Got plans for election night?
October 29, 2008
No one should be alone on election night.
At least that’s what the owners of the Morton’s steakhouses in Baltimore and Annapolis say. Now, instead of obsessing over exit poll numbers and watching the broadcast media race to call states for the candidates in the dark confines of your TV room, Morton’s is hosting a Super Bowl-like evening dedicated to watching the general election results.
Guests can join other political junkies in the restaurants’ boardrooms while watching the results and ordering from a prix fixe election menu priced at $52.95. For election night only, Morton’s is also offering three cocktails — the Republicantini, the Democratini, and the Undecided-tini, all for $11 each.
Realistically speaking, dinner and just a couple of drinks will run about $100 including tip. And since the event is from 5:30 – 11 p.m., I’m betting many people there won’t have just a couple drinks. Depending on your perspective, the cost either isn’t worth it or just a drop in the hat for the chance to watch election results with other rowdy politicos.
Not to feed into a political stereotype (but I guess I am), based on the average cost and the upscale location, which party do you think will be more represented? Democrats or Republicans?
Either way, kudos to Morton’s for setting up the event — it’s a great way to capitalize on what’s sure to be a highly electric night.
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentThe Wire for Obama
October 28, 2008
An Obama campaign commercial running in North Carolina called “Down to The Wire” features some of the actors from HBO’s Baltimore-based crime drama The Wire (Marlo Stanfield, Kima Greggs, Lester Freamon, Cutty Wise, and others) urging voters to cast their vote for the Democrat in this year’s election.
It’s not immediately clear why the cast of The Wire would have an impact on the race in North Carolina more than in, say, Virginia.
The Huffington Post reports that the cast of the show is on a tour of North Carolina campaigning, among other places, at universities, which could explain part of it – The Wire was a big college hit.
There also seems to be a trend of celebs campaigning to their respective TV shows’ constituencies – for example, Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander pushing Obama to Jewish voters. So what does that make this? The Wire selling Obama to…ex-pat Baltimoreans?
ROBBIE WHELAN, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentLate-night comedians draw political viewers
October 27, 2008
Jay Leno as the next Walter Cronkite?
Well, not exactly, but a new study has found that viewers of late-night comedy shows like Leno’s Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman and the Jon Stewart Show pay more attention to the campaign in network and cable news coverage than non-viewers.
The study, conducted by Lauren Feldman of American University and Dannagal Goldthwaite Young of the University of Delaware, will be detailed in the upcoming issue of the journal Political Communication.
Young and Feldman argue the shows hosted by Leno, Letterman and Stewart act as gateways to traditional news.
“Young says critics of political entertainment should find comfort in the fact that these shows appear to ‘encourage’ rather than ‘discourage’ attention to political campaigns,” the release said.
Perhaps another example of that connection is vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin’s appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live last week. That episode gave the show its best ratings in 14 years, and Web site hits of the video have totaled nearly 9 million.
But if all the campaign hoopla, stunts and jokes have those already interested in politics scrambling for more, what happens to the undecideds? Does this kind of exposure turn them away from wanting to learn more about the candidates?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentMcCain says he’s not Pres. Bush - but is he Al Gore?
October 16, 2008
I haven’t read many stories this election cycle comparing John McCain to Al Gore, but while watching the last two debates, that’s exactly what has popped into my mind.
Remember Saturday Night Live spoofing Gore after his 2000 debates with George W. Bush, portraying Gore as thinking, in essence, “how the hell am I losing to this guy?” That is exactly the vibe I’ve gotten after watching McCain.
Remember Gore’s sighing after listening to what he considered to be Bush’s untruthful answers, and the buzz it created? When McCain rolled his eyes (in the same way that my 17-year-old daughter does) last night, wasn’t he conveying the same message?
Let me be VERY clear — I’m not saying I think McCain is wrong to feel that way. And I’m not saying that he’s right, either. So — both sides — don’t fill up my in box.
Did anyone else get the same vibe I did?
ED WALDMAN, Managing Editor/Business
Sphere: Related ContentMrs. O’s time at Sidley
October 8, 2008
Michelle Obama – Barney’s lawyer?
Turns out the potential First Lady served as a clearinghouse for the big purple dinosaur’s television show and merchandise in the late 1980s. Obama also reviewed Coors beer ads as part of her work at the Chicago-based international firm now known as Sidley Austin LLP, according to a story about Obama’s time as a corporate lawyer in Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine.
No matter your political views, the story is an interesting look at a young lawyer fresh out of Harvard Law School. Michelle Robinson, as she was then known, worked at the school’s legal aid bureau and considered public service work but ultimately decided to go corporate in part to pay off her student loans.
The future Mrs. Obama was recruited by Sidley’s intellectual property group. Colleagues and bosses had nothing but good things to say about her, but the ambitious young lawyer at one point complained to the firm’s human resources department that the work she was getting was unsatisfactory. She left Sidley in 1991 to work for the mayor’s office in Chicago.
On the campaign trail, Michelle Obama has urged others not to follow her footsteps into corporate America, encouraging young people to become teachers and social workers instead. Then again, if she weren’t at Sidley in 1989, she might not have met a certain summer associate named Barack.
DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentDMC at the DNC
August 28, 2008
Several of our fellow Dolan Media publications have joined together to form DMC@theConventions, a Web site chronicling the political conventions. It’s a good place to go if you’re interested in seeing what’s been going on but — like me — reluctant to subject yourself to actually watching the whole thing on television.
Obviously most of the current coverage is on the Democrats in Denver. However, there’s also a section previewing the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul and the site will feature more coverage of that shindig when the time comes.
Much appreciation to the Arizona Capitol Times, Colorado Springs Business Journal, Politics in Minnesota and the St. Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report for all their great reporting.
Also on the topic of Dolan Media/political coverage is “Politics and Profits,” a blog examining business issues in the 2008 election. It’s a complementary site to DMC@theConventions, but the current plan is to keep it updated up to the election. Check it out when you have the time.
JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist
Sphere: Related ContentProfessor Obama
July 30, 2008
The New York Times has a story today about what Obama was like during his time teaching at the University of Chicago Law School. On the one hand, he was apparently an engaging professor, if a touch overly pleased with himself:
As his reputation for frank, exciting discussion spread, enrollment in his classes swelled. Most scores on his teaching evaluations were positive to superlative. Some students started referring to themselves as his groupies. (Mr. Obama, in turn, could play the star. In what even some fans saw as self-absorption, Mr. Obama’s hypothetical cases occasionally featured himself. “Take Barack Obama, there’s a good-looking guy,” he would introduce a twisty legal case.)
On the other hand, he sometimes got so wrapped up in the intellectual arguments surrounding an issue that he didn’t do anything about it:
While students appreciated Mr. Obama’s evenhandedness, colleagues sometimes wanted him to take a stand. When two fellow faculty members asked him to support a controversial antigang measure, allowing the Chicago police to disperse and eventually arrest loiterers who had no clear reason to gather, Mr. Obama discussed the issue with unusual thoughtfulness, they say, but gave little sign of who should prevail — the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposed the measure, or the community groups that supported it out of concern about crime.
What, if anything, do you think this all says about what kind of president Obama would be? A broader question: do academic types make good political leaders? Are there similarities between the skill set required to be a law professor and the one needed to be president? Or are we talking about two very different personality types here?
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentBush Bus makes pit stop at City Hall
July 10, 2008
If you were on I-95 earlier today and thought you saw a 45-foot long, 28-ton bus with a picture of President Bush splashed across the side, you weren’t mistaken.
“The National Bush Legacy Tour,” sponsored by Americans United for Change, stopped outside of Baltimore’s City Hall this afternoon. It was part of the group’s coast-to-coast summer tour, aimed at bringing public attention to what they deem “two terms of failed conservative policies.”
Individuals from AUC and Progressive Maryland spoke outside the bus before a crowd of about 25 people, mostly supporters.
“It’s important that we remind the public of just how bad things have been,” said Matthew Weinstein, Baltimore’s Region Director of Progressive Maryland.
The bus (which runs on clean biodiesel) has a full exhibit inside on Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration’s education policies and the war in Iraq. I also noticed a command center of sorts in the rear of the bus.
Take a look at the pictures. Do you think the marketing campaign is effective, or overkill?
RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter
Sphere: Related ContentRoss Perot calls for “action this day”
June 16, 2008
Don’t count out Ross Perot.
The former presidential candidate has stepped into the spotlight again with the launch of a new Web site on “government fiscal irresponsibility.”
Think of it as a place for him to keep his economic charts - the ones he became famous for using in his campaigns for the presidency, including the 30-minute television timeslots he bought (like this one in October 1992).
In a welcome video on PerotCharts.com, Perot says gravely - in his Texas drawl - “We live in the greatest country in the history of man. We’ve been so successful for so long that we now take our success for granted. Not since the Great Depression have we seen an economic crisis of the magnitude that we are facing today.”
Much of his attention focuses on the national debt, which he says is growing by more than $1 billion each day. Mandatory spending programs such as Social Security and Medicare, he says, are only going to get costlier as the Baby Boomer population ages. Perot asserts that unless we solve these fundamental issues, the country won’t be able to meet future challenges.
In case you begin to feel downtrodden about the wealth of information the billionaire shares, he notes: “The good news is that Americans are resilient and resourceful, and have always responded unselfishly in a crisis.”
To view his Web presentation, “Suicidal Spending,” click here.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentA different sort of ‘preacher problem’
June 10, 2008
Via the ABA Journal blog, a law professor says he was denied communion because he backs Barack Obama, an abortion-rights supporter. The prof, Pepperdine University’s Douglas Kmiec, writes a column for the Catholic News Service and used to be dean at Catholic University.
A spokesman for Cardinal Roger Mahoney has confirmed the event occurred in the Los Angeles Archdiocese and called the priest’s action “absolutely indefensible.”
What do you think about this?
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related Content-
Business
Business posts- Ripken, Martinez travel to Nicaragua
- The Slurpee’s arrival in Mt. Vernon
- There stands Brody like a stone wall…
- Support your local sports team — in Hebrew
- Mayoral advice for the incoming president
- Putting the lid on spam
- Sports and business at Network 2000
- Need an intern?
- Marketing across the gender divide
- Will the new O’s jerseys bring luck to the team?
Law
Law posts- Rapper uncovered his own tracks
- If you have a PDA, you have a lawyer
- But is he suspension-proof?
- Your take on UB’s planned law school building
- This week in Maryland Lawyer
- Prof. mounts constitutional counterattack to RIAA claims
- Law blog round-up
- ABA: No press allowed
- Plumbing for churches
- Hold the snarking, please, we’re business lawyers
Recent Posts
- Rapper uncovered his own tracks
- Ripken, Martinez travel to Nicaragua
- If you have a PDA, you have a lawyer
- The Slurpee’s arrival in Mt. Vernon
- There stands Brody like a stone wall…
Recent Comments
- Lou Fritz: Robbie Whelan’s, There Stands Brody Like A Stonewall, is typical of journalists who are long on...
- Donald S. Smith: I find it interesting that those who claim to love freedom the most are sometimes the quickest to...
- Steve: Robbie, Your ignorance is deafening.
- Rich Barnett: Are you really able to write this story and end it with “one of the state’s most...
- Winger: Well, let’s look at a list: 1.) Baltimore is situated below the Mason / Dixon line. 2.) The battery on...
On Commenting
We ask that our readers follow a few guidelines, noted below.Please do not post any personal attacks, profanity, spam or other advertisements — they will be removed. Also, please post using only one name or pseudonym, as this consistency helps establish a sense of community. We will delete posts if they are signed with different names but originate from the same IP or email address. And if you’re going to comment using a proper name, please make it your own. Deliberate misrepresentations will be removed.