Nedra Pickler

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Nedra Pickler is a U.S. politicial reporter for the Associated Press (AP).

1 Biography
2 Career
- 2.1 2004 U.S. Presidential campaign coverage
- 2.2 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign coverage
3 References
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Biography

A native of Flint, Michigan, Pickler is a 1998 graduate from Michigan State University^[1] who interned with the Detroit Free Press.^[2] She was hired by the Detroit offices of AP shortly after graduation. In March 2000, she transferred from the Lansing bureau to the the Washington, D.C. bureau where she won the annual John L. Dougherty award for her work covering Michigan's congressional delegation. In 2000, she suffered from identity theft, and was interviewed by CNN. ^[3] She was promoted to cover national political issues for the AP in December 2002, and was the lead reporter covering Democrats in the 2004 United States Presidential Election. She worked as a White House correspondent until September 2006, leaving to cover national politics, including the 2008 United States Presidential Election. ^[4]

President George W. Bush calls Pickler "Nedra Baby".^[5]^[6] On his 27 Mar 2007 radio show, Rush Limbaugh called Pickler "our old pal" ^[7].

[edit] Career

[edit] 2004 U.S. Presidential campaign coverage

In her coverage of the 2004 presidential race, Pickler drew criticism for her treatment of Democratic candidates, including Howard Dean ^[8] and John Kerry. ^[9]

[edit] 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign coverage

According to a story by Media Matters for America, a 27 March 2007 article written by Pickler entitled "Is Obama All Style and Little Substance?" falsely claimed that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had "delivered no policy speeches and provided few details about how he would lead the country" in his campaign up to that point.^[10] In fact, Obama had given numerous policy speeches on Iraq^[11], Israel^[12], health care^[13], and other topics.^[14] Media Matters observed that Pickler's own article contradicted her claim with the following:

Obama has offered a plan to get troops out of Iraq, beginning with a drawdown in May that would extended through a March 2008 goal of redeploying all combat troops. The plan is unlikely to become reality with Bush in office, but is what Obama says he would do if he were in the Oval Office today.^[15]

The article began with the following weasel words: "The voices are growing louder asking the question: Is Barack Obama all style and little substance?" This claim is fleshed out in the article by quotations from two individuals, one of which was identified as an organizer for candidate Dennis Kucinich, who were "not impressed" with Obama's remarks at a forum on health care in Las Vegas, Nevada. The article did not mention that Obama has authored two best-selling books, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream and Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, but did compare Obama to Gary Hart:

If Obama were running in a different time, he might get more of a break for lacking specifics. Primary votes were already being cast in the 1984 Democratic primary when Walter Mondale famously ridiculed opponent Gary Hart by asking, "Where's the beef?" Four years ago, no candidate for president had a health care plan this early in the game.

The article also pointed readers to a spam URL and presented it as the Obama campaign's website.^[16]

The Republican National Committee posted Pickler's AP article on their website the same day it was published.^[17] The RNC also emailed the article to reporters.^[18]