Death of Republican computer strategist Michael Connell spurs conspiracy theories

[Algorem]

Source: Plain Dealer

Death of Republican computer strategist Michael Connell spurs conspiracy theories
Posted by Amanda Garrett/Plain Dealer Reporter December 28, 2008 00:10AM

UPDATED at 12:35 a.m.


...It's a real tale of intrigue, slowly unfolding in court records and on left-leaning blogs since President George W. Bush won Ohio, securing a second term in 2004.

Few news outlets covered allegations of conspiracy until Dec. 19, when the geek, Richfield businessman Michael Connell, 45, crashed his Piper Supercub on his approach to Akron-Canton Airport...


Connell once told a Plain Dealer reporter that the political bug bit him in 1984 when he was studying marketing at the University of Iowa. Over the next decade, the Illinois native bounced to various government jobs and worked on the campaigns of at least two Republican congressmen...

But two years later, in 1998, Michael Connell caught a break that would forever change his life -- Jeb Bush hired him as his Internet strategist during his campaign for Florida governor...

Plain Dealer reporters Serena McCrae and Janet Okoben contributed to this story.

COMMENTS (4)



Read more: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/12/death_of_republican_computer_s.html

[elleng]

1. Headline writers SUCK!

.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Hell I am trying to figure out what kind of plane he was flying

There is a world of difference between a Lance and a Super Cub. Can someone finally get some decent data out there!!!

[elleng]

3. Oh sure,

FACTS!

WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN and WHY

[Sancho]

5. facts are on velvet revolution

Piper Saratoga if I remember correctly; same as Kennedy crash

[catnhatnh]

8. N9299N

Piper Lance Saratoga II Ser#3257018 Model PA32R301T which can be seen at:

http://www.pilotmarket.com/aircrafts/Aircraft_For_Sale/Single_Engine_Piston/Piper/Saratoga/listing-12862-43958613.html

But then I'm not a "professional reporter"...

[Algorem]

7. it's different on the paper version of Plain Dealer front page today-

'Mytery lingers on GOP advisor-Death in plane crash breeds speculation'

they do it all the time,but why different headlines for same story?

http://www.cleveland.com/frontpage/wide/index.ssf?sunday.html

http://www.cleveland.com.nyud.net:8080/frontpage/images/sunday.jpg

[Berry Cool]

9. Because the space they need to fill is different in each case.

Stories get laid out in papers, and then the copy editor who's writing the headlines needs to write them to fit whatever space is allotted for the headline--the number of columns it goes across, the number of lines available. Some words and combinations of words will fit that space better than others. It's an art to write a headline that's gives basic information about the story, is not misleading or unintentionally comical AND fits the space allotted to it.

Web page headlines are not subject to the same space constrictions. They can be as long or short as the writer wants them to be (although obviously, even then you don't want one that goes on for more than about two lines tops). When you see a different Web page headline and newspaper page headline on the same story, that's why. It has everything to do with space, and absolutely nothing to do with anything else.

I'm not saying there isn't decision making going on as to where to place the story on the page or what page to place it on. What I'm saying is that there just isn't room in newspaper headline writing for political considerations. There are too many other things to take into account. So tinfoil-hatting about "Why is the headline in the paper DIFFERENT from the headline online?????" is wasted time and energy.

(Edited to add: Because this was a one-column story, the headline writer had to use more than two lines just to come up with ANYTHING meaningful to the reader. And because the space to fill was so narrow, words had to be chosen carefully, with shorter words preferred over long ones where possible. You don't hyphenate headlines onto the next line--it's a rule.)

[Algorem]

10. Spare me the douchbaggery.

[Botany]

4. Big old conspiracy I tell ya'

<Connell was soon accused of using his computer savvy to help Bush loyalists rig the 2004 election.
The lawsuit, filed by some of Bush's harshest critics, garnered little attention as it moved through
federal court.

Among other things, it contends that some of the Ohio election results were rerouted to a computer
system set up by one of Connell's spinoff companies in Tennessee on election night, opening the
results up to manipulation.>

@ midnight John Kerry was ahead of George W bush by 4+ points after Connell "shipped the Ohiio vote
data" to Smartech in Chatanooga, TN by 2:00 AM the following day bush had a 2.2 point victory .....
those are stone facts.

[k99]

6. connell

this guy wass obviously killed but we will probably never know what happened