POLITICAL POINTS - NYT - Blog
Old-Fashioned Campaign Gimmick Resurfaces
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
With all the new-fangled technical changes that have reshaped the way campaigns are being fought this year, one old-fashioned gimmick is having a bit of a resurgence: The conference call.
Hardly a day goes by when some campaign is not putting on a conference call with a campaign manager, pollster, policy expert or even the candidate himself.
And that is raising a few interesting issues. To wit, how public is a conference call? If a campaign sends out an e-mail announcing the telephone number and the pass code to get in, is anyone allowed to listen? Do listeners have an obligation to say when they are on the line if they are not asking questions?
On Wednesday, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina took a break from fundraising to hold a conference call with 100 reporters to boast on his second-place win — sorry, make that second-place showing — in Wisconsin.
The conference call started off with an aide calling attendance, instructing reporters to identify themselves and their affiliation. Many complied, as could be told by the announcements coming over the line: ABC News. The New Republic. The New York Times. The Associated Press in Albany. The Washington Post.
But the long extended silences that greeted the continued call for attendance by Mr. Edwards' aides made it pretty clear that not everyone felt they were under any obligation to pipe up.
And to add injury to insult, it turned out that reporters were not the only ones lurking on the line. The Kerry campaign was on the line. As soon as Mr. Edwards started speaking, e-mails rebutting him, point by point, started landing in reporters' mailboxes from Mr. Kerry's aides.
None of the Kerry lurkers asked any questions.
"We considered making a fuss but then decided we're too gracious to do that," said Mr. Edwards' press secretary, Jennifer Palmieri. |
