ABC Pulls Reporters From Three Campaigns

Three ABC News reporters were unembedded Wednesday from the campaigns of Democratic presidential candidates Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The reporters’ assignment change -- they will still cover the candidates by phone and e-mail -- has been hotly criticized by the Kucinich campaign. The candidate’s supporters mounted petitions against the network’s decision and protested outside ABC affiliates across the country. Nearly 1,600 people signed the official campaign petition Friday, the first day it was up, said David Swanson, Kucinich campaign press secretary.

“People are outraged,” Swanson said.

“Most people already don’t vote, and when they’re given the message that they don’t need to bother getting involved, they don’t need to bother voting, Ted Koppel has it all under control ... that diminishes our democracy,” he added.

ABC responded with a lengthy rebuttal defending its decision on its Internet news roundup, The Note. The network said its Kucinich reporter, Melinda Arons, had covered the candidate more consistently than any other news organization, and that the move was a “routine coverage decision.”

The arrangement came on the heels of Koppel’s controversial questioning of the Democratic candidates in a debate Tuesday in Durham, N.H. Koppel pressed Kucinich, Moseley Braun and Sharpton on when they would drop out of the race, labeling their presidential bids “vanity candidac(ies),” and was sharply rebuked by Kucinich.

46.33% Hip

Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark’s campaign is officially cool.

So say the results of the youth activist group Rock the Vote’s online contest to determine which Democratic candidate made the best 30-second video for the Nov. 4 debate in Boston sponsored by Rock the Vote and CNN.

Clark’s spot, which featured the presidential hopeful in rolled-up shirt sleeves chatting with young people about serious issues, garnered 46.33% of the 21,044 votes cast. Runners-up Howard Dean and Kucinich earned 26.48% and 12.03% of the votes, respectively.

Clark’s offhand speculation on the future of rap super group OutKast at the video’s end probably boosted him to victory, said Ara Khachatorian, the media director for Rock the Vote. “His [ad] pretty much caught people off guard,” Khachatorian said.

The general has been known to bust an occasional freestyle rhyme on the trail. As campaign advisor Chris Lehane paraphrased OutKast member Andre 3000’s single “Hey Ya!”: “This campaign shakes it like a Polaroid picture.”

Edit Undo

Political reporters got a glimpse of the press people behind the curtain at Sen. John F. Kerry’s campaign as an internal message was inadvertently tacked onto a hastily e-mailed statement responding to ex-Vice President Al Gore’s endorsement of Dean.

“HERE ARE SOME OPTIONS,” the note introducing the formal release read. “I don’t think kerry [sic] should comment, unless asked at a press event? Not [sic] other campaign has issued a statement....”

A quick apology for the accidental inclusion followed.

The e-mail’s author, campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter, had no comment -- cut, pasted or otherwise.

Duly Quoted

“He may be a vegan, but as long as he drinks, it’s OK.” -- Gina Marie Santore, the winner of a Politicsnh.com contest for a date with Kucinich, after the pair’s breakfast Thursday at the Concord, N.H., Holiday Inn.

Compiled from staff and wire reports by Times researcher Susannah Rosenblatt.