Presidential Candidates and “The Media”

Whoever survives all the way to inauguration on Friday, January 20, 2016 as the person with the hand on the requisite Bible swearing an oath to, you know, do everything good for the country no matter the opposition or what happens globally, will face a few issues including some big ones in media.&#160;To wit:Cybersecurity and Privacy: Think Sony.&#160; Think Office of Personnel Management.&#160; Hacking is a real threat; finding a way to get government and business -- or for that matter, government and government -- to work together won&#8217;t be simple. The National Telecommunications &amp; Information Administration (NTIA) is promising to do a little research and maybe even make some recommendations.&#160; Various Congressional committees and subcommittees are already holding hearings and talking.Copyright: Where to put the Office?&#160; Leave it in the Library of Congress?&#160; Create a clone of the Federal Confusion Commission?&#160; Who knows?&#160; Shockingly, both major partisan sides have opinions that clash.&#160; Music issues are driving the process now; but video and every other medium will be involved sooner or later.FCC: Is broadband a &#8220;necessity&#8221; or a &#8220;nice to have&#8221;?&#160; Who&#8217;s right?&#160; O&#8217;Reilly or Clyburn?&#160; How will the abandonment of copper play out, as IP is ascendant?&#160; On top of that, one of the presidential candidates, Sanders, has written a letter co-signed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren asking the FCC to investigate cable and Internet pricing.Mobile Broadband: Spectrum!&#160; It is the &#8220;plastics&#8221; of the next decade.&#160; Who gets what for how much?And there are the candidates.&#160; I thought it might be interesting to look at some implied odds about who might or might not win.&#160; Using two very recent respectable polls (CNN/Opinion Research -- July 1 and The Economist/YouGov -- July 4 and 5) one can begin to make some educated guesses about who might win and who may or may not do something about media.&#160; All are ranked first by the CNN poll; The Economist is in parentheses for Republicans.&#160; The awards, though, come first; rankings second.Republican Awards and Rankings:Most Money: Jeb Bush with 19% (11%); the clear leader in $$$ raised ($114M+!) has written two books; likes immigrants; former governor; a true conservative who can seem moderate; lost a lot of weight lately.Best Hair: The Donald. His bouffant is almost as famous as he is. &#160;Second with 12% from CNN, 15% (and 1st place!) from The Economist. &#160;You&#8217;ll see the hair and hear the motor mouth in the upcoming debate if he files with the FEC in time. &#160;(Why the Republicans ceded control of this to Fox News is simply beyond me.) He&#8217;s got other Republicans running scared (&#8220;ruining our brand!&#8221;) and uses the press brilliantly.Best Bass Player: Mike Huckabee with 08% (09%); has T-shirts for sale along with 12 books; former pastor and Governor; former Fox News performer.Best Hands:&#160;Ben Carson at 07% (07%); makes speaking $$ from evangelical non-profits; great surgeon; neophyte campaigner; nine books; African-American.Best &#8220;Hands Off!&#8221;: Rand Paul at 07% (11%); Libertarian; famous father Ron; somewhat isolationist; trying to widen base; goes where colleagues ignore; testy with journalists and the press; sells T-shirts and has three books.Best Story: Marco Rubio with 06% (09%); great personal story (not unlike current incumbent); great speaker (ditto); freshman Senator (ditto); ties to Florida financier; sells T-shirts and has two books.Best Sarah Palin Imitation: Scott Walker at 06% (09%); Governor; anti-union in rhetoric and victories; lack of foreign experience (wants to treat Putin like a union boss); has one book.Best New Eyeglasses: Rick Perry with 04% (03%); longest-serving Texas Governor; used to wear cowboy boots; &#8220;Oops&#8221;; touts Texas exceptionalism and job creation history; even Kinky Friedman likes him; has T-shirt and two books.Most Consistent: Ted Cruz with 03% (04%); Texas Senator; maverick; debate champion; everyone thinks he&#8217;s smart (him, too); far right with a rabid following; wants Supreme Court Justices elected; has T-shirt and one book (but, despite huge sales, didn&#8217;t know The New York Times Book Review doesn&#8217;t count discount big bulk sales).Best Sweater Vest: Rick Santorum 03% (02%); last go-around&#8217;s primary winner (for a while); lost Senate reelection; devout Catholic.Best Bluster (and Girth): Chris Christie at 03% (06%); &#8220;Mr.-Tell-It-Like-He-Wants-It&#8221;; not so popular in New Jersey; second term Governor; great town hall theater; not as shiny as in 2012 almost race; Bridgegate; down-graded finances for New Jersey.The &#8220;so far&#8221; also-rans (someone might surprise us) with 02% or less:John Kasich:&#160;Second term Ohio Governor; swing state; former Congressman; former investment banker (Lehman Bros.); three books.Bobby Jindal: Indian American; vociferous conservative; initially thought of ignoring recent Supreme Court decision; blew radio response to President Obama.Carly Fiorina:&#160;Former head of Hewlett-Packard; was fired; blames board.Lindsey Graham:&#160;Third term South Carolina Senator; former Congressman; former Air Force JAG officer; Colonel in Reserves; close friend of Sen. John McCain; single.Below the numbers: Former NY Governor George Pataki (one book) and perhaps soon to announce former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore.Democrat Awards and Rankings:Longest Running: Hillary Clinton with 58%; former First Lady; former New York Senator; former Secretary of State; lost nomination in 2008; testy with national press; six books and T-shirts including one with a pant suit; &#8220;vast right wing conspiracy&#8221; tracking her every utterance.Wildest/Whitest Hair: Bernard Sanders with 25% (and growing); Vermont Senator; longest serving independent (says he a socialist); first real job was mayor of Burlington; biggest campaign crowd yet this race (10k in Madison, WI); two books and T-shirts.Funniest: Joe Biden (unannounced) with 17%; current Vice President; long time Delaware Senator; personal tragedies; &#8220;Biden gaffes&#8221; (most are truly funny and harmless).Best Singer/Guitarist: Martin O&#8217;Malley stuck at 01%; former two-term Governor of Maryland; former Mayor of Baltimore; once worked for Gary Hart; leads Irish band.Best Soldier/Writer: Jim Webb, Jr.: former Virginia Senator; former Secretary of the Navy (under Pres. Reagan); Asst. Secretary of Defense; Marine Captain awarded Navy Cross, Silver Star, two Bronze stars and two Purple Hearts; successful novelist with a total of 10 books and a movie.Least Known: Lincoln Chafee: former Rep. Senator (was named &#8220;least conservative&#8221;), former Governor of Rhode Island, former Mayor of Warwick; former Republican and Independent; worked as a farrier; wants metric system.The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage management or associated bloggers.

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Paul S. Maxwell

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