Monday DNC Convention viewership up over 2004

Monday's convention was viewed by 22.3 million viewers. (For a sense of scale, that's about what American Idol got back in a standard week in April). From MarketWatch:

From 10-11 p.m. Eastern time, when ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, BET and TV One all carried live coverage of the convention, a combined total of nearly 22.3 million viewers tuned in, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.
An average of about 18 million watched six of those eight networks on July 26, 2004.
BET and TV One, which primarily target African-Americans, were not included in the 2004 data.

There was some question on last night's open thread as to why I was giving CNN's coverage additional play when many (myself included) feel overall the network has become a much more biased news outlet. Here's why:

There were significant gains for a number of cable networks, which had coverage throughout the evening. Among viewers 25-54 -- the news audience most coveted by advertisers -- CNN's audience jumped more than 125% to an average of about 1.37 million viewers, outpacing all cable news outlets. MSNBC's ratings in the demographic climbed 122% to an average of 847,000 viewers, while Fox News' ratings rose 42% to an average of 776,000.

With live news events, CNN usually leads the coverage. This was no exception. There were almost as many people watching CNN as MSNBC and Fox combined. I commented last night that it was unfortunate that Kennedy's speech didn't make the 10 PM hour. This is why:

Among the broadcast networks, NBC garnered the most viewers, with more than 4.7 million, representing a 4% gain over 2004.

When the networks preempt regular programming, audience grows dramatically. Last night, NBC in one hour had more viewers than all the cable networks combined. I will note that these numbers are for commercial television, and therefore won't include C-SPAN or visitors to the Democratic Convention website. Read More......

Tuesday Night Democratic Convention Open Thread

Mark Warner is giving the keynote now, and at 10:00 PM the networks will kick in with their coverage and Hillary's speech.

Let's try and be civil with each other the comments tonight. In order to win in November, we need a unified Democratic party. Why does it matter that Democrats come together? There are more Democrats than Republicans, and right now McCain and Obama are basically splitting independent voters. With a unified Democratic Party, even splitting independent voters should give Obama the edge. Let's see if Hillary does her part tonight. Read More......

How United Airlines screwed over an entire family

The good thing about being a blogger, is that when arrogant airlines like United screw you over and don't care, you can at least write about it, and help publicize articles like this, that are absolutely abominable. Read More......

Hallmark homophobes remove gay cards from stores

When you care enough to send some bigotry, try Hallmark. I'm all for Hallmark deciding to have cards honoring the marriages and commitment ceremonies of gay people - after all, it is the law in California and Massachusetts that gay couples can legally wed. But I do have a problem with Hallmark saying it's okay for it's stores to not carry the new gay wedding cards because, you know, some local Hallmark stores don't like homos. Would Hallmark headquarters let local stores pull cards that are geared to the black community because, you know, some local Hallmark stores don't like black Americans? Hallmark though it had a problem with the religious right, that's rabble-rousing to try to get stores to the pull the gay cards. Honey, you ain't seen nothing yet. It's one thing for a religious right person to be offended that Hallmark offers gay cards. It's another thing for gay people to see Hallmark engage in blatant bigotry against gay people. That's an attack on their own customers. Most religious right nutjobs couldn't care less about the gay cards, but every gay person will be offended to their core that Hallmark is tolerating bigotry. Keep it up, Hallmark, and just watch what we're going to do to your brand. and if you think I'm bluffing, Google gay and "Dr. Laura" and "Paramount," or gay and Ford, or gay and Microsoft. We've taken down much bigger homophobes than Hallmark. Read More......

FireDogLake's Jane Hamsher talks about bad Evangelicals

I talked with Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake today about a little evangelical bimbo eruption was had the convention yesterday. It's a short video, under 2 minutes.

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Michelle Obama speech reactions

I was interested in listening to Michelle Obama last night but more importantly, I was interested in following the reaction of others. At the table next to us, we watched a couple cheer and then wipe their eyes as the adorable Obama children spoke with their dad. Another table listened politely at first but by the middle of Michelle's speech, they were completely engaged. They started to talk amongst themselves after each line and by the end were jumping out of their seats. Sure it was a home crowd that we observed but if you listen to many in the traditional media, you would be led to believe that the Democrats are divided. Let's just say we're not buying that line.

Beyond our corner, others also have responded well to Michelle. Even the hard sell Howie Kurtz has plenty of kind words both from himself as well as others. Read more from Howie here. Read More......

Michelle Obama's surprise speech at the Chicago Night event

Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance (well, some of us knew she was coming) at the Chicago Night event, Monday night. She only talked for 2 minutes, but the crowd really liked her. She's quite good. Which explains why the Republicans have been so busy attacking her. They always go for our strength. And Mrs. Obama is clearly our strength. (As always, the video is short, only 2 minutes - I've decided to shoot a lot of really short videos, interviews, speeches during this trip, to try to spice things up and keep it interesting. Let me know if the short approach is working for you.)

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McCain's definition of experience matches Bush's definition of experience. It would be four more years of the wrong kind of experience.

Last night, I took a cab back to my hotel from the festivities. I'm staying in a part of Denver called Cherry Creek, which is around 5 miles from downtown. My cabdriver told me that if I ever got to talk to Obama or any of his people I should give them some advice. Any time McCain wants to talk about experience, the Obama campaign should respond by adding up all the experience of Cheney and Rumsfeld, among others, and ask how well all that experience did for this country? Experience is one thing, but McCain and his cronies have the wrong kind of experience. My cabdriver is right.

That got me thinking again about the video Jed posted last week showing McCain singing the praises of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Powell. He called them "the strongest team" ever on national security. And, this is also the clip where McCain said he would have picked Cheney as his V.P. That's the kind of experience John McCain would bring to his presidency. It would be four more years of George Bush. McBush is bad enough. McCheney?

Another example of letting McCain's words speak for themselves:

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Eleanor Smeal rocks my world

(From left to right, NOW's Kim Gandy, AMERICAblog's John Aravosis, and Feminist Majority's Eleanor Smeal)

Chris, Panayioti and I were having dinner at CNN's "tent" last night and sitting behind us was Eleanor Smeal, the former president of NOW, and the current president of Feminist Majority. Smeal is one of the top feminist leaders in America, and a former Hillary supporter. And we all happened to be watching Michelle Obama's speech, and I was curious what Smeal and her friends thought. So I walked over and interrupted their meal, mentioned who I was, and Smeal immediately exclaimed "you're my son's favorite blog!" Needless to say, I got the interview :-)

In this interview, about 7 minutes long, I ask her about Obama's speech, about Hillary partisans, and then we have a longer discussion about the Supreme Court and why women should be terrified of John McCain. Talking to Smeal was an absolute joy. The energy this woman has. My God. She is what we need more of in the Democratic party. She is an activist, to her core. And she knows her stuff. Watch the interview, she is simply great. Then tell other women you know about the interview, she really does a great job explaining why women should support Obama and oppose McCain.



Towards the end of the interview, Smeal saw Kim Gandy walk by - Gandy is the current head of NOW. She asked Gandy if she wanted to talk to me, and Gandy said sure. My favorite part is in the first couple seconds when Smeal tells Gandy that AMERICAblog is "my son's favorite blog!" So here is another few minutes talking to Gandy.

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Do your part to stop McCain's swiftboating of Obama

Read, then take action. Read More......

Hagan takes lead over Dole in North Carolina

From the PPP blog:

What the DSCC is doing to Elizabeth Dole right now is the political equivalent of a punch in the gut from Muhammad Ali.

Kay Hagan has taken a narrow lead in North Carolina's Senate race after trailing by 14 points just two months ago.

There's not much doubt where the momentum is coming from. 69% of voters in the state have seen the television ads about Elizabeth Dole's #93 ranking for effectiveness in the US Senate, and among those folks Hagan has an even wider 45-39 lead. Dole's saving grace is voters who don't watch much tv- she leads 45-34 with those who have not seen the ad.

Hagan's movement is coming with two demographics that tend to be key to Republican success in the state- white and older voters. With white voters Hagan has halved a 55-35 deficit from last month to a 47-37 one. Among senior citizens she has pulled within 43-42 after trailing 57-33 in the previous poll.

PPP is based in North Carolina and they're polling for the primaries was pretty accurate.

This is the ad to which the post refers. Anyone who needs a lesson in sophisticated political advertising should watch this ad. Liddy flipped her lid over this ad, which gave it even more attention:

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John McCain on his unparalleled devotion to George Bush

Just let John McCain talk. Just let John McCain talk about his allegiance to George Bush. Just let John McCain tell the nation that he stands by George Bush and votes for George Bush's policies. That's what the DNC did in the web ad:



Let John McCain speak for himself. Read More......

McCain has to campaign in Arizona. McCain is barely ahead in the state where he has the most houses

Let's just, for a moment, imagine the polls in Illinois showed Obama only ahead of McCain by 5 or 6 points. That would cause a frenzy in the political punditry. A frenzy. The latest poll in Illinois showed Obama leading by a 15 point margin: 55% - 40%.

McCain, on the other hand, is only ahead by 6 points: 47% - 41%. He's not even breaking 50% and barely breaking 45%. That's why John McCain has to campaign in his home state. Arizona is the place where McCain has most of his houses. The people who know him best don't really like him.

Take a look at Pollster.com's trend chart for Arizona. This is McCain's home state and he's barely winning. This should be a HUGE political story -- it really is one of the untold stories of the 2008 election. In any statewide race, an incumbent who is stuck at 45% would be in the danger zone.



This should be a HUGE story, but too many reporters like McCain so they can't grasp that others don't. (And, those reporters like going to John McCain's biggest house -- the compound in Sedona with the private lake.) Read More......

Convention snapshots

A few updates and snapshots from Denver to keep everyone up to date. John will be posting a number of interviews soon as well. We started the day by running in to Jacki Schechner in front on the CNN tent that's really a cool grill.


At the Big Tent where the bloggers are located, Senator Leahy passed by.


Later in the evening at the CNN Grill John interviewed Eleanor Smeal, the former president of NOW, and the current president of Feminist Majority. Smeal is one of the top feminist leaders in America. Look for the interview to be posted later by John - it was actually quite interesting, she's a real firebrand. She also mentioned that her son is a big AMERICAblog fan, which was really great fun to hear.


Here's a second shot of Eleanor that really sums up what we loved about her. She speaks with such a passion that is unfortunately too often missing in the party. How can we get more people like her?!!


Afterwards John interviewed current NOW president Kim Gandy who kindly took some time to talk with AMERICAblog shortly after the Michelle Obama speech.


We left the CNN Grill for "Chicago Night in Denver," where Michelle Obama popped in. Video later, but here's a quick snapshot of Michelle on stage with Rahm Emanuel and Senator Dick Durbin.


Also at the party was Judy Woodruff of PBS and Senator Casey of PA, seen below, along with a number of other Senators and Senate candidates. Great interview with Judy that John posted this morning, discussing the Michelle Obama speech.




Finally, we wrapped up the night chatting with our favorite friend Andy Cobb, a Second City alum, and actor and comedian in LA, who along with several of his friends has been providing us some amazing videos of the years (he did the Catharsis vid yesterday about Hillary, did the John.He.Is McCain parody of the cool Obama black-and-white vid,etc.).
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McCain again plays the POW card on an issue unrelated to national security

The corporate media used to love to say that John McCain was shy about using his POW experience for political gain. Not any more. McCain and his staff have increasingly invoked McCain's former POW status to respond to such criticism on unrelated topics as diverse as whether he cheated at the recent faith forum, and why he can't remember how many homes he owns. And McCain did it again last night on Jay Leno, again responding to the "why can't you remember how many homes you own" question.

No one disputes that McCain was a POW, and suffered while in captivity. And the McCain campaign has made clear in its advertising, and its Web site - and from the candidates own mouth - that he was a former POW. Americans pretty much know that by now. But how McCain's former POW status relates to cheating at faith forum, or not remembering that he owns 12 homes, remains unclear. The McCain campaign seems to have decided that if the heat becomes too much for McCain, if the questions become too pointed, if the candidate makes too embarrassing a gaffe, McCain will simply play the POW card in the hopes that he embarrasses the American people, and the media, from further scrutinizing his qualifications to become president. It will be interesting to see if growing numbers of reporters in the corporate media call McCain on this somewhat odd behavior. Read More......

PBS's Judy Woodruff says Michelle Obama succeeded Monday night

I got to talk to PBS's Judy Woodruff at an event Monday night, and she made a very interesting observation about Michelle Obama's speech to the convention Monday night. And to find out what her observation was, you'll have to watch my very short interview with her, using the new FLIP phone - it's only a little over a minute, and I think her observations were quite interesting.



(I filmed this with a new Flip phone I got at the convention, courtesy of the Voter Genome project. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical at first, but it's quite the cool little device. I'll be writing more about it later - it's 2:30AM in Denver, and Chris and I are still blogging - but it's actually surprisingly useful. I honestly thought it was just a gimmick.) Read More......

Dear Debra, You're wrong. John McCain is vehemently anti-choice and said he will be a "pro-life President"

Oh boy. Debra Bartoshevich is the star of a new John McCain ad. She's a nurse and a former Clinton delegate who is voting for McCain. Yesterday, the RNC hauled Debra to Denver so she could rub it in our faces that she's with McCain now. According to Steve Benen (who is now at Washington Montly), Debra doesn't really know John McCain's record. She actually thinks he's pro-choice:

At a Denver press conference this afternoon organized by Republicans, Bartoschevich, who claims to be a pro-choice Democrat, was asked about her concerns about reproductive rights under another pro-life Republican president.

"Going back to 1999, John McCain did an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle saying that overturning Roe v. Wade would not make any sense, because then women would have to have illegal abortions," Bartoschevich said.

This is surprisingly helpful. I've wondered why a pro-choice Democrat who cares about women's rights would even consider a conservative Republican with an abysmal record on women's rights. It turns out, the answer is pretty straightforward: she's terribly confused.

Steve's being kind by calling Debra "terribly confused." Debra is getting her fifteen minutes of fame -- and she's looking like an idiot. Debra must have missed the Saddleback forum where John McCain proclaimed "I will be a pro-life president":


Hmm, will Debra admit she's wrong? Debra should ask her new best friend about birth control, too. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.


Last night, when I got back from the convention, the radio in my room was set to the BBC channel. I haven't listened to the BBC for awhile. When the Iraq war started, I watched BBC TV because it was so much more bearable and newsworthy than the jingoism from the U.S. networks. It's so pleasant listening to the news on BBC. They're not hysterical. They don't have all the painful pundits.

Tonight is Hillary Clinton's night at the convention. There has certainly been a lot of buzz about her. I've been wandering around Denver for a couple days now and haven't seen any sign of the PUMAs -- the diehards who purport to support Hillary, but are really just a bunch of media hogs and losers. From my vantage point here in Denver, it feels like the hype has been overblown. (Via Jed, Chuck Todd thinks so, too.) The folks I know who supported Hillary -- and a lot of them are here -- want a Democrat to win in November.

We'll have updates as events unfold.

So start threading the news... Read More......

A clear sign that I'm not in Paris

At roughly $8.40 per gallon (in France) I'd love to know how many gallons of gas this Cadillac would hold. You'd have to get a mortgage to fund the fill up at the pump. Of course, I'm not so sure it would fit on some of our roads in France anyway. Read More......

Day One Convention wrap up

Well, day one is finished. Rob provided some commentary based on the media coverage. We're in a bubble here in Denver. It's hard to tell how it's playing in the real world. It's like there are two conventions. There's the one here in Denver, which is filled with meetings, sessions with great speakers, receptions, parties and the doings at the Pepsi Center. Then, there's the convention on TV, which the rest of the world is watching.

From inside the Pepsi Center, Michelle Obama sure was a big hit. (Text of speech is here.) She was poised, looked great and really delivered. One of my friends, an independent who casts a very critical eye on these things, just sent me a message that said:

she came across a lot warmer tonight than those clips they play of her saying that as an adult is the first time she is proud to be an american...she came across as well spoken and having basic values and concerned for her children...very human

And, his mother liked her, too. So, I take that as a good sign it played well.

I didn't get to see Ted Kennedy live. The security line was a night...took over an hour. You know, the DNC only had 19 months to plan for the event. How could the convention planners ever have expected a bottleneck at the security checkpoints?

Anyway, it was a long day. There are a lot of post-convention parties, but not for me. My feet hurt and I have to get up early to start all over again. Read More......