MEDIA LEAD SHEET/DECEMBER 17, 2007 ISSUE (on newsstands Monday, December 10). To book correspondents, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078—Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com—or LaVenia LaVelle at 212-445-4859—LaVenia.LaVelle@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted on www.Newsweek.com.
COVER: “Holy Huckabee!” (p. 34). White House Correspondent Holly Bailey and Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff delve into how Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and former Baptist minister, once the butt of political jokes when he was trailing in the low single digits, has slowly amassed a sizeable lead over Mitt Romney, once the double-digit frontrunner. In the new newsweek poll, Huckabee is the top pick among 39 percent of likely GOP caucusgoers, compared with Romney’s 17 percent. Opponents are now raising questions about his views on immigration, pardons and clemencies he granted to Arkansas criminals and his alleged ethics lapses as governor. Huckabee, however, says his record as governor is a good indicator of how he would perform as president.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74469
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74473
“Wife of the Preacher Man” (p. 42). Miami Bureau Chief Arian Campo-Flores profiles Janet Huckabee. On the campaign trail recently she has played the role of the shy and docile preacher’s wife, a portrait of reticence that would strike most Arkansans back home as unrecognizable. She has long been known as a straight-talking, independent-minded good ole gal with a daredevil streak and a passion for the outdoors and was even dubbed the “First Tomboy.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74470
POLITICS: “Starting From Scratch” (p. 45). In an interview with Chief Political Correspondent Howard Fineman, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul—who has had a surprisingly strong online fund-raising push and now has at least $10 million in the bank—says he is a hit on the Internet because of his message. “It’s the fact that people aren’t very comfortable with their economic future. They don’t like the intrusion of their privacy, don’t like what the war’s doing, and they hear a little bit about me and they’ll go to a Web site or my congressional Web site and find out how I voted, what I stand for, and say, ‘Wow, that’s what I believe in.’ Then they get enthusiastic and spontaneously start organizing for the campaign.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74471
JONATHAN ALTER: “’Twas the Month Before Iowa…” (p. 46). Senior Editor and Columnist Jonathan Alter writes that “this election is a Rubik’s Cube of candidates and issues.” The issues once thought important on either side are rapidly changing, making it difficult to predict who will come out on top in the caucuses. “Iran is receding. Stem-cell research, once thought to be a potent issue for Democrats, has been neutralized politically by a medical breakthrough. Iraq is receding, but certain to reassert itself, probably in the form of Bush’s withdrawing some troops to protect the prospects of Republicans. Immigration will remain an ugly evergreen. And, of course, there’s always the chance of another October Surprise of some kind to scramble the race—in March or May or whenever we least expect it.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74474
MIDDLE EAST: “Fatah's War on Hamas” (p. 48) Jerusalem Bureau Chief Kevin Peraino reports on how Fatah intelligence operatives are using classic guerilla tactics from Che Guevara’s book “Guerrilla Warfare: A Method,” to undermine Hamas in Gaza.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74459
BUSINESS: “Sports Biz’s Double Play” (p. 52). Senior Writer Johnnie L. Roberts reports on identical twin brothers Brett and Michael Yormark who are changing the business behind professional sports. Brett is the CEO of the New Jersey Nets basketball franchise, and Michael is the president of the Florida Panthers hockey team. The brothers have a talent for finding new ways to wring money out of a business where every conceivable piece of equipment and square inch of stadium space has already been sold to the highest bidding sponsor. Through a series of lucrative deals the 41-year-old Yormark brothers are quickly becoming two of the most successful and influential figures in the multibillion-dollar business of pro sports.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74455
SOCIETY: “Dreams and Suitcases” (p. 54) Reporter Anne Underwood reports on the stories of patients from the Willard Psychiatric Center that are told in a new book—“The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases From a State Hospital Attic.” For the book, researcher Darby Penney and psychiatrist Peter Stastny pieced together the stories of former patients after the rediscovery of an attic filled with hundreds of dusty old suitcases, steamer trunks, footlockers and leather bags—the property of former patients who’d arrived in the first half of the century.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74384
“When Adoption Goes Wrong” (p. 58). Washington Correspondent Pat Wingert reports that while adopting a child from another country is usually a positive experience, a small but significant number of cases have been reported in which things have gone very badly. Since the early 1990s, the deaths of 14 Russian children killed by their adoptive parents have been documented. While these kinds of cases are extreme, clinicians who specialize in treating foreign orphans say they are seeing more parents who are overwhelmed by their adopted children’s unexpected emotional and behavioral problems. And though reputable agencies try to warn parents of the risks, not all succeed.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74385
SHARON BEGLEY: “Snow Domes and Crystal Balls” (p. 61). Senior Editor and Science Columnist Sharon Begley writes that a new breed of meteorologists, who base their winter forecasts on the severity of Siberian snowfall, are squaring off with traditional weather forecasters. “In head-to-head comparisons published this past summer, the resulting forecast has been less accurate than that of scientists who grapple more directly with the physics of the atmosphere. Britain’s Meteorological Office has begun basing winter forecasts on sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic,” she writes. Begley adds that traditionalists are at a disadvantage when the El Niño signal is “wishy-washy, as it was five years ago, giving the traditionalists little to go on.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74383
MOVIES: “Holiday Movie Guide” (p. 63). Film Critic David Ansen, Senior Editor Marc Peyser, Senior Editor Cathleen McGuigan, Associate Editor Ramin Setoodeh, Senior Writer Lorraine Ali and National Correspondent Allison Samuels review the current crop of holiday movies including “The Kite Runner,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “The Great Debaters. ” The movie guide also includes exclusive interviews with directors Mike Nichols, Marc Foster, Tim Burton, Paul Thomas Anderson and author Khaled Hosseini.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/74398
TIP SHEET: “Just Like a Rock Star” (p. 80). General Editor N’Gai Croal reports on the most sought after video games this season. At the top of the list are Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Rock Band, which challenges players to match button presses on the included faux guitar with the matching on-screen icons. Other games on the list are quiz games such as Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action and Buzz! The Mega Quiz as well as Buzz! Junior Jungle Party targeted toward kids.
http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/default.aspx
###
