First, staged press conferences.
... now planted questions.
Quote:
Hillary Clinton stopped at a bio-diesel plant in Newton, Iowa earlier this week to see alternative fuels in the making and drive home the week's campaign theme of her energy plan. After a tour, the candidate took questions from the crowd.
She called on a young woman. "As a young person," said the well-spoken Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff,
"I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?"
"Well, you should be worried," Clinton replied. "You know, I find as I travel around Iowa that it's usually young people that ask me about global warming."
There's a good reason for that, too.
The question was a plant, totally rigged in advance, like a late-night infomercial. Just before the public forum a Clinton staffer had chosen the young woman, a student at Grinnell College, and asked her to ask that specific question.
Trouble is, the young woman told others and today her account showed up on the Grinnell website, including a mention that the staffer signaled Clinton who to call on.
Tonight, as other campaigns chuckled and hypocritically spread the news far and wide, a Clinton campaign spokesman admitted sheepishly, "On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum. However, Senator Clinton did not know which questioners she was calling on during the event. This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again.”
But it may not have been the first time.
Quote:
In a telephone interview Saturday, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, said he was approached by Clinton campaign worker Chris Hayler to ask a question about how she was standing up to President Bush on the question of funding the Iraq war and a troop withdrawal timeline.
The encounter happened before an event hosted by Iowa State Sen. Gene Frais on a farm outside Fort Madison, Iowa.
Clinton's Iowa campaign confirmed that one of its staff discussed questions with Mitchell before her April 2 event, but denied attempting to plant a pro-Clinton question.
Mo Elliethee, spokesman for Clinton's campaign in Iowa, told FOX News that Hayler and Mitchell "had a previous relationship" and that a discussion about Clinton arose out of a normal conversation between two people who knew each other well.
"They had a previous relationship and were talking before the event and the topic of the senator's position on Iraq came up and Geoffrey said he had some questions," Elliethee said. "Chris suggested Geoffrey ask a question."
Mitchell, however, said that he and Hayler did not know each other personally before the event.
"I had no previous relationship with him," said Mitchell. "I knew his name and by name only as someone who worked for Senator Evan Bayh. But we didn't know each other and I had never met him before this event."
Mitchell said the Clinton campaign wanted to contrast Clinton to Sen. Barack Obama who had recently said the president would probably prevail in the Iraq funding battle with Congress.
Mithell said he refused to ask the question.
"I told Chris I had other issues I wanted to raise with Senator Clinton," Mitchell said.
Asked what those were, Mitchell said, "I wanted to ask her why she voted for the Iraq war and why she didn't consider that a mistake."
Mitchell said Hayler, the Clinton campaign worker, was unhappy with his response and moved on to other audience members.
"I know he tried to have others ask that question," Mitchell said.
The LA Times writers say, "virtually every professional presidential campaign plants questions. It's a routine part of preparation for the advance people staging every event."
Do they? Is any of this real?
