McCain-Palin rally to expect masked protestors with a hint of Rocky Road ..

John McCain and Sarah Palin are due in Strongsville this afternoon for a campaign rally, and while we knew to expect big crowds, we're now getting word that a group donning grim reaper masks plans to protest across the street from the venue.

"Change to Win" claims to represent a number of major unions, including the Teamsters.

An email claims that about 100 members will be posted on Royalton Road in Strongsville, right across the street from the McCain-Palin rally. The notice claims the workers feel McCain is a "job killer" so they plan to wear the masks while protesting McCain's job plans.

The release also says:

"The groups will be joined by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream entrepreneurs, who will be unveiling their 'Hugger Mobile.' The Hugger is a Ford F150 van that features a life size statue of President Bush and Senator McCain locked in a warm embrace."

Since there are often threats of protests that don't materialize and since I'm not assigned to cover the event, I don't know how much validity there is here. Still, if the protest happens as scripted, I'm not sure how much coverage it will receive either .. but visually, it sounds like something that will draw video cameras.

I also wonder if any of the crowd will turn on the local news crews as was alleged to have happened at Palin's recent stop in Alabama.

Thoughts here?

P.S. If you're going .. and B&J are there, can you bring me back some ice cream? :)

Palin's CAK "visit" manipulates the media

I hated that we had to cover Sarah Palins' "visit" to the Akron area Monday. As I noted in a previous post, she was only visible for a few minutes and didn't interact with the public, nor did she speak.

Yet ... did you see the size of the color photo on the front of the ABJ's community section? It shows Palin, her husband, and a local Gold Star mother. It's the best video of the whopping 235 second event .. and the same shot the TV stations showed as well.

Best shot of the event? Sure. But it was also absolute, pure manipulation.

Story behind the story

What the viewers and readers didn't know is that Palin's staff passed out a list of the people who would be at the stairs of the plane to meet her. A local politician, a motivated young staffer, and a few other community folks were on the list .. but the media eyes were absolutely driven to see the name of Pvt. Heath Warner's mother, Mellisa, at the bottom of the list. Under her name was a few sentences about her son and a note that she was a Gold Star mother.

Palin worked the line with a few autographs, got to the end, and hugged this Gold Star mother for all the cameras.

Bingo! Instant press moment without having to do a thing.

My point is that it was all contrived for the cameras. If Palin -- the mother of an Iraq soldier herself -- was so compelled to meet Mellisa Warner, Palin could have invited Warner to ride along with her to the fundraiser. Or maybe invite her to fund raiser. Or a hundred other things. Her words and heart may have been genuine during her 1:00 with Mellisa Warner, but truth is, she could have done it privately.

Instead, Palin made sure the media was watching, interacted with her just long enough to make it look genuine, and then beat feet with a wave to the crowd.

If the media had seen her hug a stranger and then later we asked and were told it was a GS mother, that's one thing. But for Palin's folks to stage the entire event in front of us knowing it was the only video/picture worth reporting is pure manipulation.

For all it's worth .. President Bush has met with quite a few Gold Star mothers, including many here in the area, but rarely makes the meetings public for a photo op. If the families take photos, that's fine. But Bush -- to my knowledge -- never set it up ahead of time for the media to use.

But Monday .. that was "staged" news to play on the public's emotions .. and it was pure manipulation.

Sarah Palin coming to Akron-Canton today!

She's coming .. but she's not speaking ... er, actually she is speaking .. just not to us .. or where you can hear her .. "us" as in the media .. but she will be talking .. just not where you can see her .. but you can still see her .. at the airport .. you just can't talk to her .. unless you yell .. which the Secret Service won't appreciate.

Got it?

Sarah Palin is scheduled to arrive at CAK this afternoon .. and the media coordination notes are all going out so that we can have our cameras and crews in place. Yet, as of now, all that the media will get is a shot of her coming down the stairs and into a car.

She's headed to Jackson Township for a private fundraiser, and then she's back on the plane and out of here.

Oh, the media can get video of her boarding the plane again too.

But that's it.

The public is welcome to come and wave at her ... from a distance.

While the media must be in place at the airport just after lunch, doors to the public open at 3!

But don't blink .. cuz she won't be visible very long.

Anyone else think that it's odd to send a candidate into the critical state for the election and not have her do something that rallies voters?