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George
"Said" -- Vote For My Dad.
•
•
39th week of 2005 / News Updates
after the Election of 2004 -- George Clooney Backs His
Father With The Real Thing
--
•
•
George's father, Nick, a former
TV-news anchorman, is the Democratic candidate for the seat,
and he's been getting a lot of help from his famous
son.
•
•
Since those headlines appeared in
news print, life has changed for the better for the Clooney
clan.
"My father's lived 68 years in
Kentucky and has very little to do with Hollywood," Clooney
said. "And suddenly he's a Hollywood hippie."
•
•
Clooney was so absorbed his father's
liberal politics -- on issues including civil rights, gun
control and equality for women. Earlier this year, he helped
raise campaign funds for his father, who ultimately lost the
Kentucky congressional race to GOP business consultant Geoff
Davis.
•
•
But over time, he said, they grew
apart politically, as his father drew closer to his Catholic
faith. "Some of that wide angle of liberalism narrowed, and
actually formed some friction between the two of us.
•
•
It became harder for me to be
completely supportive if my father would say, 'They should
have a different name for it besides "gay marriage." ' To
me, that's one you can't cop out on . . . it made it
complicated for us at times, but not complicated enough to
not be proud and to not campaign for him," Clooney said.
•
•
Both father and son knew the
Hollywood connection could be a liability in the campaign.
An inveterate letter writer who still uses an electric
typewriter because George likes to feel the imprint of the
keys on paper, Geogre fired off a letter to the editor of
the local paper complaining that Davis had unfairly linked
his father with him. "I said my father had earned the right
to be judged on his own merits, not mine . . . If you have
questions about where he stands, ask him. He'll tell you.
But don't use me as a weapon against
him."
•
•
Recently, George's new feature,
"Good Night, and Good
Luck," won best screenplay for
Clooney and Grant Heslov and best actor honors for David
Strathairn this month, September at the Venice Film Festival
and will open the New York Film Festival on September 23rd.
It will be released in the U.S. on Oct.
7.
•
•
The quote, "Good Night, and Good
Luck," was written by Edward R. Murrow during the
journalist's famed 1954 confrontation with communist hunter
Sen. Joseph McCarthy: "We must not confuse dissent with
disloyalty"; "Accusations are not proof"; "If we dig deep in
our history and doctrine, we know we are not descended from
fearful men."
•
•
Clooney, 44, grew up hearing his
father, Nick Clooney, a former Kentucky anchorman, hold up
Murrow as a hero. At a time when television was in its
infancy, Murrow took on McCarthy on the CBS news program
"See It Now," first through stories about individual victims
of the McCarthy hearings and later through editorials that
exposed the senator's scaremongering tactics. He offered
McCarthy equal time, and then found himself forced to refute
charges that he was a communist
sympathizer.
•
•
The broadcasts ultimately put
McCarthy in a spotlight that is acknowledged to be the
beginning of his downfall. Murrow became, as Barbara
Cochran, president of the Radio Television News Directors
Assn., put it, "a tremendous symbol for all television-radio
journalists of what the very best practices and standards
can be." More
About The Movie
• •
02At the time of the Kentucky election
campaign,
George raised $200,000 for his
dad's campaign at his home in Studio City, Calif., after
jokingly promising that he would put on a toga and wash the
car of everybody who contributed
$500.
•
•
And just last weekend, George got on
a private jet and flew into Kentucky for a whirlwind weekend
of fund-raising. When he left, his dad's campaign was
another $200,000
richer.
•
•
But that hefty dose of Hollywood star
power might actually be hurting Nick's chances in this
ultra-conservative suburban district, just across the Ohio
River from
Cincinnati.
•
•
"George's involvement is really a
mixed bag for his father," says Patrick Crowley, who's
covering the campaign for the Cincinnati
Enquirer.
•
•
"On the one hand, he can raise a lot
of money. But the Republicans are going to hammer Nick with
the liberal
thing."
•
•
The actor famously called George W.
Bush "dim" in a GQ interview and told Charlie Rose that the
war in Iraq was "the dumbest thing my country could have
done."
•
•
That's why the race has been dubbed
"Hollywood vs. the
heartland."
•
•
Nick's opponent, who will be chosen
in a three-way Republican primary this May, will likely
emphasize George's left-wing politics, Crowley predicts,
even though Nick's are actually more
moderate.
•
•
Nick, 69, was against the war in Iraq
and supports some gun-control measures, but, Crowley says,
"he is hardly the flaming, Ted Kennedy
type."
•
•
Still, it will be tough to convince
the people in this 24-county district to vote for a
Democrat. They elected nothing but Republicans from the
early 1960s to 1998, and only voted for their current
congressman, Democrat Ken Lucas, after he successfully
painted his opponent as a Christian Coalition
extremist.
•
•
Lucas, who has pledged that he would
only stay in office for six years, is a very conservative
Democrat who didn't attend his party's convention in 1999
because of his deep dislike for Al
Gore.
•
•
He only narrowly defeated
manufacturing consultant Geoff Davis in his 2002 re-election
bid - and Davis is currently the front-runner for the
Republican slot, ahead of attorney Kevin Murphy and
chiropractor John Kelly
King.
•
•
"It speaks for itself that he's had
to turn to Hollywood money this early," sniffs Davis. "We
raised the money the old-fashioned
way."
•
•
But Bob Doyle, Clooney's campaign
consultant, laughed off Davis'
criticism.
•
•
"[Davis] really needs to get
a handle on his own candidacy," he said, adding that the
district's voters expect a candidate's son to be involved in
the race.
•
•
"We're not going to apologize for
it."
•
•
Nick has plenty of name recognition
in his own right - as a broadcast journalist, newspaper
columnist and TV talk show
host.
•
•
But George's fame is on a completely
different level - making it the great intangible in his
father's race.
•
•
"In 15 years of political reporting,
I've never seen anything quite like this," Crowley
says.
•
•
"I'm getting all these women asking
me about the race, saying 'Isn't it exciting?' and 'Isn't
George handsome?'
•
•
"The George factor will definitely
have an effect on the race," Crowley adds. "The Republicans
are spooked about it."
///
3.
Editor's
Recap - CASH FOR
CLOONEY
By
Patrick Crowley, Cincinnati Enquirer
- 2/5/04
Democrat Nick Clooney raised $53,168 for
the 4th Congressional District campaign, according to his
Federal Election Commission finance report, which covers the
last three months of
2003.
•
•
Clooney trails Republicans Geoff
Davis ($203,708) and Kevin Murphy ($73,193) in
fourth-quarter fund-raising. But Eric Gentry, Clooney's
campaign consultant, pointed out that Clooney - who didn't
enter the race until the last week of November - raised the
cash in just five days of making phone calls in
December.
•
•
And unlike the GOP, Clooney and the
Democrats are not facing a contested primary in
May.
•
•
Incumbent Ken Lucas, a Boone County
Democrat, is not seeking
re-election.
•
•
Topping Clooney's donor list is his
son, actor George Clooney, who gave his dad $4,000 - $2,000
for the primary cycle and $2,000 for the general
election.
Clooney courts voters
in bid for Kentucky congressional
seat
by Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press -
12/20/03 / Political
newcomer Nick Clooney needed no introduction as he shook
hands with people hunched over steaming breakfast plates at
the Farmhouse restaurant (in Bedford,
KY).
•
•
His face, once a fixture as a Cincinnati television
news anchor, was familiar to the regulars chewing over
issues between bites of eggs and
sausage.
•
•
"I knew him since I walked in the door, and I had
never met him before," said Richard Ginn, a real estate
appraiser and tobacco farmer.
•
•
The 69-year-old Democrat and father of actor George
Clooney looked at ease as he cultivated support in his bid
for the seat held by Kentucky's lone Democratic congressman,
Ken Lucas, who is retiring.
•
•
Impeccably dressed in suit and tie, the silver-haired
Clooney greeted people with his smooth, baritone voice while
making the rounds at the small cafe. His wife, Nina, also
chatted up customers.
•
•
"I've been doing this all my life," Clooney said
later. "You start off talking to make them feel a little
more comfortable. And then you shut up. And then they start
really telling you stuff."
•
•
Clooney heard about health care, the decline of
tobacco and an Ohio River bridge up the road that residents
want replaced.
•
•
Clooney also flashed a quick wit. He teased one woman
for bringing a banana to slice into her cereal. Squatting
down to eye level with a man eating breakfast, Clooney said
he did so just to prove he still
could.
•
•
"You have to take what you do seriously, but you
can't take yourself seriously," he
said.
•
•
Two Republicans are running for the seat - Geoff
Davis, a Boone County business consultant who lost to Lucas
in 2002, and Kevin Murphy, an Erlanger
attorney.
•
•
Lucas is honoring a term limit pledge by retiring. He
recruited Clooney, a native of Maysville who now lives in
Augusta and who bears one of the region's best-known
names.
•
•
Actor George Clooney is his son. The late
singer-actress Rosemary Clooney was his sister. Nick Clooney
also is a former newspaper columnist and was host on the
cable network American Movie
Classics.
•
•
Clooney, so far the only Democrat in the race, is
bracing for a tough fight in a district that traditionally
has been a Republican stronghold.
•
•
Lucas was the first Democrat in three decades to
represent the conservative district that snakes along the
Ohio River from the West Virginia line nearly to Louisville
and takes in much of the northern Kentucky suburbs of
Cincinnati.
•
•
Michael Baranowski, a Northern Kentucky University
political science professor, considers Davis the
front-runner in next year's
election.
•
•
Baranowski said Davis lost a close election to Lucas
because he had trouble differentiating himself from the
incumbent, a conservative who often voted with Republicans.
Davis should have an easier time separating himself from
Clooney, Baranowski said.
•
•
Also, President Bush is popular in the district, and
Republicans are expected to pour money into the race in
hopes of picking up a seat.
•
•
Clooney's inexperience also could play a role,
Baranowski said.
•
•
"Like all first-time candidates in a race that's
going to be high profile, he's going to make some mistakes,"
Baranowski said. "And he doesn't have much margin for
error."
•
•
Clooney calls himself a "commonsense Democrat"
stressing health care, jobs, veterans issues and a proposed
buyout of tobacco quotas.
•
•
He opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest
or when the mother's life is in danger. He supports a
Medicare prescription-drug benefit, but thinks the measure
that passed Congress will be a boon to drug and insurance
companies but a disappointment to
seniors.
•
•
He said the Bush tax cuts created a huge deficit and
that he would target tax cuts to those in need. "Why are we
continuing to empower those who don't need our help, and not
empower, more, those who do?" Clooney
said.
•
•
Clooney said he supported the military strike against
Afghanistan to root out terrorists but was an early critic
of the war in Iraq.
•
•
"I didn't think we had reason enough to send 300,000
kids over there in harm's way without enough evidence of the
weapons of mass destruction being there," Clooney
said.
•
•
Having already committed U.S. troops, however, he
said the Bush administration must finish the job and
establish democracy in Iraq.
•
•
For 15 years, Clooney's opinions were displayed in
his columns, published three times weekly in The Cincinnati
Post.
•
•
He expects Republicans to pore over his columns
looking for opinions to exploit. Clooney said his columns
criticized Republicans and Democrats
alike.
•
•
"If I posed questions in my column and raised
controversial positions, that was my job," he said. "I was
to engender conversation over the supper
table."
•
•
Davis said the GOP would "thoroughly review all of
his positions."
•
•
"The one rule in politics is you're always
accountable for what you say," Davis
said.
•
•
Clooney said his son's role in the campaign would
likely consist of limited public appearances, but said
George would "win by acclamation" if his name were on the
ballot.
•
•
In a statement, George Clooney said of his father:
"There isn't a person who has dedicated more of his life and
career to the citizens of Kentucky, and I couldn't be more
proud of him."
•
•
However, if George Clooney assumes a role in the
campaign, his own political views could become an issue,
Murphy said.
•
•
"If Mr. Clooney decides to make his son an issue in
the campaign, he will have to live with the positions and
the statements of his son, who has succumbed to the
Hollywood liberalism that is very far removed from Midwest
values," Murphy said.
•
•
Davis, who has campaigned almost nonstop since losing
to Lucas, played down Clooney's connections to the
entertainment world.
•
•
"I think the celebrity candidacies can be
overplayed," he said.
•
•
Murphy and Davis said the GOP has a political star
interested in the race.
•
•
"There is another George who is a whole lot more
popular in the 4th District of Kentucky, and that's George
W. Bush," Davis said.
///
_________
4
ByLines:
Clooney's personal views
through his
columns:
•
•
• The environment: "All those conservationists
and environmentalists and tree huggers were right. The
regulations they have called for and nagged about for a
couple of generations are working. Our countryside is coming
back to life." -- Jan. 9, 1995.
•
•
• Social Security: "Social Security is not a
welfare program. It is not a handout. Why is it being lumped
with welfare?" -- March 10, 1993.
•
•
• Capital punishment: "I'm against the death
penalty." -- April 27, 1992.
•
•
• Religion in schools: "Faith flowers in the
home, the church, the religious school and, most of all, in
the deepest recesses of the human heart. With respect, I
submit it has no place in the curriculum of public schools
of a boisterous and diverse democracy." -- Aug. 23,
1999.
•
•
• Tobacco lawsuits: "Suing tobacco companies for
damage we have done to our own lungs by our own decision to
smoke is, in my view, a frivolous and unjust exercise --
Neither tobacco companies nor ads nor stores with cigarette
machines make us smoke." -- March 1,
1995.
•
•
• Bill Clinton: "President Clinton's dreams of
greatness will founder, not on any perceived 'character'
issue. His historical reputation will sink, in my opinion,
on the boulder of indecision." -- May 1,
1998.
•
•
• Ken Lucas: "U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas is many things
-- all of which, as far as I am aware, are good -- He
listens well, he is energetic and certainly committed to
public service. What he is not is a Democrat.'' -- April 21,
2001.
•
•
• Jim Bunning, who called Bill Clinton "amoral"
and "despicable": "Both men are struggling with public and
private responsibilities -- But at the moment, only one of
the two is speaking like an adult. Jim Bunning is still
throwing at the batter and calling it winning." -- Sept. 24,
1993.
•
•
• The media: "Reporters are often more
interested in their questions than anyone's answers." --
April 22, 1996
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107
Nick
Clooney
of Kentucky
The
Father of George Clooney Runs For Congress -
Updates / George Clooney take hints from
his father, Nick Clooney, in filming, "Good Night,
and Good Luck," a screenplay about newsman Edward
R. Murrow.
• /
Television International
Magazine's Person Of The Week POW
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392005 - /
NEWS Convergence -
39th Week of 2005 /
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