When Fred Thompson dropped out of the race on Tuesday there was lots of speculation on who he might endorse, with most bets focusing on John McCain with Rudy Giuliani in second place. Thompson is being cagey and hasn't endorsed anyone yet, and may not make a pick until next month. In the meantime, one of his most influential backers has made his endorsement which may make a great deal more difference than what happens with Thompson's paltry eight delegates.
Back in June when Thompson was a promising dark horse undeclared candidate he got the endorsement of highly respected former three-term New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato. When Thompson dropped out of the race D'Amato wasted no time endorsing Senator John McCain in the Republican primary.
You may wonder how important an endorsement from a former Senator who's been retired for almost a decade and whose main current political role is as a lobbyist for competitive poker players can be in such a hotly contested election. Those not familiar with New York politics may not realize how enormously popular the charismatic and colorful D'Amato is with Republicans and even with Democrats in the Empire State. He's a political moderate who is popular with unions and Italian Americans and has a high media profile. He was brought low by minor scandals and the growing strength of urban Democrats in the state, but he is still much loved and respected.
Where D'Amato comes into play is on Super Tuesday (February 5) when New York, Florida, and New Jersey are all up for grabs, controlling over 200 delegates. In all three states McCain and Giuliani are running neck and neck, with most polls giving McCain a narrow lead. Current front-runner Mitt Romney is a distant third. With his influence in New York and spillover influence in Florida and New Jersey, the D'Amato endorsement is likely to be enough to push McCain to a decisive win over Giuliani, perhaps even a two-digit win, especially since more Thompson votes are likely to go to McCain than Giuliani over and above those drawn by the D'Amato endorsement.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - troll
what is striking about this piece is that it is labeled 'news' rather than 'opinion' once again highlighting the author's odd relationship with reality
2 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Actually, troll, this is a news analysis. And, long ago on the Yahoo! list for BC, it was decided that a news analysis constituted "news" as opposed to "opinion". Speaking for myself alone, I did not find this piece so biased as to call it other than news analysis, though I do think there ought to be a sub-category under all the major topics, called "news analysis". It would be rather helpful. Indeed my own pieces on Israel and affairs here are called "news" because they are analyses, rather than just my own opinion. When my opinion overrides the elements of news in the piece, I call it "opinion".
3 - troll
Ruvy - as a non author I'm not privy to THE RULES
my own rule of thumb is that if you can put 'in my opinion' in front of most of the sentences in a piece without changing their meaning then you're probably dealing with an opinion article...call it 'analysis' if you want
4 - troll
...'bias' has nothing to do with it (imo)
5 - Dave Nalle
Troll, for your edification, here are the two top definitiosn for 'news' from Dictionary.com:
Is this a report of a recent event? It happened less than 24 hours ago. I'm presenting it here. It's news.
Yes, there's a tiny bit of speculation. No more than you'd find in a report on MSNBC or CNN. There's no bias, because it doesn't say "isn't this great because McCain is super cool" or anything even vaguely like that.
It's not my opinion that D'Amato endorsed McCain.
It's not my opinion that D'Amato is popular as hell in New York, NJ and Florida.
It's not my opinion that this will help McCain in the election.
The only opinions expressed are reasonable extrapolations from the actual news. First, that McCain will also get Thompson's endorsement and second that this will make a large difference on Super Tuesday. Those aren't exactly wild, partisan conclusions.
Let me submit that YOUR definition of news is an example of a skewed relationship with reality.
Dave
6 - troll
Dave - when you mix actual news with your speculation/opinion/analysis about what it might mean for the future what do you call it - ?
true it could be called news - news about Dave's latest take on things...to indicate this I suggest that you quote yourself in the future
7 - troll
if memory serves we've been here before...now I quote from the Statement of Ethics from various newspapers and you reply that BC doesn't operate by those standards
let's skip all that - my point is that when you go beyond strictly factual reporting with analysis or commentary you should clearly label the analysis either in the header or within the piece
8 - troll
...too bad you learned so little from your interaction with MR
9 - Dave Nalle
Troll. You're just wrong here. You aren't looking at this clearly at all. The article is fact and extrapolation from that fact. You're acting as if it had some sort of bias or partisan opinion. It doesn't.
If we had a heading which said news/analysis I'd use that. But since we don't just assume that the news heading includes a certain amount of analysis. I bet you can do that.
You're chasing after an illusion here.
Dave
10 - JustOneMan
Troll..its sort of like the New York Times typical story...
Recent NY Times News Article
"The sun came up today but because of missteps and lies by the Bush and his Republican administration, it will set this evening and once again throw the American people into darkness"
JOM
11 - Clavos
"...too bad you learned so little from your interaction with MR"
I submit it was difficult to learn anything from her, because everything she had to say was so thoroughly coated in vitriol, it was unpleasant to read.
Most times, I preferred not to be annoyed...
12 - JustOneMan
McCain is unelectable...he has shrunk into an angry old man, a fake outsider and someone who is non-relevant into todays world...
He is a light weight on economics, immigration and has a reputation of sleeping with the likes of Ted Kennedy...In addition, anyone who is adored by the press has to be wrong for this country!
JOM
13 - Pablo
Troll,
I suspect that Dave has been taking news presentation lessons from FOX News, my hunch is that he thinks what they present is also News, as well as fair and balanced. Smirk
14 - Lumpy
I can't speak for troll, but having not seen this story in my local paper it was certainly 'news' to me.
15 - Pablo
Great, one CFR stooge, endorsing another CFR stooge. Ahhh politics in America. D'amato has the sneer, piercing unfriendly eyes, and beak of many other predators. Am I suprised that Dave speaks highly of him? Nope not at all. News? Sure Dave, right along the lines of Charles Krauthammer another CFR stooge.
Keep em comin, I love it.
16 - Pablo
Dave said in post 5:
1.It's not my opinion that D'Amato endorsed McCain.
2.It's not my opinion that D'Amato is popular as hell in New York, NJ and Florida.
3.It's not my opinion that this will help McCain in the election.
1. True
2. Opinion unless he clarified which he did not that D'Amato is popular as hell among far right Republicans in NY, NJ, and Fla.
3. Opinion and speculation hardly news
I suggest that you stick to the opinion column Dave, as a newscaster you certainly aint. However Fox News might be able to fit someone of your calibre in being as they are about as fair and balanced in their presentation of news as you are.
17 - JustOneMan
NEWS
"Nalle's Illiterate Prose Rallies BC's Left Wing Morons into Action"
Now thats news!
JOM
18 - Pablo
Jom,
Being the paranoid coinspiracy theorist that I am, I assume that the above reference was hurled in my direction. Fair enough, but perhaps you could tell me what statements that I have made aside from casting sarcasm towards Dave and Fox News, what positions that I have taken that you could deduce are left-wing? I freely admit, unlike some others on here that I am a conspiracy theorist, I did not realize however that that phrase was limited to people of the left. I am all ears sir.Or do you just like throwing out labels without substantiation?
Pablo
19 - Pablo
Jom,
Positions on the Left that I disagree with.
1. Socialized medicine
2. More taxation
3. Open borders
4. UN
5. Nafta (Al Gore loves it, as does the Clintons
6. GATT (same as above
7. Hillary Clinton, I can't stand her
8. Barack similar to 7
9. Edwards Bilderberg stooge
-----------
Positions I agree with on the Left
1. Out of Iraq (most Americans agree with me except those on the far right)
Thats it.
As to being a Moron Jom, I will take an IQ test with you any day of the week, and put money behind my ability to beat you. So put your money where your orifice is. I am ready. :)
20 - JustOneMan
***** CORRECTION***NEWS****CORRECTION
"Nalle's Illiterate Prose Rallies BC's Idiots and Morons into Action"
Now thats news!
JOM
21 - troll
Lumpy - the endorsement was clearly news...so was Dave's 'extrapolation' in some weird push poll kind of way I guess
22 - Pablo
Jom,
Cute, and that is about all you can do, I rest my case.
23 - Dave Nalle
Troll, have you ever actually been called in a push poll, because you seem not to understand how they work.
And Pablo, McCain is hated by FoxNews, so perhaps you should either do some research or try a different bugaboo to target your ire on. And BTW, being a CFR member just shows that these guys are minimally qualified for the job they're running for.
The way I figure it, if this bit of news pissed off JOM so much, that's a good sign that the MittZombies are worried.
Dave
24 - Dr Dreadful
As I understand it, a push poll question would go something like this:
"Given a choice between the loony-left, madrassa-educated, Mohammed-worshiping towelhead Barack Hussein Obama and the family values-oriented, fiscally responsible, polished-halo conservative Mitt Romney, which candidate would you vote for in November?"
A gross exaggeration, of course, but I think that's the general idea...
25 - Dan
I can't see Thompson endorsing Mccain. He'll endorse Romney. Even if he didn't, the voters will. If they liked Thompson, they wouldn't like Mccain. Thompson was the purest conservative of the top 5. Romney seems to be 2nd, and a choice true conservatives could live with. Mccain is not a choice for true conservatives.