CNN Campaign Coverage Notes

CNN issued a press release regarding their campaign coverage up to and including Super Tuesday.

With more viewers turning to CNN for their primary election night and debate coverage than any other cable news network, CNN will offer marathon political programming leading up to Super Tuesday, the most important primary day in of the 2008 election.

Coverage will kick off on Saturday, Jan. 26, with a four-hour installment of “Ballot Bowl,” uninterrupted coverage of Democratic and Republican candidates’ significant live and recent events, leading up to the network’s coverage of the Democratic primary in South Carolina. Extended political programming continues through Monday, Jan. 28, with President George W. Bush’s final State of the Union address and through Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 with a 40-hour marathon of continuous live political coverage.

Building on the enormous success of CNN’s presidential primary debates, CNN, the Los Angeles Times and POLITICO will hold two back-to-back presidential primary debates, the final face-off before more than 20 states flock to the polls for Super Tuesday. The Republican debate will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 30, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., and the Democratic debate will take place on Thursday, Jan. 31, at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.Anchor Anderson Cooper will moderate the Republican candidates’ debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Jim VandeHei, executive editor of the POLITICO, and Janet Hook, senior political correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, will serve as panelists questioning the candidates. CNN’s lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer will moderate the Democratic candidates’ debate at the Kodak Theater the following night. Panelists will include Doyle McManus, Washington bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, and Jeanne Cummings, a senior correspondent for the POLITICO. Each debate will run approximately 2 hours beginning at 8 p.m. (ET).

Larry King will host a one-hour special “The Reagan I Knew” on Wednesday, Jan. 30. Following the Jan. 31 Democratic debate at 11 p.m., senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta will present the documentary Broken Government: Health Care Critical Condition.
CNN’s Super Tuesday programming will be announced soon; programming until that date includes:

Saturday, Jan. 26

2 p.m.-6 p.m. Ballot Bowl

6 p.m.-10 p.m. Special South Carolina primary edition of CNN Election Center live from the CNN Election Center in New York

Monday, Jan. 28

6 a.m.-9 a.m. American Morning with John Roberts live on Capitol Hill

4 p.m.-7 p.m. The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer live from the CNN Election Center in New York

7 p.m.-8 p.m Pre-State of the Union edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight

8 p.m.-9 p.m Special State of the Union edition of CNN Election Center

9 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Live coverage of the State of the Union address with analysis coverage anchored by Blitzer

10:30 p.m.-12 a.m. Anderson Cooper anchors a special edition of Anderson Cooper 360°

Tuesday, Jan. 29

6 a.m.-9 a.m. American Morning with John Roberts live from Florida

8 p.m.-12 a.m. Live special coverage of the Florida primaries. Blitzer anchors from the CNN Election Center in New York. Cooper joins live from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

12 a.m.-1 a.m. Special live edition of Larry King Live

Wednesday, Jan. 30

6 a.m.-9 a.m. American Morning with John Roberts live on location at the Reagan Library

4 p.m.-7 p.m. The Situation Room live at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles

7 p.m.-8 p.m Pre-debate edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight8 p.m.-10 p.m. CNN/Los Angeles Times/POLITICO Republican Candidates Debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

10 p.m.-11 p.m. Anderson Cooper 360º with Cooper live on location at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

11 p.m.-12 a.m. Larry King special, “The Reagan I Knew” (debut)

12 a.m.-1:30 a.m. CNN/Los Angeles Times/POLITICO Republican Candidates Debate – Encore Presentation

Thursday, Jan. 31

6 a.m.-9 a.m. American Morning with John Roberts live on location at the Kodak Theater

4 p.m.-7 p.m. The Situation Room live on location at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles

7 p.m.-8 p.m Pre-debate edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight8 p.m.-10 p.m. CNN/Los Angeles Times/POLITICO Democratic Candidates Debate

10 p.m.-11 p.m. Special post-debate edition of Anderson Cooper 360º

11 p.m.-12 a.m. Broken Government: Health Care Critical Condition with Dr. Sanjay Gupta (debut)

12 a.m. -1:30 a.m.CNN/Los Angeles Times/POLITICO Democratic Candidates Debate – Encore Presentation

Friday, Feb. 1

6 a.m.-9 a.m. American Morning with John Roberts live on location at the Kodak Theater
CNN’s Emmy Award-winning political team will be covering all aspects of the campaign trail. Dana Bash, John King and Mary Snow will be covering the Republican candidates, and Candy Crowley, Suzanne Malveaux and Jessica Yellin will be reporting on the Democrats. Also providing reports will be CNN correspondents Jim Acosta, Tom Foreman, Joe Johns, Chris Lawrence and Dan Lothian; Gloria Borger; senior political analyst; Jack Cafferty, commentator; David Gergen, senior political analyst; Bill Schneider, senior political analyst; and Jeff Toobin, legal analyst; and CNN’s nationally known contributors Bill Bennett, Carl Bernstein, Donna Brazile, Amy Holmes and Roland Martin.

CNN International and CNN en Español will simulcast both debates. Anchor and correspondent Richard Quest will report live from Los Angeles as part of his “American Quest” tour.
Headline News will re-air the Republican debate on Thursday, Jan. 31, from 10 a.m. to noon (ET) and the Democratic debate on Friday, Feb. 1, from 10 a.m. to noon. (ET).

Up-to-the minute reporting and analysis will be available at CNNPolitics.com, the CNN Political Ticker at www.CNN.com/ticker and at CNN.com Live, accessible at www.CNN.com/Live. CNN.com Live will provide extended coverage with anchors Reggie Aqui, Naamua Delaney, Nicole Lapin and Melissa Long co-anchoring from the Election Center in New York and from the CNN.com Live studio in Atlanta.

Through Super Tuesday, CNN Radio will provide live coverage anchored by Lisa Desjardins, Jim Roope and Dick Uliano. CNN Newsource will provide its affiliates access to live reports on-site from “RunningMate” exclusive correspondent Samantha Hayes.

In addition, the CNN Election Express – a state-of-the-art mobile news bureau – will be part of CNN’s unmatched coverage as it makes its way across the country, arriving in Los Angeles before the debates and remaining in California through Super Tuesday.

Each month in 2008, CNN Student News will be “Talking Democracy” by introducing an election-year topic in the show and online. From caucus to convention and primary to poll, CNN Student News will break down these election-year concepts. Teachers, parents and students can find the CNN Student News program and its curriculum materials online at www.CNNStudentNews.com and on Headline News from Monday through Friday at 4 a.m. (ET)

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

CNN covers the New Hampshire Primary

Hi everyone! The CNN Express showed up in New Hampshire for the first Primary of the season. Here is CNN's coverage plans for the evening (click here for full text):

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Best Political Team on Television Lead New Hampshire Coverage

New Election Center with State-of-the-Art Technology, CNN Election Express on Display on Jan. 8

CNN will employ its extensive resources and political expertise for incisive and expansive coverage of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday, Jan. 8. From the new CNN Election Center in New York and from around the state of New Hampshire, lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer and CNN’s political team will guide the network’s special coverage.

CNN’s special programming will begin at 8 p.m. (ET)—following wall-to-wall politics on The Situation Room and Lou Dobbs Tonight—and run late into the night. The coverage will lead into a special edition of Larry King Live at midnight (ET) hosted by Larry King and featuring analysis and insight into the election results.

The CNN Election Center is the network’s new political nerve center located in CNN’s broadcast headquarters in New York. CNN’s team of statisticians and political analysts will pore over data and polling information to bring viewers the most accurate results as results come in. CNN’s new technology such as the “multi-touch” and enhanced graphics capabilities has led to a whole new way to visualize these races and combined with the network’s unsurpassed reporting and analysis made CNN the most-watched cable news network in all the key demos the night of the Iowa caucuses.

In addition, CNN will offer up-to-the minute reporting and analysis at CNNPolitics.com and on the CNN Political Ticker at www.CNN.com/ticker. CNN.com Live will have extended coverage of the results, with CNN.com’s Melissa Long anchoring coverage from the CNN Election Center in New York and CNN.com’s Nicole Lapin anchoring from Atlanta.

CNN Radio will provide live anchored coverage with Lisa Desjardins anchoring from New Hampshire. CNN Newsource will provide its affiliates access to on-site reports from correspondent Sean Callebs and Newsource RunningMate exclusive correspondent, Samantha Hayes.

Each month in 2008, CNN Student News will be “Talking Democracy” by introducing an election-year topic in the show and online. From caucus to convention and primary to poll, CNN Student News will break down these election-year concepts. Teachers, parents and students can find the CNN Student News program and its curriculum materials online at http://www.cnnstudentnews.com/ and on Headline News from Monday through Friday at 4 a.m. (ET)


All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Election Season (Finally) Begins!

Happy New Year everyone! Hopefully everyone had a great holiday season. Now that it is over, it is time to move to a different season. It is political season. More specifically, election season. After almost a year of campaigning, the first of many primaries and caucuses happened today in Iowa.

Tonight CNN's political team which included; Wolf Blitzer; Anderson Cooper; Soledad O'Brien; Lou Dobbs; John King; Gloria Borger; Tom Foreman; Candy Crowley; Suzanne Malveaux; Jack Cafferty; David Gergen; Jeffrey Toobin; Donna Brazile; William Bennett; Bill Schneider; Dana Bash; Mary Snow; Jessica Yellin; Joe Johns; Roland Martin; Carl Bernstein; Abbie Tatton and Larry King. The team brought us the results as they came in fast and furious and were able to project both Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama as the winners of their respective parties in the Iowa caucuses.

Instead of me trying to explain a process I really don't understand, I will let pictures from tonight's coverage tell the story.

Tonight I leave you with this thought....

In five days we get to do this all again in New Hampshire!!!

CNN/YouTube Republican Debate

I must state that all the opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone. As Ms. Phebe said in her post last night, all of us ladies have differing opinions on politics and it seems as the only non voting member of this blog team I can look at both side and be the non partisan voice.



Last night CNN and YouTube teamed up again for their second debate. This time it was the Republicans turn to face the people. All eight Republican candidates were in attendance and right from the get go it was, what’s the word I am looking for here……interesting.

I have to admit that I am very glad that I did not have to write this post last night because some of the bickering really got to me. I am glad to have a night to sleep on it. I honestly have to say that Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani got on my nerves during their argument about immigration at the beginning of the debate. The nastiness just does not do anything for me other then turn me off to a candidate.

I personally feel bad for anyone who moderates these debates and Anderson Cooper is no exception. I think they need to throw the honor system out the window and bring in some bells and whistles. I was getting really tired of hearing Anderson say time and the candidates continue talking over him. The problem is at this point there are just too many voices trying to get their points across. Poor Anderson just got run over during most of the bickering but he did a phenomenal job during the debate.

I have to say the questions chosen were an interesting selection. As Erica Hill pointed out while with the group of undecided voters, I too was very disappointed that no questions about health care, education, Iran and energy were used. It is hard for me to believe that in almost 5000 submitted questions none of these topics were even questioned. At this point I must applaud the 5000 people who submitted entries. Thank you for getting involved in the political process.

I feel like I have seen 2 Republican debates and 100 Democratic ones. I know most of the country has had it with the Republicans but it just seems like an unfair balance to me. After watching the debate I personally was very impressed by the lower tier candidates and highly disappointed by the front runners. My picks for who did the best last night, Mike Huckabee and John McCain. My picks for who did the worst, Mitt Romney followed by Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani.

Well enough about my opinions. After the debate Anderson Cooper was joined by the best political team on television. John King, Gloria Bergen, John Roberts, Campbell Brown, Jeffrey Toobin, David Gergen, Erica Hill (who I was so glad to see involved), William Bennett andJamal Simmons to discuss the debate. I really enjoyed the post debate discussion.

And with out further adieu as promised, some more hi resolution photos.

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