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“Trackers” Watch For Gotchas
by Melissa Bailey | May 22, 2010 5:14 pm
(9) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author
Posted to: Politics, State, Campaign 2010
As he visited the press pit to chat with reporters, Dan Malloy (pictured) had another lens watching him—one from a “tracker” from the opposing campaign.
Steven Winter (at left in photo), who’s wrapping up his junior year at Yale University, wielded a hand-held Canon video camera Saturday, recording Democratic candidate for governor Malloy’s every movement as he weaved his way through the floor of the CT Expo Center in Hartford at the state Democratic Party convention.
Winter works for another Democrat who’s seeking the governor’s seat, Ned Lamont. Winter works as an official “tracker,” videotaping Malloy’s public appearances.
“He lives with us,” groaned Malloy campaign senior adviser Roy Occhiogrosso. “This guy pretty much rides in our car.”
Occhiogrosso’s campaign had a guy with a video camera following Lamont around, too. Asked if he was tracking Lamont, the camera man (at right in photo) replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The emergence of trackers is a new phenomenon at the state Democratic convention.
“It’s something that it seems campaigns have to do,” said Democratic activist Tom Swan. “Now you’ve got to be two inches away from the candidate all the time.”
Trackers became a campaign necessity after Republican U.S. Senator George Allen’s “Macaca” video in 2006, several political insiders agreed.
The video captured Allen calling a volunteer for his Democratic opponent “Macaca” at a campaign event. The term is an anti-Indian slur; the volunteer was of Indian descent. Allen lost the election to Democrat James Webb. The video was believed to be the turning point in the campaign, and established YouTube as an important new campaign tool.
When the “Macaca” videotape came out, “everyone woke up” and saw the value of having a tracker, said Joe Abbey, who’s running Lamont’s gubernatorial bid after running a Virginia campaign. Since then, trackers have become “standard” for campaigns, Abbey said.
Winter said he’s been tracking Malloy for about three weeks, since his classes at Yale ended for the semester. He’s mainly been following Malloy as he courts Democratic town committees around the state. (Malloy earned 51 DTC endorsements.) He records hours and hours of video footage, which is later reviewed by campaign staff.
The tracker’s dream, said Winter, is to find that “Macaca” moment, put up a clip on Youtube, and watch it go viral. The day-to-day job is mundane.
Saturday, Winter watched as Malloy leaned into CTMirror reporter Mark Pazniokas’ laptop and chatted about a photo of Vince McMahon. He watched Malloy hug people on the way to his war room. Then he stood outside and waited as Malloy went in to “rest.” (Winter is pictured at center in photo, with Malloy at left and Pazniokas at right.)
Occhiogrosso said the campaign has learned to live with a camera lens one foot away. When Malloy wants to talk to his family or have a private conversation, the tracker has been good about setting the camera down, he said.
Lamont campaign manager Abbey said his campaign has had someone following Malloy and Republican candidate Tom Foley for “the last few weeks.”
Right now, “it’s all about documentation,” Abbey said. The goal is to see if candidates contradict themselves, or make a promise that they later go back on.
Occhiogrosso said the practice started on the national level after “Macaca,” then “trickled down” to local campaigns. It’s new to the state convention, he said—four years ago, no Mayor John DeStefano campaign staffer was following Malloy around.
So far, no damning videos have emerged from either side.
For the most part, the campaign hasn’t had trouble with tracker behavior, Occhiogrosso said. Tracker Winter said people were generally nice to him Saturday, except when an opponent slapped a Malloy campaign sticker on his back.
The emergence of trackers has caused some friction with news reporters.
A tracker named Adam Susaneck (pictured) followed Lt. governor candidate Nancy Wyman around the floor. After earning the party’s nomination, Wyman paid a visit to the press pit. The tracker followed as she chatted to a reporter, who was showing Wyman pictures of her grandkids, looking wide-eyed on the stage. The reporter asked the tracker to stop videotaping.
“I’m a reporter talking to a candidate,” the reporter warned. “I’m about to take that [camera] and shove it up your ass!”
“I know it’s obnoxious,” conceded Susaneck. He refused to stop filming, and left shortly after with Wyman.
The interaction prompted a press pit discussion about proper videotaping etiquette.
“With trackers, it’s hard to maintain privacy or ability to have off-the-record conversations, and that, I think, is damaging,” noted blogger Aldon Hynes. “It’s especially damaging in that it promotes ‘gotcha’ journalism that misses the context of the story.”
Tags: campaign 2010, ned lamont, dan malloy
Post a Comment
Comments
posted by: robn on May 22, 2010 6:31pm
...so when will the campaigns send out people to dig through opponents trash cans and bug their phones?
posted by: Anderson Scooper on May 22, 2010 8:25pm
Hey, I’ve got video of Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley, at a Republican event, stating that he doesn’t believe the government should be backing student loans.
Documenting what a candidate says is fair game, no? And it’s not always about “gotcha” games, which even established journalists are prone to play. (witness the current Blumenthal debacle.)
fwiw
posted by: WaltSpader on May 22, 2010 10:07pm
Yes, these trackers were quite annoying at the Convention….it’s one thing to track an opponent, but when these trackers go to Town Committee meetings, or here, a State Convention, while what goes on is largely “fair game” there is an intrusion. Like mentioned above, a reporter can’t have an off-the-record chat, and the people the candidates are speaking to don’t know they are in the camera’s lens. Both sides - send out your tracker to the opposing party’s public campaign events…leave the conventions and town committee meetings alone.
These trackers were shoving their cameras into the candidates trying to talk to delegates on the floor.
I will also say, Winter, above, was the only respectful tracker I saw.
posted by: Aldon Hynes on May 23, 2010 9:39am
A few comments: First, it was a great and I believe very important discussion in the press pit. As media evolves we all need to find better ways of working together to get the real story out.
We should recognize the value of good trackers, and these trackers should behave responsibly, including giving candidates space for private discussions, and not taking a single event and trying to make it into a major discussion.
The famous “macaca” moment was because it graphically captured a clearly recognizable and frequently demonstrated flaw of a candidate.
Other efforts seem to be more about generating doubt about what a person has said, when there really isn’t a reason for doubt.
AndersonScooper’s comment about Foley opposing Government support of student loans does not seem like a tracker’s macaca moment. Instead, it seems to be a very good example of exploring the issues. What are Foley’s views about student loans? That is something people should dig into. The video might help make such a story clearer.
Trackers are here to stay. They can act responsibly and give people space. Used properly, they can help us understand the issues.
Or, they can be a pain that obscures the issues. Hopefully, we can push campaigns to encourage responsible tracking.
posted by: SmallTownDad on May 23, 2010 1:53pm
Trackers are indeed a sad phenomenon, but they are in no way new. The only new part is the technology. Now at least they are more in the open and that’s a good thing.
The “gotcha journalism” is however, completely the blame of the media and journalists. They should (and some are) be grateful that there is now always a steady, documented stream of these moments without any effort. Nowadays a reporter need not even necessarily go to a public event: if there is a positive for a candidate, his campaign will make sure the reporter knows; if there is a negative, you can be sure the opponent’s camp will point it out.
posted by: Todd Peterson on May 23, 2010 3:29pm
Although I could see some value in this practice I’m not fond of it. I haven’t seen any of this kind of thing at the Town Committee meetings where I’m a member.
I wonder if Mr. Winter’s parents are proud of their son’s political vocation. Do they think the Ivy League money they’re spending is money well spent. Will he include his experience as tracker/video stalker on his resume? Pardon me if I’m not terribly impressed.
posted by: ken krayeske on May 23, 2010 11:19pm
Great story - as for Foley and student loans - with me, he waffled in the face of the UConn tuition increase.
http://www.the40yearplan.com/article_021010_Tom_Foley_Interview_Part_I.php
But is it fair to have students who attend a public university shoulder the burden of tens of thousands of dollars debt until they are 35? With this increase, UConn students pay more than the state does to run the school.
“I can’t tell you the right answer to the question of balancing the students’ burden and subsidizing the tuition by the state,” Foley admitted.
posted by: Bill Doak on May 24, 2010 1:57pm
The next logical step? Having the tracker’s bush-beaters firing nonsensical questions at the candidates as they are recorded, until they naturally get angry or peeved. TMZ is the role model format for all these ‘street’ camera crews. After a few lenses are shoved out of the way, lawsuits filed, there will be less candidates willing to endure this than there are today - or we will have candidates reluctant to ‘break the rules’ and go outside the ropes. They will be surrounded by bodyguards in elbow pads to get they through the tracker crowd - all drawing a salary from the taxpayers via the Citizens Election Fund. You can’t close the iris now.
