01.02.2011
Priebus wins RNC chairmanship
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7:30 pm - Washington D.C. Committeeman Tony Parker won the election for Treasurer.
6:15 pm - Florida National Committeewoman Sharon Day wins the election for co-chair of the RNC. She defeated the incumbent, Jan Larimer, who is the National Committeewoman from Wyoming.
5:20 pm - In a somewhat anticlimactic result, Reince Priebus is the new RNC chairman. He won in the seventh round with 97 votes. The record will show that he was elected unanimously, following a motion made by Kevin DeWine, Chairman of the Ohio GOP, to that effect.
5:00 pm - Ann Wagner has dropped out of the race. Depending on where her supporters go, this next ballot could end it.
Wagner thanked her supporters, and thanked committee members for taking her “stalker phone calls.” She declined to endorse another candidate, concluding merely: “I release my supporters because I respect this process, to do what they feel they should do in their hearts.”
4:48 pm – We may be out of here earlier than anyone expected. Reince Priebus has 80 votes after the sixth round, putting him in spitting distance to the 85 needed for a majority. Anuzis is in second place with 37 votes, Cino has dropped to 34, and Wagner’s total has dwindled to 17.
4:20 pm – The field is down to four candidates, and in the fifth round of balloting Priebus has leapt ahead to 67 votes, coming closer to the 85 votes needed to win a majority. Cino saw a huge boost in supporters following Steele’s endorsement, giving her 40 votes. Anuzis picked some Steele supporters, putting him in third place with 32 votes. Wagner’s vote total remained the same, at 28 votes.
Yet again, there was a write-in vote for a candidate who had not been nominated.
All the movement, at least by the numbers, seems to have come from Steele’s supporters. Of his 28 remaining votes, 11 went to Cino, 9 to Priebus, and 8 to Anuzis. Wagner did not pick up any new votes.
3:56 pm - Michael Steele dropped out of the race after the fourth ballot, and endorsed Maria Cino, potentially tipping the race.
“Two years. We’ve had a good time. We’ve done a lot of good things,” Steele began. “But it’s very clear the party wants to do something a little different, and hopefully a little bit better. and this is tough because, you know, it is what it is … so I really thank you for the chairmanship of this party for the two years that we have had. And at this time I will step aside.”
“As probably many of you figured out,” he continued, after a break for thunderous applause, “I’m a fighter. And I’m a little bit obstinate, but I am because I believe in the fight,” Steele said.
“At this time, I release my supporters, and I ask them to join me in supporting,” he said, pausing for dramatic effect, “Maria Cino.” The announcement provoked cheers and applause, many from Cino’s large number of supporters in the audience.
3:44 pm - Steele is starting to bleed votes more quickly. After the fourth ballot, his total is down to 28, putting him in a tie for third with Wagner. Maria Cino is in second, coming back with 29 votes, and Saul Anuzis, though still in last, has seen an uptick in his votes. He is now up to 24, an announcement that elicityed applause from the crowd. Priebus holds the lead with 58 votes.
In a twist, someone wrote in the name of a sixth candidate who had not been nominated, making the vote ineligible.
3:10 pm – Priebus holds on to his lead in the third round but doesn’t seem to be able to do much with it. He has gained only two votes, putting him at 54. Steele’s votes are slowly trickling away: he’s down to 33, but he’s still holding on to his second place lead. Wagner, on the other hand, seems to be gaining momentum in a big way, pulling up right behind Steele with 32 votes. Cino lost another two votes in this round, leaving her with 28. Anuzis is still in last.
2:26 pm - Priebus wins the second round with 52 votes, putting him far in the lead as Steele drops to 37. Cino has lost two votes, putting her down at 30, though still holding on to her third place spot. Wagner picked up a few votes giving her a total of 27, allowing her to edge out Anuzis whose total dropped to 22.
1:45 pm - After the first round of voting, Reince Priebus leads with 45 votes, with current Chairman Michael Steele in a close second with 44 votes. Maria Cino is the surprise with 32 votes, putting her in third place, despite having had the fewest public endorsements going into the vote. Anuzis is in fourth with 24 votes, and Ann Wagner trails with 23 votes. Cino could be the one to watch if predictions are correct that she has a lot of support as committee members’second and third choices.Her team is hoping to hold onto her numbers in the second round, and build up from there.
After the first round, no candidate has dropped out.
1:15 pm – The Republican National Committee begins voting for its next chairman shortly, and there is little consensus as to who will win or how many ballots will be necessary. There is wistful hoping by RNC staff that it will end after two ballots so that everyone can get home, but what little consensus there is suggests that it will go for at least three ballots, and likely more.
It’s going to depend a lot on “who is everyone’s second choice,” said Priscilla Rakestraw, Delaware National Committeewoman and the longest serving member on the RNC. Rakestraw is supporting Maria Cino.
“Many of us feel very strongly,” she said, noting that Cino is seen to have been gaining momentum over the past week, but adding, “I wish we had another week.”
Rakestraw said the third ballot would tell, and that the first two ballots would likely be “static.”
“I think we’re going to be in for several ballots,” Chris Healy, chairman of the Connecticut GOP, told The Daily Caller. Healy is voting for Saul Anuzis, and said he would stay with him through the whole thing: “until released.”
“Now the fun begins,” said Ron Gleason, the chairman from Pennsylvania said, observing that it will all depend on what happens behind the scenes. “Deals are made,” he said.
“Reince has a very good chance but it all depends on what the line up is,” Gleason said. “Who’s last on the first ballot and whether they drop off, and decide if they’re going to support someone else.” Gleason, however, will stay with his candidate of choice, Reince Priebus all the way.
“I don’t understand how you commit for one ballot,” he said. “So no, I’m with him all the way.”
Uncertainty seems to be the common consensus. “It’s wide open,” said Ron Nehring, chairman of the California GOP. “There’s no magic; there’s no hocus pocus. It’s wide open. That’s it,” he said. Nehring predicted multiple rounds of voting: “three, four, five,” he said, shrugging and trailing off.
Nehring is running for treasurer of the Committee, and has therefore declined to publicly endorse any candidate.
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Ford and GM Develop Hands-Free Office Apps for Cars
Using tech to work while you drive is a great concept. But for the time being, it's widely accepted that sending and checking e-mail or texting while behind the wheel is very unsafe.
The temptation is great, of course, to sneak a peak at your Blackberry or iPhone to check messages or to take a call, especially when stuck in stop-and-go traffic, even though it is illegal to do so in many states and despite the tremendous risk. According to the results of a Pew Research Center survey, 27 percent of all American adults sent or read text messages while driving in 2009.
However, General Motors and Ford are developing alternatives they say will allow drivers to continue working safely while behind the wheel. With , drivers should eventually be able to check e-mail or text without posing dangerous risks to themselves or others, Ford and GM say.
Ford's Sync infotainment system currently allows for selected smartphone applications to run on a dashboard console. At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier in January, for example, Ford unveiled its . The system, among other things, allows drivers to select music and routes for GPS-guided navigation on dual 4.2-inch LCD screens with corresponding five-way button steering wheel controls and an 8-inch touchscreen. But specific to office and work applications,should allow drivers to do a lot more during the coming years, company executives say.
Within three to five years, Ford expects to develop an application for Sync that will read e-mail and text messages out loud as they are received, the company told PCWorld. The system should also allow drivers to dictate e-mails and text messages into the on-board computer hands-free while driving.
GM says it is developing athat will let drivers send and receive text messages and Facebook updates using only their voices. The app uses a Bluetooth connection between drivers' phones and their vehicles.
GM's voice-activated Android system converts incoming SMS text messages and Facebook updates from text to synthetic speech with the app. The messages are then sent via Bluetooth to the car's speakers. Drivers can respond by voice through the in-vehicle microphone by selecting among a list of defined messages, such as "Yes," "No," and "Driving." It is also possible for the system to memorize custom messages, which are transcribed into text or posted as audio clips on Facebook, GM said.For Facebook updates, the driver can say "Like" to like a friend's update.
For text messages, the "Call Back" voice command automatically dials the phone number associated with the incoming message. It's also possible to set an automatic reply to all incoming messages, such as: "I'm on the road until 3 p.m. and can get back to you then."
The system will require a , a GM vehicle with built-in Bluetooth, or a vehicle equipped with a new OnStar system when it becomes commercially available. GM said it's planning the full launch for later in the first half of 2011 through the Android Market, while pricing has yet to be disclosed.
The voice-activated systems Ford and GM are developing remain limited compared to the functionality that PC and even mobile phone-based applications offer, of course. But in an area long-dominated by luxury-car brands such as Audi, BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, and Lexus, it is likely that Ford's and GM's upcoming in-car technologies will set the bar higher for in-car office apps that could also be available for an affordable price.
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In 'Gruesome Playground Injuries,' everybody hurts
NEW YORK – Everybody hurts, the old R.E.M. song goes.
Maybe, but we don't all hurt the same way. Take Doug and Kayleen, the lifelong friends in "Gruesome Playground Injuries," Rajiv Joseph's strange but absorbing journey of pain, friendship, missed signals and bad timing.
The accident-prone Doug hurts outside: We're talking bloody facial gashes, gaping eye wounds, chipped teeth, legs broken in multiple places. Kayleen hurts inside: It's mostly her soul that bears the bruises, though she's not immune to some unsavory activity with a razor blade.
These two know and understand each other in ways others clearly don't. But can they ultimately save each other — from themselves? That's the question that drives "Gruesome," which opened Monday at Second Stage Theatre.
It's fortunate that such a weighty consideration takes a little time to present itself. At the beginning, we can simply enjoy getting to know these off-kilter kids (if you've ever wanted to see a hilariously twisted first-kiss scene, this play has one for you.) And it's a tribute to Joseph's sure touch as a playwright that he's able to imbue his disturbing subject matter with such a lighthearted feel that it seems like we're watching a comedy — until it's clear that we aren't.
A couple of clever devices help move the action along in unexpected ways. One is the jumbled-up chronology: The eight scenes take place at different ages in the characters' lives (they're the same age), from 8 to 38. We begin at 8, then jump to 23. And then, wait a minute, we're back at 13. Soon we figure out the pattern.
It takes some pretty darned good acting to keep getting older and younger again, and director Scott Ellis has a stellar cast to work with. Pablo Schreiber, a 2006 Tony nominee for "Awake and Sing," is particularly fascinating to watch: all awkward energy in his youth, with a sadder, harder quality creeping in as time goes on.
As Kayleen, the girl he covets from the moment they compare ailments in the nurse's office at a Catholic school, Jennifer Carpenter (the title character's sister on TV's "Dexter") moves expertly and unnervingly from cute and seriously quirky to, well, seriously quirky.
It's most fun to watch them as 8-year-olds, when we can still laugh. "I rode my bike off the roof," the young, gangly Doug says matter-of-factly, one arm in his jacket and one hanging out, when asked how he hurt himself. "I like the movies," says little Kayleen darkly, "except when I come out and there is sun." But as time goes on, you want to yell out to both of them: "Stop growing up! Because things are NOT looking good!"
This production of "Gruesome Playground Injuries" — after earlier productions in Washington and Houston — comes at a busy time for Joseph, the 36-year-old playwright whose acclaimed previous work, "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo," was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in drama. "Bengal" is scheduled to arrive on Broadway in the spring, featuring Robin Williams in his Broadway debut.
Perhaps the most distinctive device in the staging of "Gruesome" is its requirement that both actors remain onstage for set and costume transitions, with no one to help but each other. The actors not only change clothes — using drawers and cabinets on set — but apply and remove makeup and bandages, sometimes using pools of water at the foot of the stage. These lengthy and strangely fascinating transitions are aimed at helping us feel the passage of time.
And, perhaps, the tragedy of missed timing.
Take comfort in your friends, that old R.E.M. song about pain advises, because you are not alone. Doug and Kayleen are not alone, but their salvation will ultimately depend on whether they can catch each other, somewhere along their tortured journey, and hold on tight.
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