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Archives for August 2012

RNC Schedule Modified for Isaac

August 27, 2012 By WHC Insider

As media and delegates filed into the Tampa this weekend, they not only prepared for hours of sessions, speeches, and events, but they braced for Isaac.  The tropical storm, now in the Gulf of Mexico and headed towards New Orleans caused the RNC to suspend their events today and instead shift gears on an already packed schedule Tuesday-Thursday.

James Davis, the RNC Communications Director told ABC News said they were “cautiously optimistic” about the rest of the week. They will continue to monitor the situation and hope that landfall doesn’t cause a destruction to rival that of hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast.

Filed Under: 2012 Election

Kara Swisher Gets Better Hoodie Than Mark Zuckerberg

August 20, 2012 By WHC Insider

Tech titan Kara Swisher returned to her roots with a “state visit” to Washington and was the guest of honor at a dinner hosted by the Washington Women’s Technology Network last week.

Swisher had the crowd roaring with anecdotes from her early career and spellbound by her comments about technology and media today. She started her journalism career in the mailroom at the Washington Post and as a college stringer to the newspaper after she complained to an editor about bad facts in one of its stories. After time at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and some other jobs, as well as a Post internship, she began her real career reporting for the business section. She covered local retail, including the travails of the infamous Haft family breakdown. After taking a break in Russia, her then-editor, David Ignatius, asked her to return to DC to cover new online services companies, such as AOL, which was based in the DC suburbs. After writing a book on the history of AOL she made her own history in coverage of technology and the launch of All Things Digital — first a conference and then a Web site.

Kara tickled the news producers in the crowd by talking about her TV career as a staffer for “The McLaughlin Group,” writing fast and furious copy for the panelists including MOR-TON, but never calling McLaughlin, “Dr. McLaughlin,” as he famously insisted. Maura Corbett, the Glen Echo Group, reminded Kara that they traveled the country with Jim Barksdale to talk about the Internet in the late 1990s.

The dinner took place at Café Milano and owner Franco Nuschese joined Tammy Haddad, Betsy Fischer Martin, Connie Milstein, Ellen Tauscher and Holly Page as co-hosts. Kara, not only attended nearby Georgetown University, but she told the group she used to sell Chipwiches on this very chi-chi corner of Georgetown.

Usually asking questions from her bright red D chair, she answered the policy and technology questions from WWTN members Twitter’s Mindy Finn, Google’s Ginny Hunt, Facebook’s Marne Levine, former Chief of Staff for First Lady Laura Bush Anita McBride, POLITICO COO Kim Kingsley, Gibraltar’s Kelley McCormick, ABC News Bureau Chief Robin Sproul,TIME’s Jay Newton-Small, and Sarah Start Fund’s Lindsay Ellenbogen.

Inspired by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s women’s group in Silicon Valley, WWTN’s membership includes the top women in technology, media and politics. Their mission is to leverage the power and resources of Washington women in the technology and media communities for positive impact here and around the world.

Ambassador David Gross headlined the first WWTN event to discuss the upcoming International Telecommunications Union meeting and the push by Russia and other countries for global Internet regulation. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and WWTN founding members Hilary Rosen and Susan Molinari attended the luncheon at the Jefferson Hotel.

WWTN presented Kara with a White House hoodie, hat and cup and of course, a presidential motorcade set for her two kids. The hoodie — which the swag specialist, pronounced “good quality” — was a tribute to her famous interview with Mark Zuckerberg at a D conference, where he began sweating profusely until Kara coaxed him out of his hoodie. She brought the house down when she observed the odd symbols on the inside of Zuckerberg’s jacket and proclaimed that she had found the “lluminati.” The rest of the WWTN crowd went home each with a sacred “Meet The Press” coffee mug.

As the crowd gathered for a “class photo” with Swisher, members laughed recalling one reporter’s comment to Swisher from the early Internet days that she was “covering CB Radio.”

Said Swisher then and also now: “The kids seem to love it.”

Filed Under: WWTN Tagged With: All things D, Kara Swisher, Washington Women's Technology Network

2012 Presidential Debates: Crowley and Raddatz Join Lehrer and Schieffer

August 13, 2012 By WHC Insider

Presidential elections are determined by a few important moments and most of those moments happen during presidential debates.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, where Janet Brown serves as Executive Director, and co-chairs Frank Fahrenkopf and Mike McCurry rule,  announced their slate of moderators for the 2012 debates.   You can bet both campaigns are already pulling tapes of their interviews and previous debate performances to prepare for this years.  A hat tip to Martha Raddatz who’s war coverage will be great preparation for her role in the Vice Presidential Debate between VP Joe Biden and the newly named running mate to Mitt Romney, Rep. Paul Ryan.  There will be several changes to format which you can read about in the official announcement here.

Fahrenkopf and McCurry quotes from the release, “The new formats chosen for this year’s debates are designed to focus big time blocks on major domestic and foreign topics.  These journalists bring extensive experience to the job of moderating, and understand the importance of using the expanded time periods to maximum benefit.  We are grateful for their willingness to moderate, and confident that the public will learn more about the candidates and the issues as a result.”

This year’s debates – for the first time – will be available LIVE on line.

Filed Under: 2012 Election Tagged With: Barack Obama, Bob Shieffer, Candy Crowley, Jim Lehrer, Martha Raddatz, Paul Ryan, Presidential Debates, Romney

Sally McDonough Gets a Sparkly Send Off

August 9, 2012 By WHC Insider

It was cowboy hats, bandanas guacamole and chips with lots of catching up as Anita McBride and Amy Zantzinger co-hosted a cocktail reception to send Sally McDonough to Texas in style.

Ms. McDonough is joining the George W. Bush Presidential Center team in Dallas.  She is best known for her role as First Lady Laura Bush’s press secretary during the second Bush administration, but she spent the last few years helping the amazing scientists and doctors at NIH get their good word out.

McDonough, who began her career with Senator John Heinz, greeted former White House colleagues and media friends at McBride’s Spring Valley home. Guests included Missy DeCamp, Skyla Freeman, Robin Sproul, Betsy Fischer, Carrie Stevenson, Robin Gradison, David Almacy, Erin O’Connor, Amy Allman Dean, Sara Culvahouse, Lyric Winik and White House Correspondents Insider, Tammy Haddad.

There were many wishing Norah O’Donnell well in her September debut as a host of  “CBS This Morning.”  O’Donnell described how she plans  to commute to work  for the first 6 months since her kids are already enrolled in a Washington school.

McDonough is getting to Dallas just in time- the George W. Bush Presidential Center opens in the spring of 2013.

Filed Under: DC Tagged With: Amy Allman Dean, Amy Zantzinger, Anita McBride, Betsy Fischer, Carrie Stevenson, David Almacy, Erin O'Connor, First Lady Laura Bush, George W. Bush Presidential Center, Lyric Winik, Missy DeCamp, Nikki McArthur, Norah O'Donnell, Robin Gradison, Robin Sproul, Sally McDonough, Sara Culvahouse, Skyla Freeman, Tammy Haddad

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Exploring “behind the scenes” of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

We track the White House Correspondents’ weekend and all the activities around it, from journalists and media companies to the White House and politicos.

Tammy Haddad is Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of WHC Insider and CEO of Haddad Media.

White House Correspondents Insider is not affiliated with or approved by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which is a registered trademark of the WHCA.

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