John Mccain

Verizon, Washington Post spar on McCain cell tower

Jim Barthold — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:53:13 -0400

While they might more closely resemble goalposts, cell towers have become political footballs this week. The Washington Post suggested that Cindy McCain, wife of presidential hopeful John McCain influenced Verizon Wireless to have a cell tower built on her remote ranch site outside Sedona, Ariz. just as her husband was starting his bid for the presidency in early 2007. Verizon, in a subsequent email, called the story "wrong" and claimed it didn't take action until it was prodded by the Secret Service. The Post has now disagreed with that timeline and further said that a permit to build a permanent cell phone tower on the ranch is still in effect.

Verizon's response, as issued by spokesman Jeffrey Nelson in an email, is that the carrier "received a request from Mrs. McCain but declined. Subsequent to that, the Secret Service made a legitimate request for a temporary tower for its work and Verizon complied as is required by our contract with the agency." That request on May 28 said that "it needed the service urgently," the email said.

The Post disputed that timeline, pointing to interviews and county records that show Cindy McCain first sought better cell coverage in early 2007 and over the course of a year offered land for a permanent tower. In late 2007, the story continued, Verizon hired a firm to produce what turned out to be a 200-page environmental impact assessment and also hired contractors to prepare blueprints for a cell tower. According to the Post, Cindy McCain signed a contract with Verizon in early May and Verizon received emails from the Secret Service in late May after a regulatory hurdle delayed the permanent tower. Verizon thus provided a "cell site on wheels (COW)" but hung onto the permit for a permanent cell tower, which is still in effect through December--after the election, of course, even though Verizon has said it has no plans to build the permanent cell site.

For more:
- see this article

Related story:
See photos of what a COW looks like
McCain ranch got cell towers from Verizon, AT&T

McCain ranch got cell towers from Verizon, AT&T

Jim Barthold — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:12:26 -0400

Want better cell coverage? Forget femtocells, just run for president and have your wife's staff ask nicely. That, according to the Washington Post, is all it took for Cindy McCain, wife of GOP candidate John McCain, to get a pair of free portable wireless towers delivered to her remote 15-acre ranch in Hidden Valley, Ariz.

The candidate's wife sought out better service just as her husband was beginning his campaign in early 2007 and by the time the campaign was up and running this summer, so was wireless service from Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

According to the Post, Verizon delivered a portable tower, generally used to restore service when cells are knocked out by emergencies, in June, responding to an online request from Cindy McCain's staff. In July AT&T brought in its own free portable tower to match Verizon's offer, proving to federal overseers like McCain, who's a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, that there really is competition among the wireless providers.

For more:
- see this article

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Obama campaign releases iPhone application

Phil Goldstein — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:30:41 -0400

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has made history with use of the Internet and web 2.0 technology for fundraising, social networking and even text-messaged the announcement of his running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden. But now Obama, Democrat of Illinois, has made another leap.

He has his own iPhone application.

The Obama campaign released the application for the iPhone 3G on Thursday, with 33 days left before the Nov. 4 election. The free app will allow users to stay on top of campaign news, get mapping directions to local campaign events, call fellow supporters and look at media relating to the campaign. The application is also compatible for the iPod Touch.

As of this writing, an iPhone application had not been introduced by the camapign of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. Ron Paul appears to have had an iPhone app during his campaign, but we are unable to locate it anymore.

For more:
- see this article
- see this screenshot of the app

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