**CNN's six "undecided voters" were all Democratic operatives**

UPDATES BELOW - CNN hits bottom and digs: All six debate questioners appear to be Democratic Party operatives. So much for "ordinary people, undecided voters". To paraphrase Junior Soprano, CNN is so far up the DNC's hind end, Howard Dean can taste hair gel.

In a nutshell, CNN's six "undecided voters" were:

A Democratic Party bigwig
An antiwar activist
A Union official
An Islamic leader
A Harry Reid staffer
A radical Chicano separatist

Wow. This looks "rather" like a scandal. Hot Air:

...You’d think the network’s audience might want to know who among the questioners has had a paid, formal relationship with the party.

...I went back to the beginning of the debate to see how Blitzer introduced the format. Did he offer any details on who’d be doing the questioning? Why, yes. After mentioning that the debate was sponsored by the national party — something likely understood by most viewers as a mere formality — he described them as “ordinary people, undecided voters.” Note: not even “undecided Democrats.” Just undecided.

Word on the street is that Hillary's staffers are extremely pleased with CNN's Wolf Blitzer for his softball questioning of Sen. Clinton during Thursday's Las Vegas debate. Blitzer "was outstanding, and did not gang up like Russert did in Philadelphia. He avoided personal attacks, remained professional and ran the best debate so far."

Who were the questioners upon whom Blitzer called? According to CNN, they were "ordinary people, undecided voters.” Like these folks:

Plant #1: LaShannon Spencer, whom Blitzer introduced as an "undecided voter", was tagged by Dan Riehl: in truth, she served as the political director of the Democratic Party of Arkansas.

Plant #2: Khalid Kahn, who expressed concern about profiling and the Patriot Act, asked "[m]y question is that -- our civil liberties have been taken away from us. What are you going to do to protect Americans from this kind of harassment?" Classical Values notes that Mr. Kahn is the president of the Islamic Society of Nevada, who has hosted conferences like this one (with guest speakers like Muzzamil Siddiqi). In fact, Kahn in no stranger to CNN, appearing on a show called Keeping the Faith in Sin City.

Plant #3: Suzanne Jackson -- mother of a three-term Iraq war veteran -- is aso a well-known antiwar activist. She appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal protesting -- with a poor monkey, no less -- outside of Harry Reid's office in May.

Plant #4: Maria Luisa -- the UNLV student who asked Hillary Clinton whether she preferred "diamonds or pearls" -- wrote that CNN forced her to ask the "frilly" question instead of a pre-approved query regarding the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility.

Update: Andy writes to point out the eerie similarities between Maria L. Parra-Sandoval and "Maria Luisa." Regarding Ms. Parra-Sandoval, the UNLV website states:

This spring she will serve as the political communications intern for Senator Harry Reid in Washington, D.C. Currently a junior at UNLV, Maria is... is an immigrant on a quest to become a United States citizen.

In other words, she's not even eligible to vote, unless the Democrats changed the rules when I wasn't looking.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE5D91431F93BA3575BC0A9659C8B63

Younger Blacks Tell Democrats To Take Notice

By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
Published: August 8, 2003

The debate had become a familiar one for LaShannon Spencer. As director of political affairs for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, Ms. Spencer, 30, is charged with taking the pulse of voters and keeping them connected to the party.

But at Cajun’s Wharf, a restaurant and bar on the banks of the Arkansas River that is popular with young professionals, Ms. Spencer’s political pitch was met with skepticism.

‘’Democrats just assume my political affiliation, based on my ZIP code or voting precinct,’’ said Khayyam Eddings, a 31-year-old labor lawyer, referring to his predominantly black neighborhood. He was one of three African-American men engaged with Ms. Spencer in an animated discussion. ‘’I don’t cast my ballot based on learned behavior.’’

Mr. Eddings’s comments were emblematic of what some Democratic strategists fear may be a growing problem: The party is perilously out of touch with a large swath of black voters — those 18 to 35 years old who grew up after the groundbreaking years of the civil rights movement. It is a group too important and complex to ignore, many strategists caution, when analysts are predicting another close election.

Democrats have traditionally counted on more than 90 percent of the black vote. Blacks 18 to 35 make up about 40 percent of the black voting-age population, but turnout among young blacks was so low in the 2000 elections that they made up only 2 percent of the entire vote.

Democratic leaders are expressing concern about the disengagement. Young blacks are responding by warning the party not to take their votes for granted.

‘’Not only do I not see myself as part of the base,’’ Nnamdi Thompson, a 30-year-old investment banker, told Ms. Spencer at the restaurant, ‘’I wish the Democratic Party would stop seeing me as part of its base. We have more power as voters if they have to come and court us.’’

A 32-year-old lawyer, a friend of the other two who did not want his name used because he is in state politics, said: ‘’I question whether the party sees us at all. First they calculate who they do not want’’ to alienate. ‘’Then they decide on acceptable losses. We seem to fall into the acceptable losses.’’

Ms. Spencer, who is also African-American, said their frustrations were not unusual. ‘’These are the concerns I hear over and over,’’ she said. ‘’These are people who care, people the party needs. If we could only convince them of that.’’

(snip)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20050827/ai_n14911791

McClinton no longer a finalist in Arkansas
Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Aug 27, 2005 by Capital-Journal

The Capital-Journal
Advertisement

Former Topeka Mayor James McClinton is no longer a candidate for the city manager’s job in Arkadelphia, Ark., that city’s mayor said Friday.

Interviews for the three finalists were scheduled for Thursday, but McClinton had called and written a letter requesting his interview be rescheduled, Arkadelphia Mayor Chuck Hollingshead said.

The other two candidates were interviewed Thursday. They are Jimmy Bolt, Arkadelphia public works director and interim city manager; and LaShannon Spencer, of Little Rock, Ark., political director of the Democratic Party of Arkansas.

(snip)

From the transcript coffee260 linked:

Over the next two hours in this debate -- officially sanctioned, by the way, by the National Democratic Party -- the candidates for president of the United States will be questioned by both journalists, as well as ordinary people, undecided voters likely to attend those caucuses here in Nevada.

CNN can try to make excuses if they parse the "undecided voters likely to attend" to mean they were undecided Democrats. But that is what it would be, Clintonian parsing. "Ordinary people" does NOT include party operatives. "Those caucuses" is NOT the same as "democratic caucuses" to most of the country that does not experience the caucus process. I don't know if the Nevada republicans caucus on the same day or not but why should I? I don't live in Nevada. CNN gave the strong impression that this was questioning by ordinary independents and they knew or easily could have known that it was a sham.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

CNN's six "undecided voters" were all Democratic operatives