the buzz log

Tuesday night's debate was a bit of a snoozer. Despite the rumors that Senator McCain would take the gloves off, he remained a polite pugilist (not counting his "that one" comment). Meanwhile, Senator Obama stayed on message while ignoring Tom Brokaw's numorous pleas for brevity. Though certainly not a "game changer," the town hall meeting was notable for John McCain's $300 billion plan to have the government buy and renegotiate mortgages on houses whose value have dropped.

The proposal has folks talking. Forbes.com points out that this is hardly a new idea among economists. The New York Times writes that "the mortgage renewal idea actually originated with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, said Charlie Black, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain."

So, is it feasible and, more importantly, is it a good idea? Not surprisingly, it depends on who you ask. The $300 billion used to buy back the dodgy mortgages would be part of the much discussed $700 billion bailout package. The Associated Press writes that the Treasury's plan for the money could be underway by the time the new president is sworn in. In other words, maybe the money would be spent by then.

Both candidates appear to support the idea, which is ironic. Why? According to Marketwatch the proposal originated with President Bush, a politician who both candidates want nothing to do with.

Filed under: Elections, Barack Obama, John McCain

The appearance of the entire McCain clan on the stage at the Republican National Convention last night electrified the Web. Before the evening was over, a massive number of people had turned to their computers to seek more on "mccain children," "mccain family," and "john mccain family pictures." Many people asked, "how many children does john mccain have?" The answer is seven, but it's a little confusing. Here's how it breaks down:

When John McCain married his first wife, Carol, he adopted her two sons: Doug, who is now 48, and Andy, 46. John and Carol then had a third child, Sidney, 41. After the couple divorced, John married Cindy. They had three children: Meghan, 23; Jack, 22; and Jimmy, 20. In 1993, the McCains adopted a little girl from an orphanage in Bangladesh. That's Bridget, 17, and she makes seven. As ABC said recently, "Navigating through the McCain family album might require a road map."

Map or no, this brood stirs up buzz. After Bridget's story aired last night, queries surged for "cleft palate," a deformity she suffered from as a child. Both Jack and Jimmy have drawn attention for their service in the U.S. military; Jack as midshipman in the Navy and Jimmy as a Marine. Meghan, the most vocal of the bunch, has published a children's book and maintains her Web profile with a blog about her father's campaign. The Washington Post recently called her "the gorgeous golden girl, the GOP's next Jenna."

And then there's the other golden girl—their mom. Over the past months, Cindy McCain has proved to be an enduring figure in Buzz. Her husband's poll numbers may spike and plunge; media perception of his campaign may ebb and flow, but no matter what, searchers and buzzers want more on the senator's wife from Arizona.

Before she even spoke into the microphone last night, queries were stirring about the "serene" and well-dressed figure. People wanted to know her biography; they wanted to see photos of her now and when she was young; they wanted to review what they'd heard of her struggles with a drug addiction. (According to Scripps, she "recovered from an addiction to painkillers after disc surgeries" in 1994.)

But most of all, folks wanted to know how old Cindy McCain is. Yeah, we know, it's not polite to ask a lady her age—but this is the Web, people. Queries like "how old is cindy mccain," "cindy mccain age," and, well, "cindy mccain plastic surgery" all leapt. We can't confirm anything about the latter, but we can tell you that the self-styled "Western conservative mother" is a surprising 54.

Finally, where would a family be without its matriarch? As last night made clear, John McCain has a close relationship with his mother, Roberta McCain. The 96-year-old was in attendance at the convention, looking proud of her son and even boasting in a video clip that he's a real "mama's boy." Though searches also rose for "admiral mccain" (that could be his father or his grandfather), it was McCain's mother who drew a 483% rise in queries.

Let the Palin family steal the media spotlight for now. It may very well be the extended McCain kin who produce the campaign's best buzz in the months to come.

Filed under: Politics, News, John McCain

If Republicans were hoping that Sarah Palin would draw buzz to their presidential ticket, they've been more than amply rewarded. A host of revelations about the new vice presidential pick kept lookups on Mrs. Palin and her family riding high in Yahoo! Buzz and Search over the three-day weekend.

First and foremost, Bristol Palin. News that Palin's unwed, 17-year-old daughter is pregnant transformed the nation into a pack of news hounds on Monday. Lookups such as "sarah palin's daughter" (+1,883%), "palin daughter pregnant" (+1,656%), and "bristol palin" (+1,374%) soared upwards, breaking into our top movers for the day. In Buzz, the number of articles focusing on the expectant teenager jumped into the double digits.

Queries seeking more on the father of the baby, Levi Johnston, have picked up, as have piercing investigative reporting from sources like... Us Magazine. The pop culture mag drew attention with a post claiming that the young man's MySpace page says he doesn't want kids. Well, O.K., but who wants to be held to what he says on MySpace? The 18-year-old's entry has since been marked "private."

Next up: the Alaska State Troopers. Interest in the law enforcement agency took a sudden turn upwards yesterday as word spread that Palin had hired a lawyer to represent her in an investigation of the firing of a public safety commissioner. This "messy Palin family drama" introduces a new term to the presidential horse race: troopergate. Lookups on the Nixon-era reference and "palin troopergate" have spiked.

Finally, the Alaskan Independence Party. Palin's past political associations have stirred queries on the A.I.P., a group that wants all federally owned land in Alaska returned to the state. Claims had surfaced that Palin belonged to the party for several years—allegations we now know not to be true. But before that rumor was cleared up, searchers had boosted queries for "alaska independence party" and "aip."

Even as articles and blog posts on the Alaska governor and her brood continue to proliferate on the Web, the main media angle seems to be shifting back to John McCain himself. How much did the Arizona senator know of all this before he offered Palin a spot on the ticket? Sources such as The New York Times have garnered votes with analysis of the vetting process, and rumors that McCain might drop Palin from the ticket have reached such a clamor that the candidate himself spoke out today. Ain't buzz fun?

Filed under: Politics, News, John McCain, Sarah Palin