Shy McCain

It is a bit offputting to read that John McCain's fundraising events are closed to the press.
Why, I wonder?
What don't they want us to know?

The big thing I wish the media would "out" McCain for is his dependence on teleprompters.
I was scandalised when I saw him speak in Manchester, NH, straight from a teleprompter which had been hauled out and set up in the middle of a public park for him. Gobsmacked is probably not an understatement for my shock. I was under the impression that, especially when it came to their own stump speeches, politicians knew the script.
Hillary certainly did. Obama did. Giuliani did. Bill Richardson did...
But there was old McCain, "Mr Experience", showing that he was not au fait with his own lines.
And, I gather, not a lot has changed.
I have watched the eye movement in the crowds as he gives his addresses and, yes, they seem to be moving from specific focal points...
No spontaneity.
Indeed, spontaneity seems to be his downfall.
The YouTube clips which are the big hit of the moment prove that to be so. He does, he does not know about the economy. He does not know what he knows, it seems.
Which is why he has to read it all nicely written down.

Oh, deary me.

Michelle Obama in cottonwool

Michelle Obama should be "off limits"?
There should be no comment about her comments? That tough, outspoken, high-agenda woman out on the campaign trail beside him should attract no comment?
The fact that only once has she ever felt proud of her country should not be mentioned?

Come on Barack Obama.

You are running for the position of president of the United States.
You are playing in the big school.
Nothing is "off limits".

Unless it be puerile demands that the wife is off limits.

Obama, the un-sweetie

And another little sign emerges from Obama.
Another danger sign.

In the latest incident he called a woman journalist "sweetie" - when also refusing to answer her question. He told her that "sweetie", he would answer questions later at what he calls a "media avail". In fact he did not answer the question at all. He did no "media avail" and, apparently, he shirks them whenever he can. I will not be surprised to hear somewhere along the line from Barack and Michelle that they deem the media one of the great white evils.

Meanwhile, clearly Obama has scant respect for journalists when he can disrespect a female journalist asking a legitimate question with the patronising term of "sweetie".

Thirty years ago, men would use such demeaning familiarities to keep the little inferior women in their place. Honey, dear, love...
After the feminist revolution, only the most crass of sexist men dares to diminish women with these words.

In 2008, a man aspiring to be a world leader should know better.

He has dismissed this insult with a light-hearted response that, well, he has a bit of a bad habit with these little endearments.

No, Obama, that is not a "habit", it is an "attitude".

Get Hillary - its the only choice.

It is all getting rather silly - and very worrying.
I watched what we were able to see on TV of the ABC Hillary/Barack debate, topping up content with online clips. Unless one is there, it is very hard these days to get any report which is not skewed with opinion.
The big loser of the debate according to all and sundry was the ABC for its pussyfooting and puny questioning.

Now, some of the commentators are saying that the ABC's biggest fault was that it was anti-Obama and therefore pro Clinton.

We have reached a stage of this nightmarish primary in which almost anything at all is deemed anti-Obama. While Hillary is a prime target for all the bile of the right with its entrenched Clinton hate agenda, Obama is protected by that exquisite American prerequisite for political correctness.

Since all criticism of Obama can be seen as racist, there can be no criticism. It backfoots Hillary badly - and puts a compromise on the open blather of the political pundits. So, if one is going to snipe and carp and criticise and keep that old media ball rolling with beat-up controversy, the middle class white woman with her sinful husband is the only way to go.

Oh, what a Catch 22.

Good onto Hills!

Hillary had more faith in Hillary than the rest of us. Fie upon us.
Look at these uplifting wins in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island today. Let's hope Pennsylvania is on its way.
This will make it pretty even as it goes off to the convention. A cliffhanger to the end.

I am so happy about Hillary's wins today.

Annoyingly, I have to watch coverage of it on Fox news. The Fox election coverage has been nauseating me for some time. Well, ever since I have had to watch it.
It is a disservice that Rupert Murdoch does to the USA, allowing Australia only to see 24-hour US news from Fox. CNN is shown on cable but it is a special Pacific version which is tediously dominated by business and finance. Sky is dominated by sport.
So, if one is interested in general US news, Fox is it.

Hence, we have those ugly, smug Fox anchors unctuously faking objectivity in Democratic coverage.

Beggars can't be choosers. So I watch avidly deep into the Australian night.
It is stressful.


But at least there are signs that not all of the USA is brainwashed by Fox.
The people are recognising that Hillary has the goods that the country really needs.

Political baggage check

Poll-watching is the sport of the moment. It is not unpleasant since it is Hillary Clinton's name which is up there on top. She continues to work the country - as they all do. Campaigning for the nomination is an exhausting business - and after a full year of that, the winning candidates will face another ten months of campaigning to win the presidency. This game is not for the weak or lazy.

Which is why I think it is probably a good idea that the actor/Republican Fred Thompson stays out there in undecided land. One gathers from the biographical details that laziness has been a lifelong characteristic. This explains why he has still not declared his candidacy - despite displacing Romney, McCain and others in the polls.

The Republican race is honing down to Giuliani versus Romney. They both have a lot of baggage so it will be interesting to see how the media weighs it up and penalises them both. In an odd way, it is the same baggage. Wives. Giuliani is much maligned for the fact that he is on his third wife. Romney derives from not only a religion but a family which represents polygamy. Of course Romney regularly reiterates the official line that the Mormons discontinued polygamy in 1890. But it is not so. Right when Romney needs it least, HBO has come up with Big Love, a brilliant television drama series which portrays the various worlds of Mormon polygamy and everyone is riveted and learning about Mormonism. Big Love is a "now" series about a "now" issue.
Sooner or later, Romney will have to stop sidestepping this and come clean on his religion.
And while he is at it, some of us would like to know about how he made the millions which set him up as the richest presidential candidate, worth a quarter of a billion dollars? It is my impression that much of this wealth was creamed off from that business management business by which companies are bought, scaled right back and then sold off. People and their jobs are the casualties of this ugly business game. And while workers are laid off, management consultants responsible for the ruthless toecutting are fleecing away immense fees. Perhaps some of those displaced workers will hold up their hands as the campaign evolves. Surely they are Romney baggage we have yet to see. Where are you mainstream media? Get digging.


Whichever of the front runners America chooses, it will have to be over the barrel of at least one major cultural hurdle....
An Italian who does not keep his wedding vows.
A millionaire Morman.
A black man.
A woman.

Come in Spinners

When the debate ends, the spin begins. And there is a special room for it.
Fortunately, on the drizzling, cold New Hampshire night, the Spin Room was in the building right beside the media's giant File Room. We just had to scuttle past a couple of rain-protected State Troopers and into the bright lights of spin. It was another vast, high-ceilinged Saint Anselm indoor sporting arena of some sort. But the sport was spin - with keen volunteers gathered around towers bearing the names of the candidates, all of tem holding signs aloft. These identified the candidates' spin doctors. Yes. True story. The media was invited to get the spin. Now, we all know that spin is PR - so this struck me as a bizarre ritual for journalists - go interview the PR people? Isn't that what we want to avoid? To be fair, these good news-bearers were campaign strategists, pollsters and, well, important people had endorsed a candidate.

Of course it was hoped that the candidates themselves would appear in the Spin Room before the night was over - but for some time they would be engaged in post-mortem interviews back in the debate hall which was some distance away. So the media swarmed around the Spin Room earnestly interviewing the spinsters.

They gathered in tight clutches, notepads and tape recorders to the fore, hanging on every word. Every grouping attracted curious rivals - anxious not to miss a scoop. I simply couldn't see this as scoop territory, but I played along.

Bruce recognised the very powerful political advisor and Hillary confidant Mandy Grunwald so I zeroed in. I liked the look of her, as it happens - but I was not about to make her like me. I'd decided to go for the nitty-gritty, the thing which is worrying us most of all in the Hillary Clinton candidacy - the "baggage".
Thus did I enumerate the Bill baggage, the 2002 vote for the War on Iraq baggage, the fact that American voters think she is too ambitious baggage and the fact that she is a woman baggage, asking Grunwald if America could ever let go of this, since every time I mentioned my preference for Hillary, people responded with a baggage agenda.
Grunwald gave me something of a withering look and said: "In case you hadn't noticed, she is ahead."

Yes, I had noticed, but there was a long way to go and media corrosion applied to baggage in American politics presented a need for constant defence. Could Hillary surmount the baggage over the distance? How hard was it?
Grunwald, her eyes raking the room for someone or something, told me that Hillary is definitely the most able candidate for the job, the most experienced and best and that, despite baggage, the polls were going strongly her way.
But what of the national sexism, what about America voting for a woman?
Here her spin ended.
"We shall just have to wait and see," she sighed.
I left it at that.
There really is nothing left to say. Indeed, there is a long way to go before the NH primary vote in January. Hillary has been working very hard in the state and I do believe she has won many hearts and minds. But there could so easily be a slipup. John Edwards lost ground with his $400 haircut. As the Washington blogger told me when we swapped notes, Edwards is now irreparably handicapped by that extravagance. He is a joke. Just as John Kerry in 2004 was doomed from the moment the media labelled him "Flip Flop". It only takes one little thing in this game.
The up side is that all the Democratic candidates are good - a quality of politician of which we could only dream in Australia.
And, unlike in Australia, they are accountable to the voters - not picked for leadership in some backroom, faction-driven party in-deal.


Clearly the Spin Room media was in for the long haul, waiting for candidates to turn up. They milled and jostled, killed time with interviews and photographs that will never see the light of day and jealously watched the CNN post debate interviews on a giant TV screen.


Bruce and I figured we could watch them more comfortably at home - and set off into the night drizzle, past the rows of trucks topped by satellite dishes, giant high-tech OB vans, damp outdoor reportage tents and the big, shiny CNN Express bus, parked in a dazzle of floodlights on one of the campus lawns.

Indeed, we were able to catch up on the television coverage at home and, heavens above, who was that looking earnest in the midst of the Spin Room throng? 'Twas me.

CNN puts on the Debate ritz

No need to consult the map or ask for directions to Saint Anselm College where the big Democratic Debate takes place tonight. It was more like following a colourful breadcrumb trail - campaign posters and groups of chanting supporters raising the profile for their chosen presidential candidates marked the route through the back streets of Manchester, NH. If the roadside turnout reflects voter popularity, John Edwards is leagues ahead with his bunches of banner-waving people. Then again, if spread of lawn placards is the indicator, Bill Richardson had won the front yards of Manchester, prongs down. On the other hand, if size is the winning quality, Hillary just stood right out. Her signs were few, but absolutely huge.

As we swung into the College campus drive, just past the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, the supporter crowds chanted raucous welcome.

The media parking area was a bit of a suprise. It was as big as an oval and already crammed with cars. We were directed down and in, a long way, ending up parked beside a shock of pink rhododendron at the far end. Of course it was raining - so we donned the old rain gear and shuffled off through the long wet grass. Blech. My smart sneakers are not waterproof.

It was quite a walk to the Press Centre where, despite the door being right there, we were told to walk the perimeter of the building and approach the credentialling room from the other side. More rain. More shuffling through long, wet lawn. Then the queue to get in. Security is tight. We went through the full airport routine - emptying pockets into plastic trays, having bag contents scrutinsed, walking through screener arches, getting the wand once-over...

And then it was the credentials. No problem at all, and a cheery welcome from CNN's delightful Mara Gassmann, with whom I had been liaising for access to this event.


"Seats are allocated," we were told. "You just have to find them."

Oh, dear. Who could have imagined the scale of this thing! Where to begin looking when faced with row upon row upon row of tables and chairs laid out in the Carr Center - a room so caverous and vast it felt like like Centennial Hall on steriods.

And there, laid out on the trestle tables, were the names of America's top journalists..the NY Times, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post... Bruce swooned.

We figured that, as antipodean ring-ins, would not be in their midst. I headed for the back of the hall, and sure enough, in the back row, there were Bruce's and my name between Le Monde and, how nice, NewsLtd Australia! CNN has very thoughtfully placed our terrific NY correspondent, Stefanie Balogh, beside us! Camaraderie, no less! Beside us is Le Figaro and De Spiegel along with the London Telegraph. In front of us are Japan, Sweden, China and Switzerland. The world media, in other words.
Thus do we sit with the vista before us, beautifully placed to see the ebb and flow of almost 800 journalists - along with scores of TV monitors all showing CNN's coverage of the event.

An hour and a half before showtime, dinner was served. CNN has spared no expense - hot Atlantic salmon and Chicken kievs, masses of veggies and rice, cakes, bread, fruit... The head caterer assures me there are no trans fats, either. Yippee.
It is all presented with classy, china-thin disposable plates and even very upmarket disposable silverware. CNN has done this all before and does it with style.


Journos are meandering all over the place, looking for their seat allocations. Just chatted to a Washington blogger - he wanted to ask me the same things I wanted to ask him. In the end, we agreed that Bill Richardson may be the candidate to back if one was looking dispassionately at the big picture.

And this is what we are here to do.

Hillary's quiet lunch

It was suppposed to be a quiet lunch with some core VIP supporters - or so they thought, said New Hampshire Executive Councilor Debora Pignatelli as the crowd grew and grew around Martha's Exchange in Nashua. Debora, who had hosted us at the Democratic Debate house party, was among the chosen few actually lunching with Hillary and she was hungry, enviously asking what Bruce had been eating as his on-the-hoof lunch.
Seeing the cram of people plus the jostle of cameramen - Fox, CNN, WMUR, NBC, the Nashua Telegraph, the Union Leader and the Boston Globe among them - she knew she would be in for a long wait. But it was good networking time and this expert politician was chatting, introducing people and giving the good PR for Hillary. To this end, she presented me with the last of her collection of coveted "Women for Hillary" buttons which I donned proudly beside my Hillary for President sticker.

I was also wearing a white "ONE" wristband, presented by a group of placard-waving campaigners for peace and an end to world poverty.

The waiters of Martha's Exchange were busily serving sidewalk table diners as the Hillary fans massed around them.
Stern young female campaign volunteers were trying to steer people inside the restaurant where a Hillary handshake was promised to all.
I could see Debora's lunch getting later and later.
To the chagrin of the volunteers, after taking a peek at pack of people inside, I chose to stay outside with the media and the still-growing crowd.
It was a wonderful mix of young and old, a very positive, excited spiri. Many of these people were just in Nashua shopping and were thrilled at the opportunity to meet Senator Clinton. Others, like me, had heard word of this "town walk" on the campaign grapevine. Yet others had been invited to come along for an arranged handshake. Then there were the valiant Health Care campaigners out in force, as they are at every event, handing out their "I'm a Health Care Voter" stickers.

And, of course there were the security people and the police...and perhaps some who had just chosen, like Hillary, to have a quiet lunch at Martha's in dear old downtown Nashua.
Let us not forget that Nashua has a proud Presidential Primary tradition. It was, after all, where JFK gave his very first campaign speech. Nashua locals take such political happenings in their stride - nay, they expect them.

On being a small fish...

So much for depending on my own kind to get things done here.
As requested by its editor, I made application through the Union Leader for tickets to the June 3 Democratic Debate up the road in Manchester. They asked for some personal details to which end I had to use my husband's name since they seemed to wish for legitimate NH voter credentials.
No tickets were forthcoming.
Indeed, no word was forthcoming. Nada. Silence.

Perturbed, nay, gobsmacked, I contacted the Hillary campaign who directed me to the New Hampshire Democrats' office, the helpful press officer of which directed me to the Debate's co-host, the NH television station, WMUR. What a friendly and charming response - but no tickets. Their quota all went yesterday. Yesterday!

How frustrating is this!
I realise with a jolt what a spoiled media person I am. I am used to people knowing who I am. I am accustomed to people actually wanting me to be at events or to picking up a phone and having doors open. I am used to a diary bulging with in invitations.
But, as much as I feel at home here, I am not on home turf. I have no strings to pull.

At least I am carrying my media union card.
So, I followed the WMUR advice and have appealed to the Debate's other co-host, CNN - this time asking for the only access left, media accreditation.
My regret in this context is that being among my own kind will distance me from the special people of NH, the discerning voters, who are, to a large extent, what this blog is all about. Then again, being with my own kind in another country would be an interesting study in its own right.
And, of course, it would give one a yet closer look at the candidates - which can't be bad.
My fate, however, rests upon the kindness hands of strangers.
They don't owe me a thing.
I can only wait and see.

Meanwhile, there has been good news.
Hillary will be back in NH next week and she is scheduled to do a town walk in Nashua!
I will be there with bells on.