New Media Watch

Thousands of Convention ‘Channels’

When I covered national political conventions in the 1980s, political junkies back home had only a few ways to receive convention news – via a few TV networks and local stations, newspapers, or radio. By contrast, interested citizens who want to follow the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions will have literally thousands of information sources to choose from. And the information will come much faster, and will be entirely mobile.

The three major TV networks have reduced their convention coverage over the years, but the proliferating cable news networks will fill the gap, providing plenty of coverage. A number of national talk radio shows will also report from the conventions. The big change, however, will be the hundreds of bloggers, many state-based who will post regularly from the floor with their delegations, along with minute-by-minute convention feeds from Twitter, that you can receive on your cell phone all day long.

An article by Joel Berg in Politics magazine notes that both Democrats and Republicans will be streaming live video on the web. But they will also offer Twitter feeds, updated Facebook pages, MySpace profiles, Digg.com links, and frequently-updated YouTube channels. The Democrats have already created a Flickr photo album. Republicans have launched a YouTube contest soliciting videos about volunteerism, with the winning video to be aired at the convention. Web video feeds will allow customization by viewers, so someone at home on a computer can choose to watch the speaker at the podium or other cameras monitoring delegates on the floor. Lots of bloggers will also provide audio and video clips. In all, there will be thousands of channels of information emanating from the conventions, a cornucopia of information delivered to micro-audiences.     

Jobless Rates at Four-Year High

Utah economist Jeff Thredgold’s Tea Leaf economic update  this week notes that the U.S. economy has experienced a quarter of declining Gross Domestic Product, and some economists believe a recession is currently under way. Job losses are continuing, but losses are not as great as forecasted. The job market is one of the toughest on record for teens, with the teen jobless rate at 20%. But Thredgold notes that if the U.S. economy is in recession, it is much milder than the recession of 2001, when job losses were almost triple what they are today. 

Today in Political History

Aug. 7, 1782:  George Washington creates the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers.

Aug. 7, 1789:  The War Department is established by Congress.

Aug. 7, 1998:  al Qaida sets off bombs at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people - including 12 Americans - and injuring more than 5,500.  (Source:  NY Times) 

Wise Words

“The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.”

-- Alexander Hamilton  Federalist No. 21  (Source:  Patriot Post) 

Utah Political History

The Election of 1944

Held five months after the successful Allied landing at Normandy in France, the 1944 election was an expression of Utah's commitment to stay with its wartime leaders, at least until World War II was over. Franklin D. Roosevelt carried Utah for a fourth time, with 150,088 votes to 97,891 for Republican Thomas E. Dewey. Herbert B. Maw won re-election to a second term as governor. However, he only narrowly defeated the Republican contender J. Bracken Lee by just over a thousand votes -- 123,907 to 122,851. The Utah State Legislature remained in the firm grip of Democrats, with a 45 to 15 margin in the House and an 18 to 5 count in the Senate.  (Source:  Utah.edu) 

National Politics

Best Stories From . . .

-- Politico: "In the two months since Barack Obama captured the Democratic nomination, he has hit a ceiling in public opinion polling, proving unable to make significant gains with any segment of the national electorate. While Obama still leads in most matchups with John McCain, the Illinois senator's apparent stall in the polls is a sobering reminder to Democrats intoxicated with his campaign's promises to expand the electoral map beyond the boundaries that have constrained other recent party nominees."

-- Chicago Tribune: Columnist Clarence Page says Obama is stalling in the polls because of "McCain's refusal to be scary or outrageous enough. Although [McCain] has yet to win the hearts and minds of his party's conservative base, Republicans could hardly have picked a better candidate in this, their hour of woe. He has maintained enough of his maverick image to resist Democratic efforts to re-brand him as Bush's third term."
 
-- The Hill: "A growing majority of Americans believe that Congress should stay in session until an up-or-down vote is held on drilling, according to a poll released Wednesday by a Republican pollster."
 
- RealClearPolitics: Columnist Reid Wilson: "In a time when virtually every issue ... favors Democrats, Republicans have hit on a political positive they hope can lift their party back into contention this year. But as the Summer driving season comes to a close and gas prices ease off their record highs, the GOP's hopes may hinge on voters agreeing that even gas at $3.50 a gallon is too high, a premise that has not always panned out."

Blog Watch

-- At Out of Context, Robert Gehrke notes: "After visiting the Department of Commerce on Tuesday with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., we took the opportunity to ask him what his thoughts were on the timing for announcing Sen. John McCain's vice presidential nominee. Huntsman, a McCain backer who has been mentioned in some circles as a possible nominee for the second spot, said he doesn't anticipate an announcement until after the Summer Olympics. And has he, like some of the other potential nominees, been vetted? 'Only by my wife,' he replied."

Lighter Side

Conan O’Brien: In a speech [recently], Barack Obama said he’s distantly related to the famous 19th century gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok. After hearing this, John McCain said, ‘Big deal, I went to high school with him’.

Jay Leno: Well, [last week] Congress officially apologized for slavery. Not a moment too soon, huh? You hate to see these things fester until there’s a lot of animosity. Thank God they nipped it in the bud like that. ... Congress is going on a much-deserved break. They got so much done this year. They don’t even call it a vacation; they call it a recess. Let’s see who gets recess: kindergarten, Congress and juries. The three you can’t trust to make an adult decision. ... Barack Obama may still pick a woman for VP, but not Hillary Clinton. Yeah. Well today, a top Hillary Clinton supporter named Lanny Davis said it was “inconceivable” that Obama would pick another woman over Hillary, to which Bill said, “It’s not that inconceivable.” ... Yeah that’s the big talk, they say Barack Obama could decide to go with another woman. See that’s what killed John Edwards’ chances of being VP—he decided to go with another woman. ... Barack Obama told Tom Brokaw the other day on “Meet the Press” that what he’s looking for in a VP is a person who will tell him when they thought he was wrong, to which President Bush said, “Trust me, that gets old really fast.” ... Beijing skies are so polluted that Chinese authorities are planning emergency measures for the Olympics. For example, protesters will now only be run over with hybrid tanks.