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Another month gone by, and finally it seems like Carol's getting good press from various quarters. It started off with a generous profile by Moni Basu of the Atlanta Journal-Consititution, which was really kind of a continuation of October's coverage. Then it was taking New Hampshire by storm, as she went to the Every Child Matters Forum at the University of New Hampshire, where she spoke of education and of course single- payer universal health care. She also talked about health care at the breakfast forum in Bedford, and she talked about education some more, winning some points with the mayor of Bedford for her criticisms of NCLB. She had talked about health care, education and more when she took her message to the editors of the Concord Monitor and found a recpetive ear, so it's not surprising they sent somebody out to cover her. Good deal.
Carol also made her way through cyberspace, appearing on the Monitor/Post's Conversations with the Candidates. Not the greatest questions posed, imho, but swell answers. And if that weren't enough, somehow she managed to squeeze in an appearance at Rock the Vote in Boston *and* she made it to the Planned Parenthood forum in New Hampshire, where she just blew the competition away--hey, they're nice fellows and great politicians, all of them, but if you're honest with yourself when you listen or watch the webcast, you'll notice how that crowd responded to Carol, and how skillfully she balanced staying on message vs. answering questions directly.
Nationally, Carol didn't receive more mentions than usual, but she did receive more favorable coverage--and that's part of the battle too. Why is she getting better press? Partly because she won't quit. Her persistence and her showing in some polls have forced journalists to re-evaluate their CW regarding her campaign, which had always been based on a mix of rumours, unfounded assumptions, and, well, Conventional Wisdom, ahem. Another reason is that Carol started bringing the mountain to Mohammed, so to speak. That tactic of visiting editorial boards earned her a headline from the Globe, as well as a nice writeup from USA Today--with an outstanding photograph, I might add. Speaking of good photographs, the Christian Science Monitor also published a flattering picture with their recent profile ("The Quest of Carol Moseley Braun"). Decent title, too, which is surely one reason other outlets were anxious to carry the story. But do read the csmonitor's version because it's a great picture, full of symbolism and yet capturing something essential about Braun's character, kind of unique*.
Oh yeah, and there was that Hardball thingy with what's-his-face. She visited with students before hand too, so she got a few stories out of that from the Harvard papers, one in the Crimson, and another in the Gazette--also with an flattering photo in a way--if the colors are off or the lighting is bad in a photo, that lipstick can either be too bright or too deep, but in that photo you can see how the colors blend nicely as intended.
But Wait -- There's more! Carol also put "the nasties" up on her website, aka "Just the Facts." Well, something I've seen since the LA Times profile back in August is that when journalists actually read her well-documented defense against certain allegations like Tim Russert for instance attacked her with, then they are much more circumspect in the way they talk about her scandals--if they mention them at all. So that even a story like this one by Muriel Dobbin is much more favorable than the kind of thing published last February--not that the Bee reporters have been vicious towards Braun, but some mainstream fishpapers have been, and they often set the tone for CW and the like. There has been, however, a shift in the Carol meme. You can see it for instance in the way the Patricia Ireland story was spun (she came abord as Braun's campaign manager). Most of the coverage seemed to regard it as a positive move overall, not counting Rush Limbaugh of course. Do the terms of his parole allow him to vent and spew unsupervised, or am I confusing him with somebody who actually has to act responsibly? Hmmm.
Finally, last month Carol almost got a blog (www.blogforcarol.us). Whoopee! Well, I've had some setbacks on the homefront that have kept me from working on it, but I finally got the layout pegged and hope to get the plugins functional before too many days elapse.
So that's Carol in November's media. Kind of like Alice in Wonderland, but with qualifications, experience, pressing needs to attend to and some sound policy ideas.
There's more good coverage than I could think to mention. Just check out her newsroom which is now being routinely updated.
Peace,
gB
*telling my inner semantic nazi to buzz off--"kind of" here functions like a discourse marker saying how strongly a speaker asserts a statement. |
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