Gary Tuchman | BIO
AC360 Correspondent

Now that the Georgia U.S. Senate race is over and voters are finally done casting their ballots in the 2008 elections, it seems an appropriate time to bring up something that we in the news media need to do something about. And that is, to stop being propagandized by campaign spokespeople about the size of crowds at campaign rallies.

These people believe, and perhaps rightfully so, that the bigger the crowd is, the more successful the event is. Back in 1995, the organizers of the Million Man March told reporters they had over two million participants. When the United States Park Police estimated the crowd at 400,000, the organizers of the event threatened to sue the National Park Service.

Well, I’ve been very conscious since then of the very active “spinners” at many big events trying to get their estimates of the crowd to the news media. Both major parties do this.

During this presidential campaign, I covered rallies of virtually every major Democratic and Republican candidate in the race. At some rallies, a political operative would come by reporters and authoritatively say his or her estimate of the number of people in the crowd. At other rallies, we would get an e-mail. In many instances, what they told us was nothing but wishful guesses. And the reason I know that is because it is not hard to actually count some of these crowds and have a good mathematical estimate when you are done.

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Teams of heavily armed gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, hospitals and a crowded train station in Mumbai on Wednesday night.

Gary Tuchman
AC360 Correspondent

The terrorists who killed so many innocent humans in India are thugs. They are not any smarter, any better, any more noble, or any more thoughtful than the thugs who murder people during bank robberies in Miami, convenience store hold-ups in Los Angeles, or carjackings in Chicago.

There’s a tendency among some to marvel at how “well coordinated” an attack like this India one was. Well, don’t marvel. If you no longer held a real job, were given bucket loads of money, and had a multitude of time on your hands, you too could “well coordinate” such a plan.

Fortunately, most people have consciences. Let’s not allow society to romanticize and marvel over the planning of terrorists’ soulless and monstorous escapades.

They are no different from your average street thug.

Gary Tuchman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Ever since I began reporting from Ground Zero on September 11th, 2001, I have never wavered in my conviction that the merry band of Al Qaeda terrorists are among the most cowardly human beings on earth. You have sunk as low as you can go when you kill innocent human beings and claim there is justification for it. That goes for the terrorists who flew on the planes, and the terrorists who ordered them to do so. And that brings me to Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

The number two Al Qaeda leader is at the very least tied for number one in cowardice, and his latest action is symbolic of his style. Today, he came out with his first post American election statement in which he uses an extremely disparaging racial term to describe Barack Obama. What’s notable are the similarities between Al-Zawahiri’s methods and America’s own Ku Klux Klan. For generations, Klan members have used the cloak of their hoods to hide their identities as they spewed their hatred.

And now, Al-Zawahiri is echoing some of the Klan’s own racist sentiment and doing it with his own cloak; an audiotape, which is used because he and his minions are way too afraid to give away clues about their lairs. Haters come in different packages, but they share the characteristic of diabolical rationalization, and utter lack of courage.

Yesterday Gary Tuchman blogged about his quest to get the first television interview with Senator Ted Stevens since his felony convictions. Here is the video from that meeting and Gary’s report on Senator Ted Stevens’ campaign.

Wondering how Sen. Ted Stevens is doing in his reelection bid? Track the election results for his senate race here.

Gary Tuchman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Sen. Ted Stevens campaigning in Alaska.

Senator Ted Stevens has never been known as a big fan of the news media. So we knew getting him to talk to us on camera following seven felony guilty verdicts against him would be a bit challenging. He hadn’t done a TV interview since the verdicts. Ultimately, he did do an interview with us. But making that happen took us on an unusual journey.

On Sunday, we went to interview his Democratic opponent in the Senate race, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. The mayor was at a candidate forum in the entry way of a large Baptist church that was full of candidate posters, pamphlets, and balloons. As we were getting ready to greet Begich, we saw to our surprise that Senator Stevens was also shaking hands about 30 feet away from his opponent.

I came up to the 40-year Senate veteran, introduced myself, and asked him on camera if he was angry about the guilty verdicts. He told me “not that angry. I’m angry at you guys ’cause I’m trying to visit with friends; I just see them once or twice a year.” I then mentioned because he was campaigning we wanted to see if he would talk, and he objected since we were doing this in a church. I mentioned to him that there was some lively campaigning going on in this entry way, but that didn’t seem to matter to him.

Gary Tuchman approaching Sen. Ted Stevens in the Baptist church.

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Editor’s Note: Happy Halloween! We asked some of our favorite CNN personalities to share with us their Halloween memories. We asked them a few ‘Trick or Treat’ questions…. here’s what they had to say:

Gary Tuchman | BIO
AC360 Correspondent

Favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

In second grade, I made my own costume for a school party… I was a ghost and put two eye holes in the sheet myself. But I didn’t measure the eye holes properly, so I kept bumping into walls at school.

Favorite scary movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” He is the master.

Best Halloween memory?
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CNN's Gary Tuchman reports on a toned-down Sarah Palin campaigning for the NASCAR vote in Richmond.

Gary Tuchman | Bio
AC360° Correspondent

Sarah Palin has something in common with Barack Obama; whether she (or he) like it or not. They inspire similar passion at their rallies.

While John McCain and Joe Biden are more workmanlike, the passion at Palin’s rallies are similar to what we’ve seen for many months at Obama’s. Her high national approval numbers have slipped, but that seems to only make many fans even more supportive.

I spent part of the day in the midst of a crowd of thousands at a Palin rally at the Richmond Virginia International Raceway. Most of her supporters were excited and very happy. But many also told me they were agitated at people like me because of “mainstream media bias.”

I told all who wanted to listen our main obligation is to tell both sides of the story. They didn’t all agree; but they still talked to me. And in my business, we certainly regard that as an encouraging sign.

Gary Tuchman | Bio
AC360° Correspondent

Everyone talks about Craigslist. It is an internet want-ad system of everything you would ever want to buy. Go on craigslist.com, and you can find concert tickets, cars, romance and everything else.
But one other thing you should know about Craigslist. It is a petri dish of fraud. There are so many criminals pedaling their wares on Craigslist, that if they were caught they could fill up whole jails.

A friend of mine wanted to buy two tickets to take his small daughter to see the Jonas Brothers. He had never used Craigslist before and presumed that sellers were honest. He sent a 500 dollar money order to a woman who promised four tickets. The woman took the money, and disconnected her phone. She never sent the tickets.
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Diomede, Alaska with Russia's Big Diomede Island on the horizon.

Program Note: Governor Sarah Palin said you can actually see Russia from an island in Alaska. Our Gary Tuchman went to find this island… Watch his full report tonight on AC360.

Gary Tuchman | BIO
AC360 Correspondent

When talking about what she says is her foreign policy experience, Sarah Palin told ABC news “…you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.”
That quote made us want to go to that island.

So we did.

The island is called Little Diomede. It looks like a rock plopped into the Bering Strait. Only about 150 Alaskans live on the whole island. And just about two miles away; in full view of every single house on the island is the nation of Russia. Specifically, it is the Russian Island of Big Diomede which sits about 25 miles from the Russian Siberian mainland (which you can also see from the American island.) Most everybody on Little Diomede had relatives who lived on Big Diomede.

But decades ago, the Russian government sent them all to the mainland, and today, Big Diomede is limited to a Russian military presence. It’s also a full day in front of Little Diomede because it’s on the other side of the International Date Line. Little Diomede is fascinating. It looks like the moon would if you built a lunar settlement. It’s full of rocks, dirt, and craters. We were curious if Sarah Palin has ever visited this island. According to the natives, the answer is no.

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 To Any Politician Who Gives a ‘You Know What:’

Hello. I am a correspondent with CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. My family and I are also residents of Atlanta, Georgia. My question for you: Are Atlanta and nearby regional cities such as Charlotte and Nashville part of America?

The reason I ask is this: We have almost no gasoline, while almost all other cities in the United States have all the gasoline they want.

We are spending hours cruising the streets and highways looking for gas. Only a small percentage of stations have fuel and you never know who will have it.

Many gas station owners jack up their prices and scores of vehicles lining up are creating dangerous driving conditions on clogged streets and highways.

People cut in line, either accidentally or on purpose, and tempers flare. Violence is always a possibility.

Now, I remember back in the early 70’s and the late 70’s when the whole nation suffered like this. But we suffered collectively, as a nation.

Now, it’s only our small region of the country suffering. The experts say it’s because of supply problems as a result of the hurricanes. Never mind that Houston and Dallas, two cities much closer to Ike have gas.

We are expected to chill and not worry. I say that because some of our local politicians insist that this is not a major problem and that people are “panicking.” Hey, I’m as calm as can be. But I am angry at the lack of understanding.

I hate to tell you political leaders who don’t drive your own cars all that much, but this is a major problem. In the last week, I have traveled to Miami, New York City, and Anchorage, Alaska and watched enviously as drivers got gas easily with no wait.

So here’s my thought: Since we’re all part of America, maybe some of our national politicians can get us some gas. I figure if this was happening in Washington (or places like New York or LA) for that matter, this wouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Meanwhile, maybe some of the politicians in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, can get a little more worked up — whether they agree or not — about something that is causing much havoc in their states.

If y’all don’t think it worth helping us, perhaps we’ll vote you out. That is, if we have the gas to make it to the polls.

Sincerely,
Gary Tuchman
AC360 Correspondent