Campaigns & Elections articles from September 2004

Campaigns & Elections archives from September 2004

Reading the political tea leaves.(Editor's Note)(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... TRYING TO DIVINE how decision makers at the House party committees choose which candidates to support can be tricky business. There is plenty of room for Monday morning quarterbacking after each election cycle about which candidates might have...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... Dear Campaigns & Elections, In your December 2003/January 2004 issue there is an excellent article "Help to the States," written by Associate Editor Morgan E. Felchner. I came across the DLCC name (Democratic Legislative Campaign...

Era of close elections: nothing new.(On the Record)
September 1, 2004... The presidential election of 2000 will always be remembered for its closeness. The saga of Republican George W. Bush's 271-267 Electoral College win over his Democratic opposition, despite Al Gore's 540,520 popular vote plurality, hung on the...

Music and politics: getting it just right for the campaign event.(Inside Politics)
September 1, 2004... The posh lounge in Baltimore's football stadium was packed with well-heeled, middle-aged and elderly Democrats who wanted to see the party's presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry. And finally, out he walked to the rousing music of--Van...

An unconventional political autobiography.(Inside Politics)(Rough Edges: My Unlikely Road From Welfare to Washington)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Tales of smoking pot, breaking up bar fights and profanity-laced conversation are not usually recounted in political autobiographies. Yet these and other politically incorrect activities form the backdrop for James E. Rogan's "Rough Edges: My...

Don't plan that vacation just yet.(Inside Politics)
September 1, 2004... Election officials might not be planning vacations for Nov. 3 this year. After the prolonged decision in the 2000 presidential contest, they and campaign staff members alike are preparing for a similar outcome. The possibility of recounts could...

Peggy Noonan.(New Jobs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Read her lips; Peggy Noonan is back in the game. Noonan, a speechwriter in the Reagan White House, announced a three-month sabbatical from her Wall Street Journal column to volunteer for the Republican '04 cause. Noonan's last political...

Buchanan Ingersoll PC.(New Jobs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Pittsburgh law firm Buchanan Ingersoll PC hired Ronald Platt as director of federal government relations. The firm assigned Platt to their Washington, D.C., office. Platt has worked on the last three Democratic presidential tickets,...

AKP Message & Media.(Firm Changes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Axelrod & Associates reincorporated under the name AKP Message & Media. President David Axelrod said the move reflects the contributions of partners David Plouffe and John Kupper. Kupper started with Axelrod 16 years ago, and Plouffe joined the...

Phoenix Consulting Group.(Firm Changes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Ira Sockowitz is stepping out of consulting to join the office of D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. As a senior advisor for intergovernmental relations, Sockowitz will cover Capitol Hill and the National League of Cities. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Direct Line Politics.(Firm Changes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A new recruit, Stephanie Beyer, joined Direct Line Politics. The Alexandria, Va.-based direct mail firm brought on Beyer as an account executive. Beyer previously worked in Atlanta at Alston & Baird, she has roots in Virginia. Her father, Don...

National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund.(Firm Changes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... After a four-year run, Ernesto L. Saldana stepped down as communications director for the National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund. Saldana started a new gig at Public Allies Los Angeles, a nonprofit...

Eagleton Institute of Politics Center for Public Interest Polling.(Firm Changes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The Eagleton Institute of Politics Center for Public Interest Polling at New Jersey's Rutgers University appointed pollster Jeff Levine as director. Levine comes to Rutgers from Westhill Consulting, where he served as managing director....

Campaign consultant sign-ups.
September 1, 2004... Bannon Communications Research/D--general and polling National Treasury Employees Union Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee Blaemire Communications/D--voter lists, direct mail and political computer services ...

John McHenry.(Movers & Shakers)
September 1, 2004... Vice president of Ayres, McHenry & Associates, Inc., a Republican polling firm in Alexandria, Va. MeHenry's primary responsibility is to administer research. The firm works with congressional and statewide candidates as well as state House and...

Anna Greenberg.(Movers & Shakers)
September 1, 2004... Vice President, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQR), a Democratic polling firm in Washington, D.C. Greenberg works on the firm's presidential research for groups like MoveOn.org and the Media Fund, and polls for other organizations such as...

Passing the test: making business-like decisions about which candidates to back.(Feature)(Cover Story)
September 1, 2004... Over the next few days and weeks, staff members at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) will play out an age-old debate as they plot the 40 or so races that will...

The Internet advertising dilemma: promoting candidates on local television station Web sites.(Feature)
September 1, 2004... If at first the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) bans your type of advertising, try another medium. This may be what campaigns look to do during the last 60 days before the general election and 30 days before a primary. The new campaign...

House rematches 2004: republicans fielding familiar challengers.(Feature)
September 1, 2004... The GOP seems to have modified a popular proverb on persistence: If at first you don't get trounced, give it one more shot. At least that is what Republicans have asked of candidates who came pretty close to winning last time. Although nine in...

Internet [sic] miscellany.(Campaignland)
September 1, 2004... A few items from the online campaigning file: The Case for the lower case: Tony Long, the copy chief at Wired News, announced that as of Aug. 16, the high-tech news service will no longer capitalize the words "internet," "net," and "web." We...

Provisional ballots still an unsettled issue.(Voting Matters)
September 1, 2004... Consider two possible Election Day scenarios in disparate parts of the country where two citizens attempt to vote with provisional ballots. In Seattle, a would-be voter arrives at a polling place in his county, but cannot be located on...

The Internet as a get out the vote tool.(Opinion)
September 1, 2004... The lesson from Howard Dean's failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination was that the Internet could raise money, but it couldn't produce votes. Now, with new tools, some of which did not exist six months ago, the Internet will...

Predicting turnout in a presidential election.(Opinion)
September 1, 2004... With Election Day only two months away, many campaigns are grappling with two questions. Which voters will show up on Nov, 2? And which voters should be the targets of get-out-the-vote (GOTV) activities? This is the presidential election....

Post-war politics in Croatia.(International Politics)
September 1, 2004... ZAGREB, Croatia -- After last November's Croatian parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, leader of conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), formed a new government. His goals in office include guiding his country toward...

Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and what Americans Can Do About It.(Ron's Picks)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and what Americans Can Do About It, by Peter G. Peterson, Farrar Straus and Giroux, 239 pages, July 2004, $24.00 Challenges both major political parties,...

Polling Matters: Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People.(Ron's Picks)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Polling Matters: Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People, by Frank Newport, Warner Books, 302 pages, July 2004, $26.00 Looks at political survey research from a variety of perspectives. Written by Gallup's editor-in-chief, this...

The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever.(Ron's Picks)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever, by Cass Sunstein, Basic Books, 294 pages, June 2004, $25.00 Argues that President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1944 state of the union address was the...

Tripping up on Internet campaigning.(Books)(The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Of all the presidential campaigns that never won a single significant victory at the polls, the Dean for America campaign may be the most historic. Howard Dean, his staff and his supporters slapped the Democratic Party out of its dazed...

A son of Kansas calls home state politically misguided.(Books)(What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Kansas is in many ways a three-party state--Democrats, moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans. The fratricidal war among the latter two groups sets a backdrop for Thomas Frank's liberal critique of his home state in "What's the...

Buyer's guide: GOTV.(Where to Find It, Where to Buy It: GOTV)(Directory)
September 1, 2004... All information was provided by the companies listed. They are responsible for its accuracy and completeness. For updates, see the Campaigns & Elections Web site at www.campaignline.com. Organized by major office location. AMERICAN GOTV...

Preparing for a recount.(Campaign Doctor)
September 1, 2004... What precautions should we take for a recount? Background: Recounts or contested elections are very rare (only 1 percent of all elections) and require evidence of error, irregularities or wrongdoing, and a close enough margin so that...

Off the record.
September 1, 2004... "Vice presidential candidate John Edwards drinks four diet Cokes every morning. When asked why, Edwards said, 'You'd drink that much caffeine if you had to stand next to John Kerry all day.'" --Conan O'Brien "The Democrats kept...