C Span

Forget Cokie Roberts, the Capitol Hill correspondent with politics in her bloodlines. Forget David Brinkley, who probably knew Thomas Jefferson, too. Forget John Chancellor, who bests Tom Brokaw at political quote trivia every night. They're impressive, but I love C-SPAN. At 7:30 last night, C-SPAN 2 was broadcasting third-string Bush officials briefing the California delegation. No other convention converage was on the tube. "Before I call this meeting to order," the guy at the podium said, "I want to say that one of our alternate delegates lost a red bag. She was sitting in the first row. " That's C-SPAN.

C-Span, the cable television channel specializing in politics, has been called many things: unassuming, unbiased, unedited, unglamorous. But this may be the first week that it can be called widely watched. C-Span is televising every single second of the proceedings during the Democratic National Convention in Madison Square Garden here, no matter how soporific the speech, how vain the posturing or how arcane the argument. On no other network can you see it all. On C-Span, no pundit presumes to tell you what it all really means, no anchor ever arches a skeptical eyebrow, and no floor correspondent breathlessly reports that there is dissension in the California delegation.

In Washington, almost everyone except the Supreme Court seems to love C- SPAN. But Brian P. Lamb, the cable network's chairman and founder, believes that even the aloof and magisterial justices will accept coverage by his cameras eventually. C-SPAN's initials stand for Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network, a basic cable service with 43.3 million subscribers nationwide. Specializing for more than a decade in the coverage of Congress, C-SPAN is the closest thing to an all-seeing video eye in the world of American politics.

FEW THINGS are more characteristic of business as usual in Washington, D.C., than closed doors. Nothing will do more to end business as usual than opening them to C-SPAN cameras. With the "fiscal cliff" of sequestration approaching, now is the perfect time to establish a precedent: The bigger the deal, the more important it is that negotiations be done in public. It took about 12 seconds after the 2012 campaign winners were declared for the maneuvering toward a "grand bargain" to begin among President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner.

Two area teenagers - a Downingtown High School East senior and a Cherry Hill High School East ninth grader - won honorable mentions in C-SPAN's national StudentCam competition, contest officials announced Thursday. "What's the most important issue the president should consider in 2013?" was the question students were asked to answer for this year's contest. Alexander Merker of Downingtown East asked President Obama to address Iran and nuclear weapons in his winning documentary video, Iran and America NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

A Downingtown High School East senior and a Cherry Hill High School East ninth grader - earned "honorable mention" in C-SPAN's national StudentCam competition, contest officials announced today. For this year's contest, students were asked to answer the question: "What's the most important issue the President should consider in 2013?" Alexander Merker of Downingtown High East asked President Obama to address the issue of Iran and nuclear weapons in his documentary video, "Iran and America NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

Book lovers, and those whose New Year's resolutions include doing more reading, are about to receive a large dose of encouragement from an unlikely source: their television sets. Beginning today at 7 a.m., C-SPAN plans a special 24-hour marathon of About Books, its new program devoted solely to books, authors and the publishing industry. About Books normally airs for five hours each weekend on C-SPAN2, on Saturdays from 8 to 11 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 to 11 p.m. Included in the 24-hour program is a conversation with Shelby Foote, reviews by David Halberstam and Peggy Noonan of the best books of the year, and their comments on American culture.

C-SPAN, usually the channel of the deadly congressional hearing, was the place to be early yesterday to see the inaugural in the raw. The cable news service that just points and shoots and only talks when it has to, gave us live and uncommented upon the most revealing and moving moments of yesterday's doings. They came during the first official public event of the day, the early- morning interfaith service at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church. As the Rev. Gardner Taylor, Baptist of Brooklyn, spoke sonorously of how "it is as if we have come again to Camelot with the accent of the Ozarks," Hillary Clinton was writing briskly, pen to some paper in her lap. Her husband listened raptly, moments later a tear coursing down his left cheek as a spiritual celebrating the love of Jesus was sung.

In an unusual arrangement, NBC News has combed its archives for footage from past political conventions and has given it to C-Span, cable's political affairs channel, for airing later this week. The 20 hours of footage, 10 each for the Democrats and Republicans, will precede each party's convention. The Democratic parley starts July 18. "The Democratic Conventions: A Look Back" will devote one hour to each Democratic convention since 1948. It will air Friday and Saturday night, 8-11, and Sunday, 9:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. All the footage except that of the 1984 convention comes from NBC; C-Span covered the 1984 events.

One score ago, our cable operators brought forth on this continent a new network - C-SPAN - conceived in public service and dedicated to the proposition that all men and women deserve equal access to see and comment upon their government. Now we are engaged in a great 20th anniversary celebration, grateful that a network so conceived and so dedicated has so long endured. We are met at a great time for that network. We have come to dedicate a portion of the Editorial Page for that network's professionals and viewers who give part of their lives every day so that the ideals of this nation might live.

Two area teenagers - a Downingtown High School East senior and a Cherry Hill High School East ninth grader - won honorable mentions in C-SPAN's national StudentCam competition, contest officials announced Thursday. "What's the most important issue the president should consider in 2013?" was the question students were asked to answer for this year's contest. Alexander Merker of Downingtown East asked President Obama to address Iran and nuclear weapons in his winning documentary video, Iran and America NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

A Downingtown High School East senior and a Cherry Hill High School East ninth grader - earned "honorable mention" in C-SPAN's national StudentCam competition, contest officials announced today. For this year's contest, students were asked to answer the question: "What's the most important issue the President should consider in 2013?" Alexander Merker of Downingtown High East asked President Obama to address the issue of Iran and nuclear weapons in his documentary video, "Iran and America NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

FEW THINGS are more characteristic of business as usual in Washington, D.C., than closed doors. Nothing will do more to end business as usual than opening them to C-SPAN cameras. With the "fiscal cliff" of sequestration approaching, now is the perfect time to establish a precedent: The bigger the deal, the more important it is that negotiations be done in public. It took about 12 seconds after the 2012 campaign winners were declared for the maneuvering toward a "grand bargain" to begin among President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner.

Heading off to a lakeside vacation, most girls probably would pack a swimsuit and suntan lotion. But Madeline Bowne is not most girls. Last August, with her family bound for New York's Finger Lakes, the middle schooler put her camera bag, filled with audio and video equipment, atop her "don't forget" list. Nearby her family's vacation spot was Seneca Falls, home to Women's Rights National Historical Park — the perfect place to shoot some footage for her documentary on the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which won women the right to vote.

The frustrating irony of Casino Jack - director George Hickenlooper's overinflated account of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's downfall - is that its protagonist, played with hammy exuberance by Kevin Spacey, emerges with even less clarity than he does in the documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money , which came out in the spring, and in which Abramoff barely appears. The doc, full of C-Span clips, talking heads, and archival footage, told the same story: a charismatic hustler from Orthodox Jewish roots who worshipped Ronald Reagan, chaired the College Republican National Committee, produced a Dolph Lundgren action pic, set up shop in the capital, and became its preeminent pay-for-play power broker.

A decision by Central Bucks School District officials not to show President Obama's speech on education this week incited anger and dismay among dozens of residents, who protested on the streets and at a school board meeting. Between 50 and 75 residents attended the meeting Tuesday night, hours after Obama encouraged students to work hard and stay in school, board member Thomas Baldwin said yesterday. For an hour, residents expressed their dissatisfaction. Some contended that politics played a part, and others said the board had censored the president, said Baldwin, a Democrat.

Coverage of the first day of the 2008 Republican National Convention was more meteorology than politics. Gustav/GOP gave the 24/7 news channels a chance to show what TV can do, and the result was both breathtaking and mind-numbing. Swirling red, blue, yellow and red, Gustav's TV image edged farther and farther northwest throughout the day, and MSNBC, CNN and Fox News made sure that image was usually either center-stage or tucked in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, even during commercials.

Gavel to gavel For me, the only way to view national political conventions is to turn on C-Span and leave it there (Democrats descend on Denver," Aug. 25). One, two or more "expert" blabbermouths giving their interpretations of the proceedings, with the actual speaker occasionally seen but seldom heard in the background, infuriates me. Only designated major "stars" are heard live. C-Span, with a live mike and few distractions, is better than being there. It is fascinating to digest ideas and hear words of mayors, House members, senators and others who speak during these gatherings.

Blame it on Ramsey Clark. Karen Porter was watching C-Span one morning in the fall of 2002 when she heard the former U.S. attorney general warn of the coming war in Iraq. She was furious. "There was no question in my mind," she says. "Something had to be done. " She decided to join a demonstration against the war in Washington and signed up for a seat on a bus leaving Philadelphia. Then she got a call from an organizer: Several people from Chester County had also reserved seats.

Yesterday was opening day for the 110th Congress, but instead of throwing out a first pitch, with ethics reform on everyone's mind, one House staffer suggested throwing out the first lobbyist. Some scenes from the day: Democrat Joe Sestak, who defeated Republican Curt Weldon in Pennsylvania's Seventh District, had been hinting at a "special guest" who might make a cameo at his reception in the foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building. The guest turned out to be former President Bill Clinton, for whom Sestak once worked on the National Security Council.