Follow this closely: The numbers of TV mentions -- "SnapStream'' says.
by Mark Silva
Did Hurricane Gustav outdraw the candidates for president in the past couple of weeks in the numbers of mention the old storm got on the tube?
At SnapStream Enterprise, where they have equipment that enables them to talk about things like this, they got to wondering who was getting the most attention out of the political conventions and activity of the past couple of weeks.
With the graphing tool in their "SnapStream Enterprise TV Server" - uh, we sense a product promotion here - they graphed the daily mentions of John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and this is what they found about TV exposure for the candidates:
"The Democratic VP nominee (Biden) got a bigger spike in coverage when he was announced than Republican VP nominee (Palin) did when she was announced, but..
"Palin's overall received more coverage than Biden (this, in spite of Biden's one-plus week head start)
"Obama received more coverage during the Democratic Convention than McCain received during the Republican Convention.
"Palin and McCain have been getting almost equal mentions on TV since the Republican Convention was kicked off. In contrast Obama is getting maybe 5x more mentions than his VP candidate!
"Finally, over Labor Fay weekend, Hurricane Gustav killed nearly all discussion of the presidential campaigns! ''
"So in conclusion,'' they conclude, "over the two conGustav was the winner ventions of the past two weeks!
Then they thought they'd build a few "word clouds'' based on the technology available within that same instrument whose name we've already mentioned once. They looked at FOX's The O'Reilly Factor, starring Bill O'Reilly, and The Comedy Channel's The Daily Show, starring Jon Stewart on Wednesday, and they found (can you tell, by looking at the clouds, which show comes first?):
Seems Gustav has been eclipsed -- and yes, that's O'Reilly first.
And you can see more O'Reilly, Stewart clouds here..
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Comments
the other hurricane that hit Palin was Gibson from abc when he asked Pälin about the Bush doctrine.p
Posted by: fernando canavati | September 12, 2008 9:58 AM
VOTING MANIPULATION
State Republicans, though, have a plan to give the McCain campaign an edge: suppress the vote.
The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP's effort to challenge some voters on Election Day. "We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week.
State election rules allow parties to assign "election challengers" to polls to monitor the election. These volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they "have a good reason to believe" that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a "true resident of the city or township."
The Michigan Republicans' planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being "true residents."
The scheme would, of course, disproportionately affect African-American families in the area, who are more likely to vote Democratic, and more likely to be in foreclosure as a result of sub-prime loans.
This is just part of a "comprehensive voter-challenge campaign" Michigan Republicans are launching this year, which will coordinate with the regional McCain campaign to train volunteers in challenging those who wish to vote on Election Day. (Whether the foreclosure-driven scheme will be implemented statewide is unclear.)
Asked about the GOP's efforts, Carabelli said, "I would rather not tell you all the things we are doing."
THE EVANGELICAL PARTY DID EXACTLY THE SAME THING TO DENY MEN AND WOMEN SERVING IN IRAQ THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE IN THE LAST TWO ELECTIONS AS WELL AS MANY OTHER CITIZENS. McCAIN IS RUNNING HIS CAMPAIGN ON THE LOW BALL TACTIC EMPLOYED BY GEORGE W. AND CARL ROVE….DOESN’T SOUND LIKE CHANGE TO ME.
Posted by: basementfrog | September 12, 2008 5:39 PM