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    Romney's Run
    Romney's Run
    Romney's Run
    Ebook149 pages2 hours

    Romney's Run

    By Alan Fisher

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    About this ebook

    A look at some of the key moments of the 2012 Republican Presidential Campaign, this is a collection of blog posts & entries originally published on the Al Jazeera English website. The author - Al Jazeera Senior Correspondent Alan Fisher- followed the contest from the early campaigning in Iowa, the Republican debates through the primary season until Mitt Romney secured the Presidential nomination. The book then traces the Republican campaign from its early stumbles, the selection of a vice Presidential candidate, the convention in Tampa and the dramatic Presidential debates, to the disappointment of the Romney 'Victory' Party in a Boston ballroom. With some exclusive 'Behind the scenes' photos from the reporter covering this historic election this is an intelligent and insightful look at a remarkable election campaign.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlan Fisher
    Release dateDec 23, 2012
    ISBN9781301374823
    Romney's Run
    Author

    Alan Fisher

    Alan Fisher is a Scottish broadcast journalist, who works for international news channel, Al Jazeera English and is based at its News Centre in Washington DC. Born and raised in Motherwell, he wrote for his local newspaper, 'The Motherwell Times' while still attending the town's Dalziel High School. On leaving school, he was accepted to study journalism at what was then Napier College of Commerce and Technology in Edinburgh. On completing the course, he received a number of job offers but opted to join Moray Firth Radio in Inverness. He worked there for 11 months before moving to Northsound Radio in Aberdeen. His work - including a number of exclusive reports and interviews - brought him to the attention of the bosses at what was then Grampian Television (now STV North) and he was offered the post of reporter/presenter on the main evening news programme North Tonight. His time there included covering stories such as the 1986 Chinook helicopter disaster, the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion and Aberdeen FC's 1990 Scottish FA Cup win. After six years in the North East, he moved back to the Central Belt of Scotland as a reporter and regular presenter of Scotland Today on Scottish Television. During his time with the Glasgow based broadcaster, he reported from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and Dubai ahead of the first Gulf War; and from Kuwait and Southern Iraq in its immediate aftermath. He also presented an investigation into a sinister extortion racket operating across Scotland, which led to questions being asked in the House of Commons. When GMTV took over the Breakfast franchise on ITV, he was appointed Ireland correspondent setting up its bureau in Belfast. In three years in Northern Ireland he reported on a number of significant violent incidents and killings including the Shankill Road Bombing, the Greysteel and Loughinisland Massacres as well as travelling to report on war in Bosnia. He was also the regular stand-in correspondent in the Washington DC bureau. Having covered the first steps in the Northern Ireland peace process, he was transferred to London in 1995 on his appointment as Senior News Correspondent. In 1999, he was promoted to Chief Correspondent. While at GMTV, he reported on some of the world's biggest news stories, from the bombings in Bali and the invasion of Afghanistan to the London 7/7 attacks as well as the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, becoming a familiar face on British TV screens. His coverage of the discovery of a missing schoolgirl in Brighton, live on air, was a significant part of GMTV's win in the National Television awards. He moved to Al Jazeera English before its launch, based at its London News Centre and has reported from across the globe including Afghanistan, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan and many countries across Europe. His coverage from the war in Georgia was nominated for a number of awards. His reports were also part of the International News Emmy nominations Al Jazeera English received for its coverage in Georgia and during the Israeli offensive in Gaza. He was a significant part of the team which covered the Egyptian Revolution for which the channel won a prestigious Peabody Award. A frequent blogger and Twitter user @AlanFisher, he is also a regular contributor to the station's website. On August 1st 2011, he announced via his website and later on Twitter that he had been appointed Senior Correspondent for Al Jazeera to be based in the Washington DC News Centre. In August 2012, he anchored the station's coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. And in October 2012, co-anchored the station's coverage of the US Presidential and vice-Presidential debates. He is a columnist with the highly regarded on-line current affairs magazine Scottish Review and is a patron of the Young UK Programme which aims to stretch the minds and broaden the horizons of young people. For his work with the programme, he was awarded 'The Inveramsay Medal'. He is a former trustee and member of the board of the charity The Institute of Contemporary Scotland. An accomplished conference host, he has spoken at many International events on the role of the media and coverage of breaking news. He has been a guest lecturer at the London School of Economics Summer School and spoken to journalism students around the world. In 2010, he earned a Master of Arts Degree (MA) in Mass Communications from the University of Leicester in the UK and has contributed a chapter to an academic book on the reporting of the 2011 revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East - known collectively as 'The Arab Spring'. A keen cyclist, he has raised thousands of pounds for the British Heart Foundation. He has also appeared in the UK ITV series 'Bad Girls' where he played the role of a television reporter. He lives in Washington DC.

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      Book preview

      Romney's Run - Alan Fisher

      Romney’s Run

      A look at the key moments of the 2012 Republican Presidential Campaign

      by

      Alan Fisher Al Jazeera Senior Correspondent

      Copyright © 2012 by Alan Fisher


      Smashwords Edition

      All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      *****

      Romney’s Run

      A look at the key moments of the 2012 Republican Presidential Campaign

      Alan Fisher Al Jazeera Senior Correspondent

      *****

      Acknowledgements

      This book is a series of pieces written for the Al Jazeera website and covering the 2012 US Presidential election from the early stages until the very last day. I had covered Presidential elections before, but never from the start. It was a deeply interesting process.

      The posts are largely as they appeared at the time. While there have been a few spelling and punctuation corrections, the facts and observations have not be altered to make me look smarter after the event.

      The coverage of an election is inevitably a collaborative event and at Al Jazeera, we’re lucky to have some of the best people around. Morgan Waters was the voice in my ear during the early primaries; Owen Franks took over that role in the later part of the campaign while Carlos Van Meek took the grand overview from Doha. In Washington DC, our Executive Producer, Bob Wheelock, as veteran of many election campaigns, was smart and wise and always available to discuss things or just let us rant on days when frustrations had to be vented.

      The Washington DC newsroom was always willing to help to do what they could to get us on air, and to get us the tools we needed; Jeff Ballou, Kavitha Cheruku, Whitney Hurst, Karim Hadid, Nahedah Zayed, Catherine Berger, Lucho Durand, Jennifer Bragg ( who transcribes live events at a phenomenal rate) Lister Lim were terrific. To anyone I’ve omitted my sincere apologies. On planning there was the seemingly indefatigable Kira Rockell and Hida Fouladvand. Our guest bookers Akilah Joseph, Noorulain Khawaja did a great job and I must give a special mention for Ilona Viczian who was on the team in Iowa, New Hampshire, Super Tuesday, the Republican Convention, the debates and on election night itself and did a wonderful job bringing new and well known faces to our live position.

      Our technical staff were terrific too and it would be wrong not to mention Goran Maric, David McWhinney, Rob Michaud, Phillip Smith, Glen Parker, Trudy Hutcherson, Thierry Humeau, Tom Haller and Mark Teboe.

      Our White House Correspondent, Patty Culhane was a continuing source of advice and a great co-anchor during the first two debates. Although she still owes me two dinners for lost bets. Her producer Khody Akhavi also deserves a mention for his hard work. Producer Sameen Amin was always smart and savvy on the road and good company as well. And Jesse Magner Hage was enthusiastic and so bright he made us all look dim as he challenged the conventional orthodoxy

      Mark Orchard was handed the tough task of organising the debate coverage and did a fantastic job which meant everything went smoothly to my eternal relief.

      Then there was my regular team: Producer Brian Wheeler was a treat and a joy to work with. He made things happen and provided a regular wise word on the editorial which was always important. He was with me from the start to the end and was a great professional. He also provided a number of pictures for this book, and I thank him for that and all his incredibly hard work. Cameraman Tim Durham who on the surface appears to be very grumpy but his gruff exterior hides a wicked sense of humour and a real talent. Finally there was my family who put up with my repeated and extended absences, my need to watch every primary debate I wasn’t at and to watch every news bulletin on many, many days, and they did so with little complaint. I’m lucky to have such love and support and I know it.

      All profits from this eBook will be passed on to a number of journalist and media charities.

      Alan Fisher

      Washington DC, December 2012

      *****

      The Primary Battle

      *****

      Obama faces toughest challenge yet

      1st September 2011

      A sign the summer is almost over is that the politicians are returning to Washington DC. In the next few days they will get down to business again.

      Attention is turning to the election next year. And in the quiet corners and coffee shops across the city, hushed conversations are raising the possibility that the first challenge to US President Barack Obama could come from within his own party.

      Jimmy Carter was the last sitting Democrat to face a serious primary challenge. No president who had to convince his own party he was still the man for the top job has gone on to win the election. But Obama is in trouble.

      Just four months ago his approval ratings surged on the back of the death of Osama bin Laden. Some suggested the election was as good as won. However, like George Bush Sr, after his successful campaign in expelling Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, high ratings boosted by foreign policy success will count for nothing.

      This election will be fought on the mantra former US president Bill Clinton successfully employed against Bush: It's the economy, stupid. The outlook is dismal. In the last few days economic growth has been revised downward to just one per cent - and that is not enough to put a dent in the chronically high unemployment figures. When the election rolls around, the projected rate of those out of work will be at or above 8.5 per cent.

      The last time America sent a president back to the White House with those sorts of numbers was in 1940. Franklin D Roosevelt won because unemployment was going down from the figure he inherited. Ronald Reagan did the same in 1984.

      Obama came into office with a jobless rate of 7.8 per cent but, unlike these historical precedents, the economy is expected to get even worse. Team Obama will cite the mess they had to clean up, the global financial crisis they had to deal with. They hoped that the high-spending stimulus package they put in place two and a half years ago would work and high unemployment would not be an election issue. According to the Washington Post, a president needs a job approval rating of at least 50 per cent to be safe on Election Day. Obama is down in the lower 40s.

      He can come back from that. This month he will announce his new economic plan. If it is seen as bold and ambitious, if it gets support and passes Congress, his numbers could rise once more.

      Obama could be helped by the disarray in which the Republican Party continues to find itself. No clear front-runner has emerged from the plethora of candidates to declare they are in the race.

      Mitt Romney is still viewed with suspicion by the party's base, Sarah Palin has yet to decide if she is in or out, and the growth in strength of the Tea Party frightens many independents and many in the centre of the party. But if a credible challenger were to emerge, Obama, the man elected by promising a change in politics, a change in the way Washington works, would then have to go negative in the election. His team would have to find a way to make sure it is not just the economy, stupid.

      The best way to do that is to question the capability and the talents of the GOP nominee, and make the election about trust rather than policies. First, Obama has to convince his own supporters he can do the job. Oregon Democratic congressman Peter DeFazio has already questioned if the president can win re-election while one of his biggest supporters, California congresswoman Maxine Waters, says that while she loves the president, unemployment is hurting and there is no sign of a strategy.

      To win the election in the first place, Obama had to rewrite the political playbook, to confound expectations and create his own piece of history. If he wants to win a second term, he is going to have to do it all over again.

      *****

      Is Herman Cain capable of beating Obama?

      19th October, 2011

      The US Republican Party is trying very hard. It wants to beat Barack Obama in the US Presidential election 13 months from now; it believes with the economy in the mess it’s in, with unemployment rising and people finding every day a little bit harder, that the man who won the last election at a canter is vulnerable. They believe he can be a one-term president.

      They just can’t agree who should be the candidate.

      Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has tried before and failed. This time he has led the polls for a while, but still the Republicans cast around looking for other figures who are chased and hounded for days only to announce that it’s not for them this time.

      We have flavours of the month. Michelle Bachmann, the Congresswoman from Minnesota, has been very popular with the so called Tea Party activists, the right wing of the Republican movement who so adored Sarah Palin. But her bubble burst at the end of the summer and hasn’t been the force her polling numbers suggested at one time she would be. She didn’t help her cause in the most recent debate by criticising President Obama when she complained: He had us in Libya and now he has us in Africa. But that may have been a gaffe that few picked up on.

      And there's Rick Perry, the tall, charismatic, conservative Governor of Texas. He succeeded George W Bush when he won the presidency, and now wants to follow him into the White House. But lackluster performances in the debates have seen his approval ratings drop. And displays of temper in the debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday night were criticised by some party faithful as petulant, unnecessary and not what you would expect from someone who wants to be President.

      Party of the Romney problem with Republicans is his religion. He’s a Mormon. And some on the right wing have not been slow to point it out, suggesting that this somehow makes him different to ‘Christian’ candidates.

      And so Herman Cain has become an unlikely challenger in the race. The businessman from Atlanta is not your typical political operative, and that may be why people find him so appealing. He has never held political office. He has no campaign organisation. When asked if he has employees on the ground in New Hampshire he answered ‘I have three’, a very small number for one of the first contests in the primary beauty contest to find a candidate.

      The only African American in the race, his name recognition with Republican voters remains at around 50%, below other

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