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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (82627)	11/2/2004 3:19:29 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793964

The Adventures of Chester - Quick thoughts for Monday . . . Blogging will be light today and Tuesday as I am on a business trip. However, a few quick thoughts: -An alert reader in the comments section pointed out that it is very possible that the 24th MEU(SOC) will participate in the Fallujah Battle. I entirely agree. Can't ever forget the MEUs. Those Marines receive some very intense and excellent training in urban warfare before deployment and they will most certainly be put to use. Look for the MEU to be employed as a separate unit, possibly directly reporting to the MEF CG or the Division CG, and look for them to have their own part of the battlespace. I'm not going to predict whether the MEU will be in Fallujah or Ramadi. In fact, they could be used as an operational reserve. Now that I think about it, yes, this is what I expect: 1st Marines: Fallujah, 5th Marines, Ramadi. 7th Marines, continue with security operations in the far west.(note: I am not entirely sure that it is 7th Marines out there, but it is probably them), 24th MEU, operational reserve. The MEU will make a much more effective reserve force than another infantry regiment. Whichever regiment is out west, they have been there learning the ropes in their neighborhood for a long time. Also the MEU has trained together for upwards of a year prior to and during deployment, making them a very well-honed force. There is precedent for both the MEU as reserve and MEU as urban assault force scenarios: one of the MEUs was the STRATEGIC reserve for all of CENTCOM during the invasion last year, and one of the MEUs, the 15th, I believe, was sent into Nasiriyah to clean clock after the Division had moved through and past. -Another alert reader in the comments sections points out that there were three infantry battalions involved in the Fallujah assault in April, not two, as I have mentioned. I will doublecheck, but I think we are both right: three total participated, but only two at a time. I think we can expect all three of each regiment (5th Marines may have four) to be very engaged from the start, though each regiment may have a reserve. I'm willing to bet that they will forgo regimental reserves in exchange for greater speed in prosecuting the assault. -A final note: look for press reports of some very intense psychological operations. When a Marine Brigade was in Somalia in the early 90s and was first fired upon by a Somali artillery battery, the commander on the ground, a 3-star Marine, responded by leveling the grid square where the fire came from. That's one square kilometer. Then he had helicopters fly over the city with loudspeakers, proclaiming he would do it again in a heartbeat. General Mattis (he's in Quantico now, not Anbar) loved this stuff. He had psyops speakers alternately blaring Metallica and the Marines Hymn as his battalion crossed into Kuwait in Gulf War I. We'll see if Gen Sattler and Gen Natonski are likewise so inclined.

To: LindyBill who wrote (82627)	11/2/2004 3:23:42 AM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793964

Bill, have been looking for this: NATIONAL ELECTION POOL...."NEP." Hope this is a better situation than we found before in 2000. [NEP - National Election Pool - now that the VNS is gone.... I believe that I read somewhere that NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, AP in this as partners as before. Edit: Yes, here is the link that confirms this: exit-poll.net ] hollywoodreporter.com Oct. 21, 2004 NBC has new plan for Nov. 2 By Paul J. Gough NEW YORK -- Hoping to avoid a repeat of 2000's election-night disaster, NBC News brass on Wednesday outlined the steps the news division has taken to ensure accuracy in its coverage of what is expected to be a close contest between President Bush and his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry. "We learned a lot four years ago, and we fixed that system," NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw said. "Four years ago, Tim (Russert) said it was 'Florida, Florida, Florida.' This year, it will be journalism, journalism, journalism." NBC and other news outlets were forced to do an about-face on election night in the tight 2000 race between then-Vice President Al Gore and Bush when Florida proved to be the decisive factor in the election and the networks initially called Gore as the winner of the state based largely on data from exit polls. For NBC, the marathon coverage of election night 2004 will also mark the last major breaking-news hurrah for its longtime primary anchor Tom Brokaw, who plans to step down from "The NBC Nightly News" after the Dec. 1 broadcast. "Meet the Press" anchor Tim Russert and Brian Williams, Brokaw's "Nightly News" successor, also will be at the main anchor desk for NBC. "We're going to get it right this time," Brokaw promised during a session with reporters Wednesday morning at NBC headquarters in New York. Exit polling will still be used -- along with other data -- but NBC News said its computer models have been revamped. And NBC News will use Associated Press' new procedures involving actual vote counts at the county level and will take 13 absentee ballot polls instead of the three it had done four years ago to more accurately project the tally of absentee ballots. NBC had been a partner with ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and the Associated Press in the Voter News Service consortium that handled vote count projections and exit polling on major elections. After the 2000 debacle, VNS was disbanded in favor of a new joint vote-tallying service, the National Election Pool. NBC News brass said NEP's computer models for tabulating voter data from states and counties across the country have been significantly modernized and fine-tuned to give analysts much more detailed information. NBC News will also wait for the polls to close in a state before naming the winner; if it's close, they'll tread carefully, particularly when it comes to on-air graphics, in making any kind of call, Brokaw and NBC News president Neal Shapiro assured. Furthermore, NBC News brass vowed that they will not allow themselves to be swayed by what their competitors are reporting. No one on the NBC News vote-count team will be allowed to watch other networks' coverage on election night. Brokaw also said NBC would take pains on the air to describe the vote-counting methodology and to explain potential problems as they occur. NBC on Wednesday morning unveiled Democracy Plaza, its intricate set piece around Rockefeller Center where NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo will be broadcasting live on election night. Plans call for two electronic bar graphs, one Democratic and the other Republican, showing the status of the electoral vote throughout the night. Rockefeller Center's skating rink will be turned into a map, with movable blue and red pieces that will be placed on the states as they go to either the Democrat or the Republican. "We think it will take three people to take Texas out," remarked Mark Lukasiewicz, NBC News election night executive producer. Brokaw recalled the close race of 1960, when Sen. John F. Kennedy squeaked by Vice President Richard Nixon in an election that wasn't decided until the next morning. "We could very well have a night like that," Brokaw said.