily, a 12 percent decline over the past six months. Sunday print circulation is 81,925, an approximately 6 percent decline.

The Other’s Numbers

Globe:

Average daily circulation at the Boston Herald – which does not have paid digital subscriptions – fell 12.3 percent to 108,548 in the six months ended in March, compared with the same period a year before. The newspaper’s Sunday circulation declined 6.2 percent, to 81,925

Herald:

The new audit saw the Boston Globe’s daily print circulation fall below the 200,000 mark for the first time in its history, registering at 192,605 — a 10 percent drop.

The Globe did claim 33,000 paid subscribers to the online product for a total gain in paid readership of 2.9 percent.

But those online gains are to bostonglobe.com — a non-replica edition with little value to advertisers looking to have their print ads duplicated online.

The Quibbles

Contrary to what the Herald reported, BostonGlobe.com does generate revenue for the paper.

Contrary to what the Globe reported, the Herald does have paid digital subscriptions – to its electronic edition, which charges even for home subscribers.

Whatever. Both papers are in trouble.

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Let Lord Stanley’s Wild Rumpus Begin! (Triple Overtime Edition)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Say, that was some game between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals last night, yeah?

(Oh wait – you’re a Bruins fan. You don’t give a damn about the Stanley Cup playoffs anymore.)

Regardless, the hardworking staff is a lifelong Rangers fan, although – full disclosure – we really hated the 1994 team that finally ended the Rangers’ 50-year Stanley Cup curse.

But we kinda like the 2012 edition that won last night’s Game 3 triple-overtime masterpiece vs. the Capitals.

The game was distinguished by tight play, excellent goaltending, and a marked lack of chippiness.

In the multiple overtimes, the Rangers squandered two power plays; the Capitals hit the post at least twice.

And throughout, viewers were blessed with the call of the inestimable Doc Emrick, who said at the start of the third OT, “We’re just a few blocks from the White House. If the President is working late, he can still get here – it’s easy.”

Nothing else was, though.

And then it happened:

NY Rangers’ Marian Gaborik scores in third overtime of Game 3 to give Blueshirts 2-1 win over Washington Capitals

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Rangers grinded through their postseason house of horrors Wednesday night and emerged bleeding, limping and victorious from the Verizon Center, as Henrik Lundqvist and a team defense weathered the storm until Marian Gaborik lifted New York to a 2-1 triple-overtime win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semis and a 2-1 series lead.

After the game, NBC Sports analyst Pierre McGuire asked the Rangers’ Brad Richards, “How do you guard against overconfidence” in Game 4?

Hey, Pierre – it just took the Rangers three overtimes to beat those suckers. You think that breeds overconfidence?

See you at Game 4.

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Let The $4 Billion . . . Or $6 Billion . . . Or $9.8 Billion Rumpus Begin! (Last Half Of April Edition)

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Politico Influence tallies up the independent expenditures in just the second half of April, and the grand total is roughly $6 million in just a handful of races.

Here’s the damage:

CLUB FOR GROWTH, PRIORITIES USA ACTION SUPER PAC CLEAN UP IN LATE APRIL:When it comes to outside political forces making independent expenditures, the second half of April belonged to organizations operating on both ends of the political spectrum: the conservative Club for Growth and pro-Barack Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action. Together with its super PAC, Club for Growth Action, the Club for Growth logged more than $1.51 million worth of independent expenditures during April’s second half, a PI analysis of federal records indicates, with its heaviest spending going toward opposing the reelection of Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and supporting the candidacies of Republican candidates Richard Mourdock of Indiana, Jon Bruning of Nebraska and Scott Keadle of North Carolina. That compares to the $1.17 million Priorities USA Action spent for the same period, with all of that money specifically targeting Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting Mitt Romney with negative messages.

Also in late April making notable independent expenditures, which by definition are communications that overtly advocate for or against a political candidate:

— League of Conservation Voters/LCV Victory Fund: $818,420, much in opposition to Rep.Tim Holden (D-Pa.) and Romney.

— Indiana Values SuperPAC: $360,000, all in opposition to Mourdock.

— American Action Network: $336,656, most in opposition to Mourdock.

— YG Network: $241,078, most supporting Lugar.

— FreedomWorks for America: $203,141, much opposing Lugar.

— Patriot Majority USA: $197,191, all opposing Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.).

— Freedom Fund for America’s Future: $175,145, all opposing GOP candidate Tom Smith of Pennsylvania.

— The American Foundations Committee: $168,368, all opposing GOP candidate Paul Coble of North Carolina.

— Majority PAC: $167,471, supporting Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), opposing Lugar.

— National Association of Realtors Congressional Fund: $136,314, all supporting Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.).

Multiply that by September, then multiply that by about a thousand, and you have some idea of what an avalanche of money will be spent this election cycle.

That $9.8 billion is looking more realistic every day.

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Scott Brown (Hearts) Barack Obama

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Sen. Scott Brown (R-It’s Not Girly to Shoot Underhand) has a new Radio Report that grabs onto Barack Obama like a liferaft.

From MSNBC’s First Read:

Scott Brown cites pride in ‘standing with President Obama’ in ad

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) is going further in linking himself to President Obama in a new radio ad supporting his re-election.

NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell flags this new radio ad in Massachusetts in which Brown, in his own voice, talks up his bipartisan initiatives and the pride he felt in attending a signing ceremony at the White House in which Obama signed a vets’ jobs bill that Brown had authored.

The spot:

 

Look for Obama to serve as Brown’s BFF – Best Frenemy Forever – all the way to his reelection.

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NY Gives “Magic/Bird” The Finger

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

As the hardworking staff predicted several weeks ago, the Broadway production of Magic/Bird has fouled out early.

Boston Globe:

‘Magic/Bird’ to close on Broadway May 12

Shortly after the Tony nominations were announced on Tuesday and “Magic/Bird’’ wasn’t on the list of honorees, the producers of the Broadway production – which is about the rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird –announced that the show would end its run on May 12. “Magic/Bird’’ had its official opening at the Longacre Theatre on April 11. It stars Tug Coker as Johnson and Kevin Daniels as Celtics legend Bird.

Boston Herald:

[Y]ou’ve only got 10 more days to catch “Magic/Bird” on Broadway. The producers said yesterday the play about the bromance between Celtics legendLarry Bird and Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson will close May 12.

But fear not, basketball bromantics – this play will likely turn up in any number of dreadful local productions from here to LA.

Meanwhile, file under: Air ball.

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Restore Our Future Erases Its Past

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Restore Our Future, the scorched-earth super PAC that has spent north of $35 million blowtorching Mitt Romney’s GOP presidential primary opponents, has now burned the evidence.

From Politico:

Restore Our Future cleans its YouTube channel of negative primary spots

Restore Our Future, the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC that played a crucial role in bringing Newt Gingrich’s poll numbers back down to earth with a string of negative spots in Iowa, has scrubbed its YouTube channel of all but two of its spots.

The ones that are left are a contrast spot about Romney and President Barack Obama and one about Romney helping a Bain official search for a teenaged daughter who’d disappeared in New York City.

Thanks to the hardworking staff’s tireless tracking of the GOP presidential primary, the disappeared TV spots are described here, although our videos have also been disappeared.

Regardless . . .

Campaign Outsider. Ask for us by name.

P.S. Restore Our Future is currently spending $4 million on anti-Obama advertising in swing states.

The beatdown goes on.

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