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A Federal Election Commission opinion expands the scope of text-message based political contributions to allow contributors to donate the maximum amount allowable by law.
Previously, the FEC had limited donations that are made via mobile short codes that appear on the phone bills of contributors to $50 per billing cycle and $200 per election cycle. The system that was first backed by the FEC was designed to allow for the same level of donations that can be made on a cash basis, without triggering reporting requirements. Under the new guidelines, campaigns will be responsible for ensuring the eligibility of donors and identifying people who donate more than the $50 and $200 limits, as is currently required for other types of donations.
FEC Lets Donors Max Out on Text Donations
Back in May, my colleagues Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush wrote that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney had found a common enemy in the political news media. When either candidate speaks about "the media," under that umbrella term, they tend to portray it as a mill of unfair coverage and petty cynicism. It's an easy and self-serving attack, because "the media" is the only institution in the country with a lower approval rating than Congress. But it is not an attack either candidate made in their respective convention speeches in Charlotte and Tampa.
Obama and Romney silent on 'the media'
Today’s highly-anticipated event in Charlotte was the single biggest day of both conventions. President Barack Obama’s (@BarackObama) acceptance speech at #DNC2012 set a new record for political moments on Twitter, with 52,756 Tweets per minute coming just after its conclusion.
The Democratic National Convention has driven an incredible amount of Twitter conversation since the very first day— through the close of the official proceedings, we have seen more than 9.5 million Tweets sent about the events in Charlotte. Just the final day of the convention delivered roughly 4 million Tweets— approximately equal to the total number from the entire Republican National Convention. Many of today’s 4 million Tweets were sent during the President’s acceptance speech. @barackobama delivered a great collection of tweetable lines this evening, and Twitter responded accordingly. His five top peaks in Tweets per minute were actually all higher than any other moment for a speaker in either convention.
The moments in his speech that elicited the biggest Twitter reactions were:
- 43,646: “I'm no longer just the candidate, I'm the President”
- 39,002: “I will never turn medicare into a voucher”
- 38,597: Discussing Medicare
- 37,694: “We don’t think government can solve all our problems…”
- 34,572: Quips about the Olympics and “Cold War mind warp”
#DNC2012 Night 3: Obama’s speech sets records Obama sets tweets-per-minute record (Politico) Democrats dominate social media chatter (Financial Times)
The number of battleground states in the US election is shrinking, with Mitt Romney and outside groups backing the Republican presidential candidate shunning large investments in Michigan and Pennsylvania, which they had once hoped to win, in favor of other states where they are more competitive.
The decision to not invest heavily in ads in those states could enable the Republicans to devote more resources to must-win Ohio and Florida, intensifying the battle over the states that will probably determine the outcome of November’s poll. Crossroads GPS, a conservative political group that supports Romney, said it was not running ads in Pennsylvania and in Michigan, where Romney was born but where his stance on the auto industry bailout has been unpopular. The President carried both states in 2008 and they still favor him now. According to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, President Obama is leading Romney in Pennsylvania and Michigan by 7.7 percentage points and 2.4 points respectively. The Romney campaign had hoped to make inroads in both states. But campaign officials now say they are turning their focus to New Hampshire and Wisconsin, Ryan’s home state.
Republicans shuffle advertising priorities
More people watched former President Bill Clinton’s speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night than tuned in to see the N.F.L. season opener. But the game appeared to cut into the convention’s ratings, which were lower than Tuesday night’s. According to preliminary ratings from Nielsen, 20.6 million watched the convention from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., while 20.1 million people watched the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game during the same hour. Both events had fewer viewers in that hour than Michelle Obama’s speech on Tuesday, the first night of the convention. About 26.2 million people tuned in to hear the first lady, Nielsen reported.
Bill Clinton Draws More Viewers Than N.F.L. Opener
Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian has accomplished what virtually no one else in Washington is doing these days: bringing the political parties together on a controversial issue.
Democrats and Republicans have stepped up their support this year of Ohanian’s cause of keeping the Web free of government intervention. During their conventions, both sides touted a platform plank affirming Internet freedom. And last week, President Obama stopped by Reddit for a surprise question-and-answer session, saying he would “fight hard to make sure the Internet remains the open forum for everybody.” “Republicans want to keep the open Internet safe from big government. Democrats want to keep it safe from big corporations. I say we agree to agree and move ahead,” Ohanian said in an interview. “It was so successful because we literally had the Tea Party next to the MoveOn.org guys at these meetings. They don’t often hang out together.”
Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and Web advocate
The White House is circulating a draft of an executive order aimed at protecting the country from cyberattacks. The draft proposal, which has been sent to relevant federal agencies for feedback, is a clear sign that the Administration is resolved to take action on cybersecurity even as Congress remains gridlocked on legislation that would address the threat.
The draft executive order would establish a voluntary program where companies operating critical infrastructure would elect to meet cybersecurity best practices and standards crafted, in part, by the government, according to two people familiar with the document. The draft has undergone multiple revisions and is brief, spanning no more than five pages. It is still being worked on and is subject to change, the people familiar with the draft stressed. It's also unclear whether the final product will get the president's approval to move forward. A new draft of the executive order is expected to be shared with agencies next week.
White House circulating draft of executive order on cybersecurity
The Federal Communications Commission is moving aggressively to auction television stations' airwave licenses to cellular service providers by 2014.
According to FCC officials, Chairman Julius Genachowski will circulate an order on September 7 with the other commissioners that will outline how the agency could craft the multibillion dollar auctions and will seek feedback from companies and the public. Congress authorized the auctions as part of tax cut extension legislation earlier this year but left the details of the implementation to the FCC. The commission's proposed timeline is similar to the one sought by the wireless industry, which called for the auctions to be held by mid-2014. The FCC will vote on moving ahead with the proposal at its meeting later this month.
FCC moves to auction airwaves by 2014 FCC Chair to Circulate Spectrum Auction NPRM Friday (B&C) FCC Plans TV Incentive Auction for 2014 (GigaOm)
The House Commerce Committee's Communications Subcommittee will hold a hearing Sept. 13, "Creating Opportunities through Improved Government Spectrum Efficiency," on freeing up government spectrum.
The Obama Administration is in the process of encouraging government agencies to find spectrum to either relinquish or share as part of its goal to get wireless broadband to 98% of the population within five years. "The subcommittee will continue to examine how both federal agencies and commercial wireless carriers might benefit from more efficient government use of spectrum," said Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). "As the single largest spectrum user, the federal government could save taxpayers money and make more frequencies available to meet American consumers' growing demand for mobile broadband services, while improving its own capabilities."
House Communications Subcommittee Schedules Government Spectrum Hearing
The House Intelligence Committee plans to question Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp. during a rare public hearing next week about national-security concerns posed by the Chinese telecommunications companies' inroads into the U.S. market.
However, Huawei's U.S. spokesman, Bill Plummer, said the company will participate only if it can agree with the Committee on "appropriate arrangements" for Thursday's hearing, declining to give details on what it would consider appropriate. ZTE, meanwhile, said it is cooperating and plans to send Senior Vice President Zhu Jinyun to testify. The wrangling over the hearing arrangements underscored the sensitivity of the committee's nearly year-old probe into the companies. The investigation is looking into their ties to the Chinese government and the extent to which they could provide an avenue for foreign spying in the U.S. It is a response to growing fears that Beijing could gain access to Huawei or ZTE telecom equipment and track phone calls or emails, or disrupt or destroy a communications system.
House Panel to Question Chinese Telecom Firms