But there are also elements of a deeper political relationship. News Corp. recruited almost half of the members into a campaign to cast a business dispute with Nielsen, which centered on a shift in the technology of Nielsen ratings, into a racial issue under the rubric of the Don't Count Us Out Coalition.
According to a Roll Call story from April 2004, 17 members of the CBC, along with many members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, signed a letter to Nielsen's CEO suggesting its new system would be racially biased against minority-oriented shows -- many of them carried by News Corp.
At the time, News Corp.'s gambit was viewed as, depending on who you asked, either a masterwork of corporate P.R., or of cynicism or both, but in any case, Rupert and the CBC do go way back.
If you want to know more, BusinessWeek had the definitive (and Nielsen-friendly) story on the subject and the Village Voice's Wayne Barrett got into the inner workings of just who News Corp. paid on the New York front of its campaign.
ALSO: As I reported yesterday, a spokeswoman for the CBC says there's no financial element to the debate arrangement.
Looks like the fight over the Congressional Black Caucus's decision to host a debate with Fox News is only beginning.
Color of Change, an online group organizing the anti-Fox effort, just put out a statement from the Rev. Jesse Jackson:
"I am disappointed by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute's partnership with FOX, and strongly encourage them to reverse that decision. Why would presidential candidates, or an organization that is supposed to advocate for Black Americans, ever give a stamp of legitimacy to a network that continually marginalizes Black leaders and the Black community? FOX moderating a presidential debate on issues of importance to Black Americans is literally letting the Fox guard the henhouse – FOX should be rejected."
But as I wrote in The New Republic last year, there may be another, yet worse, ticking time bomb out there: possible wiretapped conversations between Rudy and Kerik.
Segments of a wiretap of Kerik's phone were leaked last fall, badly damaging State Attorney General candidate Jeanine Pirro.
As I reported back then:
"The as-yet-unleaked reams of Bronx wiretap have fueled endless speculation about what Giuliani may have said. 'You've got to believe he's on those wiretaps,' speculates Doug Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at the City University of New York. 'This is not good for business, and it's not good for his presidential race.'
"People around Giuliani say they don't know what the damage will be. 'It depends on what's on those tapes,' says one former aide. Giuliani's spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, declined to comment on whether Giuliani called Kerik in 2005, when prosecutors were reportedly listening in."
How aggressively is Hillary raising money? Well, in at least one case, aggressively enough that a top fundraising aide, Nancy Jacobson, promised one potential donor convention access in return for a contribution -- despite the fact that the donor already supports Obama.
The email, which was sent this month, was provided to me on the condition that the name of the recipient and the time-stamp be redacted to conceal the identity of the recipient who -- lower in the correspondence -- has already said he or she is supporting Obama.
Here's the email from Clinton senior advisor Nancy Jacobson, copying her top fundraiser, Jonathan Mantz. Jacobson declined, via email. to comment.
From: Nancy Jacobson
Sent:
To:
Cc: 'Jonathan Mantz'
Subject: RE: just checking in... did you end up with Obama?
Ok … I have to ask…. Any chance you would max to her by end of quarter --- we won't forget you at the convention….good seat/parties!
From TechPresident, where Alan Rosenblatt wonders if the Washington Post didn't put this picture online when it ran in print earlier this week for fear that it would get sucked into some kind of YouTube vortex.
Also, he writes, it seems "straight out of The Exorcist."
ALSO: Greg Sargent and his minions do a serious amount of research on Clinton's and Obama's voting records on Iraq, which prove virtually identical with a sole exception: Clinton voted against confirming General Casey as Army chief of staff, Obama voted for confirming him. Which is to say what we knew already: That Obama's anti-war stance wasn't followed by any particular stridency (not that it had to be) in the Senate.
FOX News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute have agreed to host a Sept. 23 debate among Democratic candidates at the Fox Theater in Detroit.
Expect pressure from the Netroots for the candidates to skip it, and pressure from the black caucus for them to attend; and it is hard to say no to the black caucus, if it remains (mostly) united on this.
CBC Institute spokeswoman Candice Tolliver noted that they're hosting a separate debate to be broadcast by CNN, and said neither Fox nor News Corp. had made a contribution to the group.
"There's no financial piece to this deal," she said.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chair's the institute, defended the choice thus: "As a leading organization dedicated to educating the public on issues of national policy, the CBC Institute is committed to presenting the presidential candidates to the broadest audience possible."
Phil de Vellis and YouTube shouldn't worry about the Orwell copyright claim, writes an intellectual property lawyer friend:
"The Orwell people have nothing really to go on but the idea of a talking head on a video screen. Here we have, at best, a vague allusion to '1984.' More the movie than the book, really. Is there a passage in the book where drone humans are watching a TV screen on which appears a talking head where an athlete (!?) comes in with a hammer and destroys the screen thereby freeing the drones of their screen-induced trance?"
As Judith Giuliani is rolled out on Barbara Walters, this 2002 NY1 segment wraps up the soap opera aspects of the Giuliani mayoralty.
Rudy's marital issues were huge news -- in New York. But it was an emphatically local soap opera, and this one of those moments when New Yorkers watching the Giuliani campaign feel like they live in an alternate reality.
Newsday's Glenn Thrush, whom Obama (kind of like St. Peter), thrice denied an answer on homosexuality, doesn't much like the version of the story that Obama is telling Wolf Blitzer.
Obama to Blitzer: "I'm not sure that the story got out there properly. I mean, what happened was I was leaving a firefighters' union meeting and trying to get in my car and did not respond to a reporter's query. At that point, I wasn't responding to reporters period because I was trying to make a vote."
It was a hectic scene and perhaps he misremembered. We asked him versions of the "immorality" question three times as he was leaving the convention, twice during a long ride on an escalator, and once at the door of his car.
He responded twice, then jumped in his car.
Contrary to the assertion that he wasn't answering reporters' questions, Obama did also respond to a Brazilian reporter quizzing him on ethanol.
Elizabeth Edwards talks to People, which calls itself "The #1 Celebrity Site on the Web." One consequence of this awful episode is that the Edwardses seem to have reached Obama/Clinton levels of celebrity.
And Atrios gives props to Chris Dodd in re Sam Fox, while Dodd spokeswoman Christy Setzer has the press release headline of the day: "Thanks Be to Dodd."
UPDATE: I was seriously remiss in leaving out the Observer's big Huma story -- Hillary's body person "is not such a talkative girl" says Oscar de la Renta -- which also includes praise from John McCain and Queen Noor. Also, nice detail from someone who's officially not cooperating with a profile.
A reader forwards this help-wanted, from the PR network prof-net:
"We are seeking a keynote speaker for commencement exercises for Ashford University, Clinton, Iowa, for Saturday, May 12 (www.ashford.edu). Ashford graduates include students who completed graduation requirements through the online programs offered by the university and will be flying in from all over the country for this ceremony. Many enrollees would not have otherwise been able to afford or attend an actual campus-based university.
"We seek a speaker who will be inspirational, perhaps using themselves as an example of pursuing success through hard work and perseverance."
As the money-expectations game ramps up, one thing worth keeping in mind:
Candidates can solicit $4,600 from each donor, half for the primary, and half for the general election. But that second half must be kept in a segregated account, and can't be spent until the August, 2008 Democratic National Convention.
So as a sign of primary strength, the number to look at is probably primary cash on hand; as a sign of momentum, the number is arguably primary receipts for the quarter.
(This is all arguable because in the circular world of fundraising spin, money is just as much an abstract sign of strength as something you can actually spend on television ads.)
Anyway, in that context, one note: Only Hillary, as far as I know, holds events for which the price of admission is $4,600. That's what you pay to get into one of those small receptions with Bill.
Obama, Edwards, and the others gladly take the general election money, and ask for it on their websites; but an Obama spokesman claims they have no events that require it. An Edwards spokeswoman wouldn't discuss fundraising, but the Edwards backers I spoke to weren't aware of $4,600-minimum events.
So anyway, worth keeping an eye on how much of the candidates' totals are general election money, and perhaps factoring in some kind of discount.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson told my colleague Ryan Grim today that he'll cast his vote for Barack Obama.
Grim emails:
Rev. Jesse Jackson, a two-time presidential candidate and influential Democrat, told The Politico today that he plans to vote for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the Democratic primary.
“He’ll get my vote,” said Jackson, who has also warned Obama not to take the black vote for granted.
In January, he spoke highly of Obama in an interview with CNN but stopped short of an endorsement. "All of my heart leans toward Barack," Jackson told the network. "He is a next-door neighbor literally. I think he's an extension of our struggle to make this a more perfect union."
"I will talk to all of them, but my inclinations are really toward Barack," he added in the CNN interview.
UPDATE: Jackson said something similar last month the The New York Observer's excellent Jason Horowitz.
