Any Crowd Will Do For Schundler
Any crowd will do for Schundler
http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=...Y3dnFlZUVFeXky
http://home.comcast.net/~gold9472/get_image.jpg
Left, a photo of Bret Schundler superimposed over one of Howard Dean taken at a rally for the Democratic presidential hopeful last summer. The photo appeared on Schundler's campaign Web site. Right, the original photo, which was taken in Virginia.
Friday, June 3, 2005
By LAURA FASBACH
Left, a photo of Bret Schundler superimposed over one of Howard Dean taken at a rally for the Democratic presidential hopeful last summer. The photo appeared on Schundler's campaign Web site. Right, the original photo, which was taken in Virginia. Compare the photos.
Laura Reznick weaved in and out of the crowd at a Democratic rally last summer so she could share a photo op with her political hero, Howard Dean.
Little did the South Jersey native know that the photo would reappear a year later - but this time with her cheering on conservative Republican Bret Schundler, who's running for governor in New Jersey.
A case of a young woman's political transformation? Not quite.
Schundler's campaign Web site had been displaying a digitally altered photo of the Democratic rally she attended last year in Falls Church, Va. In the doctored version, Schundler campaign signs replace the Dean signs. A staid Schundler in suit and tie fills the foreground once occupied by a grinning Dean in shirt sleeves. And Reznick discovered she was wearing a "Schundler Reform Governor" cap where her Dean campaign hat was perched.
"I think it's pathetic that he couldn't get a group of his own enthusiastic young people," said Reznick, a 21-year-old junior who grew up in Voorhees and is secretary of American University's College Democrats chapter. "There are plenty of people my age who are, sadly enough, Republican."
Bill Pascoe, a spokesman for Schundler's campaign, said the modified photo - which was used to promote purchases of Schundler campaign hats, shirts and other gear - was removed from the Web site after the campaign became aware of it.
The campaign was aware that Schundler's image was clipped and superimposed on a political rally photo, but they did not know it was taken at a Dean event, he said.
Politicsnj.com, a popular political Web site, was the first to learn of the photo and notified Pascoe on Wednesday that they planned to post it. They did, under the headline "Separated At Birth? Bret Schundler and Howard Dean."
"It was a minor irritation for about 10 minutes yesterday," Pascoe said of the mishap, which came less than a week before Schundler faces six opponents in Tuesday's primary.
Schundler's Web site is operated by Big Fish, a Washington, D.C.-based marketing communications firm, which also did work for Dean last year. Tom Frank, the creative director for Big Fish, apologized to Schundler's campaign in a written statement and explained that the candidate had no knowledge of the photo's origin.
Reached by phone, Frank said a junior staffer pulled the photo from the company's collection.
"He inadvertently thought he could use the crowd shot," Frank explained.
Dean, the former Vermont governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, could not be reached for comment. But Josh Earnest, a DNC spokesman, said the incident was a telling example of the state of New Jersey's Republican party.
"They say a picture is worth a thousand words," Earnest said. "But this one speaks volumes that New Jersey Republicans like Bret Schundler have to steal photos of Democrats to try to convince voters that people are excited about Republican campaigns."
As for Reznick, who is double-majoring in political science and communications, she just wants to clear her name.
"I was worried this would be used against me," she said, not ruling out a future career in elected office.
Reznick got her start in politics when she wrote a jingle at age 8 in support of Bill Clinton. She also wrote a letter to her congressman at age 10 asking him to save Social Security. In high school, she worked as an intern for South Jersey Congressman Rob Andrews.
She was among the millions of twentysomethings drawn to Dean's unapologetic liberal message. She was among the campaign's ground troops in New Hampshire and she penned a song, "Dean For America," to the tune of John Cougar Mellencamp's "Little Pink Houses." ("But his supporters/They're believers/Givin' it all they've got.")
Unfortunately, Reznick points out, all of the candidates she's worked for have lost.
So would she ever consider working for Schundler?
"The only way I would volunteer for him is if I was trying to jinx him," Reznick said.
