Advice To Keith Olbermann

1. Get rid of the glasses. Get contacts. Time to go to battle with O'Reilly. The hairstyle is good. Need to work hard on delivery. The voice has to be smooth, rolling. Practice. Add more graphics, and boxes to the presentation. You have to be seen conversing with people often in real time.
   
2. O'Reilly is not a political leader. He is a talk show host. You need a talk show host to go after a talk show host.
   
3. O'Reilly is losing his number one spot by the time Obama is in the White House in 2009. Who is it going to be? You? You are the only one going head to head with him for now. So why not go all the way to claim the crown?
   
4. Feisty wins. You can not be neutral and be feisty. O'Reilly already got the right of center plank. You occupy the left of center plank.
   
5. Left of center is still officially center. Don't worry.
   
6. Have a few pet issues. For example, are you disgusted by hate speech? Let everyone know. Does Bush' low IQ drive you nuts? Let that be a running theme.
   
7. Once in a while endorse a candidate. Rarely, but do so. Got to flex muscle. Let right wing politicians fear you. Bring some on the show to tear them apart. Have about a half dozen top progressives to show up on a fairly regular basis.
   
8. Never refer to O'Reilly by name. He is not worth the mention. Refer to "some other newscaster," or things similar.
   
9. Primarily focus on the job. It is newscasting. The masala that is feistiness is an addon.
   
10. All the best. See you at the top.
    

Keith Olbermann
Countdown with Keith Olbermann - A Unique Newscast that Counts ...
Keith Olbermann - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In September 2004, Olbermann was voted sexiest male newscaster in an online poll conducted by Playgirl magazine. He had included a link to the poll on his Web site and encouraged viewers to vote for him, which they did, giving him 24% of the 50,000 total votes. ...... Olbermann and Chris Matthews’ Hardball, also on MSNBC, tied for first place on MSNBC (and 21st place in all of cable news) in February 2006 with 400,000 viewers each for the month, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN and FOX News Channel’s top programs for the month were Larry King Live with 901,000 viewers and The O'Reilly Factor with over 2.2 million viewers.^[9] Olbermann's ratings are often fourth for cable news in his time slot, behind O'Reilly at Fox News, Paula Zahn at CNN, and Nancy Grace at CNN Headline News, and his is the 12th-most watched nightly cable news program overall. However, the show's ratings have increased by 41% from early 2005 to early 2006. ..... In April 2006, Olbermann's ratings continued to climb, showing a 35% increase in overall viewers from the previous month's ratings, while O'Reilly's had dropped to "his worst month in nearly five years among viewers age 25 to 54." ...... since late August 2006, Olbermann's nightly audience has increased 69%, according to Nielsen Media Research; his show on October 2 had 834,000 viewers, virtually double his season average and more than CNN competitors Zahn and Grace. ...... Olbermann's show on MSNBC occupies the same time slot as Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel. Olbermann has repeatedly named O'Reilly his “Worst Person in the World", while O'Reilly has petitioned for the ousting of Olbermann from MSNBC and the return of Phil Donahue to Olbermann's time slot, stating that Donahue's ratings far exceeded Olbermann's. ...... The feud blossomed with Olbermann's public celebration of O'Reilly's sexual harassment suit by former Fox News Channel producer Andrea Mackris ..... he jokingly kept track of money his viewers pledged to buy the tapes from Mackris and ran a “Save the Tapes” campaign. Olbermann had continued to feature the suit and its details in his comments on O'Reilly, specifically references to falafels and loofahs, which O'Reilly got confused while allegedly harassing Mackris. ....... a group of individuals from the Web site “Calling All Wingnuts” who had decided to call into the O'Reilly show to voice their disagreement. ..... from criticizing O'Reilly to confronting the Bush administration directly. In a recent “Worst Person in the World” segment, Olbermann said, “I'm sorry, Bill. I can't play with you right now. I have bigger fish to fry.” ..... “Bill O‘Reilly has defended the Nazis from World War II on three separate occasions.”
Olbermann.org: An Unofficial Keith Olbermann Fan Site

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Obama: 2007 Gameplan: Money, Message, Organization

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Obama has work cut out for him.

The first time George Dumbo Bush shook Obama's hand, he promptly used disinfectives. Obama has to announce one week before the State Of The Union. He is running against George Bush. McCain is a footnote. McCain will parrot the dumb war in Iraq that Bush started.

You got to suck the oxygen out of Bush' room.

Don't get an exploratory committee. Get bodyguards. This is not a black issue. This is a celebrity issue. Madonna has them, Bill Clinton has them. That is a campaign expense.

You need physical bodyguards, you need political bodyguards. The recent media smear of your name is a foreboding. Expect more. Be ready.

You need money, tons of them. Do it both ways, do it online, the Dean 2004 way, but also do many fundraisers. You got friends and admirers.

Message is key. In this day and age of DirectConnect between the candidate and the voter, message is important. Message in all its many layers. There is the stump speech, but then there is also the policy wonk stuff. One thing I liked about Bill Clinton as candidate and president was, good as he is, the guy actually liked to have written speeches. Work on speeches focuses the candidate and his staff like few things do. We are in a unique position to videoblog the policy sessions you might have. 2008 will be a new media election.

It will be a new media election for the junkies, the hard core, the activists, the insiders, the ardent. But for the masses, you are still looking at TV. Half the country today has never heard of Barack Obama. It might not feel that way with all the adulation and attention, but that is the abject ground reality. Be prepared to tell your lifestory all over again, during the primaries, and then at the convention. Assume nothing.

Early start helps in the organization department tremendously. You want both, new grassroots people, and old establishment types. Elected officials stand in a category of their own. They are there for a reason. People elected them.

There will be a lot of travel involved. But I am glad the campaign headquarters will be in Chicago. You need the distance from Washington. You need the proximity to family.

There are four parts to 2007. Pre-Summer. Summer. After-Summer. And the primaries, caucuses. The tempo has to be accordingly.

Pre-Summer focus much on policy wonk stuff. Summer is for shaking a ton of hands in all 50 states. Then you start zeroing in. The primary/caucus season starts at the beginning of September. Between Summer and September, focus on the February states.

I would suggest make one major policy speech each month in a large media market, which are the big cities. Videoblogging will allow you to elevate the national debate. We go beyond one liners. We go beyond platitudes. We videoblog the policymaking process itself. We invite people in. The interested may watch in if they want.

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