Posted on 07/10/2011 5:30:09 AM PDT by jimbo123
Should CNN be using President Obama's pollster as a paid contributor to its network?
A Washington insider says dapper data guru Cornell Belcher represents a potential conflict of interest for the cable network, now that he's reportedly going to work for Obama's reelection effort.
In February, CNN announced that Belcher - who did polling for the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2008, including Obama's presidential campaign - was joining its team of on-air political contributors.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
But that will never happen.
There’s no conflict from the MSM perspective. Just good journalistic fundamentals.
How will anyone know the difference?
How can there be a conflict of interest? CNN and the Democratic National Committee have completely identical interests, more so than most married couples.
Who watches CNN? Those few that do are already in the tank for Obama.
I don’t see any conflict here. Seems all parties involved have exactly the same interest, promoting Obama and the liberals agenda.
The MSM is so far into Obama and the RATS that they can’t even see where meaningful COI starts.
We could start with Matthews (Tipsey’s intern/aide) and Stephi (Primo Clintanista) getting kicked off the airif the MSM actually cared about COI.
However, we are far more likely to see NBC giving an automatic permanent appointment of the evening news anchor slot to whoever happens to be the Democratic Party Chair.
How is this really ANY different than the rest of the CNN “journalists”? They all are infatuated with Hussein and cover for his sorry arse.
I really get sick every time I think about how these same fruitcakes would rip Bush for “high” unemployment and “high” gas prices but won’t DARE question TOTUS on the same.
Why worry about one CNN correspondent’s conflict of interest when the entire MSM has this problem.
This guy just reeks of credibility...
He looks like a direct descendent of Algonquin J. Calhoun.
Yeah, right. If my grandma had wheels she'd be a Ferrari.
Cornell Belcher is one of the few black pollsters in Washington
Belcher has worked mostly for liberal groups, such as America Coming Together during the 2004 cycle
when Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) announced his intentions to run for president, Belcher, 37, seized the opportunity to join his campaign
Belcher also does polling for the Democratic National Committee
Ron Lester, who employed Belcher from 1995 to 1998, said, “He is the kind of person who watches C-SPAN sometimes for the whole weekend.”
Belcher left Lester to work for EMILY’s List. As one of the few men on the political team, he coordinated races across the country during the 1998 cycle. He then joined the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2000 cycle.
He’s interested in expanding the base ethnically as well as geographically. Over the past two cycles, immigration has distanced the GOP from Hispanic voters
“We have to compete nationally to be a majority party again,” he explained. The Democrats cannot ignore major segments of their base. “Our typical battleground strategy, to a certain degree, disenfranchises some of the strongest supporters of the Democratic Party — blacks in the Sunbelt and Hispanics in the West. That is our base. Our base can make the difference.”
2006
Democrats, despite entering each of the last few presidential elections with an edge in the eyes of voters on pocketbook issues like health care and Social Security, have been unable to close the deal because of questions surrounding their commitment to security and values.
“When we segment the electorate, there is a segment of downscale white voters with some of the lowest household incomes [and] with the least education attainment who are very anxious about their jobs and the economy but even more anxious about these value questions that center around their children and security,” explained Belcher. These voters are “not voting against their economic interests, [they are] voting for their higher interests,” he said.
As an example, Belcher points to data from the question, “What does America mean to you?” Asked for a one-word answer, roughly half of the sample said “freedom.” Belcher’s conclusion? “This idea that we should be about expanding freedom and working in the language and ideals of freedom was something we gleaned from the data,” he said. “Republicans sprinkle freedom language in everything.”
In order to win over these voters, Democrats must “change the narrative” around security and values questions, according to Belcher, and not allow the Republican Party to frame the terms and language of the debate.
During the 1998 cycle Belcher joined EMILY’s List, the pro-abortion rights powerhouse, at the urging of the group’s executive director — Mary Beth Cahill. While with the organization, Belcher ran the group’s “Women Vote” program, which focuses on increasing turnout among female voters.
At the start of the 2000 election cycle, Belcher was recruited by Donna Brazile to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee where he helped set up base voter turnout programs and build individual campaigns’ infrastructures.
The majority of Belcher’s work since that first race in 2001 has come from liberal interest groups, including two major unions (the American Federation of Teachers and the Service Employees International Union) and, in 2004, America Coming Together — the single largest soft-money group ever created.
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