Archives: April, 2005

Jeff Gannon On HBO’s ‘Real Time’ with Bill Maher
Jon Ponder | Apr. 30, 2005

I made a point of catching Jeff Gannon on Bill Maher’s HBO show last night. In fact, I’ve seen quite a few of the interviews this guy has done, and he is a piece of work.
In case you just woke up under a rock after many months and then tuned into Pensito Review [...]

Bush-Cheney Ohio Official Investigated for Illegal Contributions
Jon Ponder | Apr. 30, 2005

Toledo Blade:
The federal probe into whether local Republican fund-raiser Tom Noe, right, was illegally funneling money to the Bush campaign had been ongoing for months. It reached a turning point Wednesday night.
FBI agents swept into Mr. Noe’s Maumee condo about 7:30 p.m., spending three hours scouring the home of one of the most prominent Republicans [...]

Lockyer Won’t Run for California Governor
Jon Ponder | Apr. 29, 2005

There has been talk over the past few months that the most formidable challenger to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger next year might be Attorney General Bill Lockyer, right. Yesterday, Lockyer took himself out of the governor’s race, declaring his intention to run for Treasurer instead. That leaves the Democratic field to the only declared candidate, Treasurer [...]

Bush Press Conference Scored Lots of Viewers
Jon Ponder | Apr. 29, 2005

Imagine the collective ugly surprise when millions of people sat down for a penultimate edition of “Survivor” last night and got President Bush’s non-news conference instead. A lot of folks stayed tuned, however. The Big Four networks averaged 32.8 million viewers for the hour-long session. That’s a 23 percent increase over viewership [...]

Villaraigosa Will Return Florida Money
Jon Ponder | Apr. 29, 2005

Here’s an interesting turn of events. Los Angeles mayoral frontrunner Antonio Villaraigosa will return $47,000 in donations he collected in South Florida recently:
Hoping to end a growing controversy over out-of-state campaign contributions, mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he will give back $47,000 in donations from employees and other contributors linked to a Miami-based hotel [...]

Topics: Politics

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Networks ‘Caved’ to White House ‘Soprano Tactics,’ Forced to Run ‘News Conference’ during Primetime Sweeps
Jon Ponder | Apr. 29, 2005

Washington Post:

One by one the broadcast networks caved yesterday and agreed to preempt the first night of the May ratings race to make way for President Bush’s non-news conference, after “‘Sopranos’-style arm-twisting” by the White House, as one network suit described it.
The President’s poll numbers are at an all-time low (although 47 percent is [...]

Topics: Politics

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Woodruff Off CNN’s ‘Inside Politics’
Jon Ponder | Apr. 28, 2005

Judy Woodruff just announced that she’ll be leaving the anchor desk at CNN’s “Inside Politics” sometime next month. She didn’t give a reason for her departure but I read elsewhere that she was in Atlanta for contract negotiations. She was vauge about her future plans but, hey, I hear CBS is looking.

Topics: Politics

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New Poll: Schwarzenegger Drops to 40%; Riordan Tossed Out
Jon Ponder | Apr. 28, 2005

A new poll shows Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s approval rating is down to 40 percent. The Governor has responded by “retiring” education secretary Richard Riordan, the second most popular Republican in the state (which ain’t saying much, believe me).
It has been a rocky few years for Dick Riordan, the liberal Republican former mayor of Los [...]

Topics: California

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Member of Prince Abdullah’s Entourage Was on US Terror Watch List
Jon Ponder | Apr. 28, 2005

Media Matters:
A member of the delegation of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who met with President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on April 25, was denied entry to the United States after the delegation member’s name appeared on a national watch list for alleged terrorists, according to reports by The Dallas Morning News and [...]

Topics: Politics

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Rightwing Talk Radio Ratings Deflate in DC
Jon Ponder | Apr. 28, 2005

This may be largely attributable to the fact that current ratings are being compared with ratings during the elections last fall but there has been a drop in the ratings for talk radio across the board in the nation’s capital:
WMAL-AM (630), home of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other mighty righty talkers, was one [...]

Topics: Politics

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