Tea Party Watches Nebraska
Ben Sasse, shown here, could very well be the saving grace the Tea Party is looking for in their effort to gain a hold of the Republican Party.
This Tuesday, it looks like the Republican Party is looking to get back their “groove” at the Republican Senate primary race in Nebraska, where leading conservative groups and figures are gathering. The election is being watched closely, especially since the Tea Party movement has struggled to execute the electoral coups that ousted GOP incumbents tagged as “too moderate” in 2010 and 2012. In North Carolina last week, the Tea Party-backed candidate lost to state House Speaker Thom Tillis in the Senate GOP primary. However, Nebraska Senate candidate Ben Sasse, president of Midland University, seems to have a lead in the polls. He’s facing off against former state treasurer Shane Osborn, as well as Omaha businessman Sid Dinsdale. Sasse’s campaign image is that of an anti-regulation, anti-ObamaCare, pro-gun rights “maverick”.
Sasse is backed by the Club for Growth, Tea Party Patriots and other conservative organizations, including Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, all of whom have joined him on the campaign trail. Osborn, on the other hand, has been fighting back against Sasse’s platform, which he labels as “I’m-more-conservative-than-thou”, accusing his rival of supporting the 2010 federal health care law. Sasse’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act has been a major centerpiece of his campaign. However, he has advised former Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt’s firm as the group reached out to businesses and organizations in 2010 to help implement the new law.
While Osborn’s campaign has been more focused on attacking Sasse, Sasse has been working to put out “positive” messages instead, which seems to have been paying off; a recent poll shows him holding a 14-point lead in the ace. It will be interesting to see how this pans out for Sasse, and if his work will pay off.
Fantastic Beasts
The pixies from “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, shown here in the movie, are also featured in the book “Fantastic Beasts”, so audience members can expect to run into them in the upcoming “Fantastic Beasts” trilogy.
Around 15 years ago, the Harry Potter craze hit America and the world. This series of books and movies about an English boy admitted into Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry, captured the imaginations of countless children, teenagers and adults. Shortly after its publication, sci-fi/fantasy became an acceptable and respected genre in mainstream society almost overnight. When a new Harry Potter book or movie came out, people dressed in wizard robes and sporting magic wands flocked in lines to read/see it first. The lasting influence that this series of books and movies had on pop culture and media as a whole is undeniable. However, back when the final Harry Potter book was released in 2007, author JK Rowling insisted that she was done with the series, and wouldn’t be writing any more fantasy-related works. But it looks like the media isn’t done with the Harry Potter universe just yet.
Back in September, Warner Brothers, who owns the rights to the Harry Potter films, announced that they planned to release a Harry Potter spinoff trilogy, based off of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, one of three supplement books written for the Harry Potter series. Rowling wrote the 54-page book in 2001 between the publication of the fourth and fifth Harry Potter books. As the name implies, “Fantastic Beasts” is about the different magical creatures that populate the Harry Potter universe. Warners Bros. has just announced an official release date for the first installment of this trilogy: November 18th, 2016.
Last year, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara persuaded Rowling to adapt the book into a screenplay. Initially set in New York City about 70 years before the start of the Harry Potter story, the films will follow “magizoologist” Newt Scamander in his search and study of magical creatures around the world. Tsujihara indicated that the trilogy would become a part of Warner Bros.’ massive merchandising efforts. Between 2001 and 2011, Warner Bros.’ eight Harry Potter films grossed $7.7 billion, and spawned countless more dollars in the forms of toys, sponsorship deals and theme parks. Considering how Tsujihara indicated that the film series would later be included into the Harry Potter theme parks in Universal Studios, it seems likely that Warner Bros. is looking to make as much money off of the series as they can.
About Nelson Lewis
An exposure to politics at a young age had a profound effect on media maven Nelson Lewis, who worked as a volunteer for numerous Republican politicians in and around his native Savannah. Nelson worked as a reporter and eventually anchor at two Savannah television stations growing up, WJCL ABC-22 and WTGS FOX-28, also recording voice teasers for airing on Fridays on WJCL-FM KIX 96 and previewing his upcoming stories, which aired on the Sunday evening news.
One of Nelson’s favorite experiences at WJCL was reporting live from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade (America’s second largest) from 1998-2000. Continuing in the spirit of his grandfather’s pioneering and trailblazing footsteps (he was the first to bring all-color television and stereo to the Savannah market), Nelson became the first person in Savannah market to bring a kid’s perspective to local news as its first youth reporter. In fact, one of the competing stations, WSAV NBC-3 hired their own youth reporter, Sean Champion, 18 months after Nelson began his reports and WJCL/TGS’s ratings dramatically increased.
Work In Political Media
While a sophomore and junior at Lynn University, Nelson Lewis hosted “Politijam”, a lively political debate show that became well known across the university campus and served as the media editor of the univeristy’s weekly EPulse newspaper. While at Lynn, Nelson was selected to represent the entire undergraduate student population as a member of Lynn University’s Academic Task Force, charged with the duty of streamlining the core curriculum of the universities.
While attending Lynn’s College of International Communication, Nelson developed a friendship with Irving R. Levine, a well-known and nationally recognized correspondent for NBC News who became the network’s first full time economics correspondent, and was the creator of the precursor to CNBC. After a 45-year career in journalism, Levine went on to become Dean of Lynn’s communication program. After finishing college, Nelson Lewis followed Levine’s suggestion and moved to Washington, DC where his first job was as a press intern for a Republican congressman, which then led to a job booking at the Fox News Channel from 2006-2010. Here, he was able to put his love of politics and interest in the Republican Party to good use.
Upon the suggestion of Mr. Levine, Nelson Lewis enrolled in the Masters of Professional Studies in Journalism (International Politics) program at Georgetown University in 2009, where a special emphasis was placed on the dissolution of America’s Fairness Doctrine and on the major player in its demise, Bruce Fein.
Nelson was honored to be invited to speak at a roast honoring Levine’s 2009 death at the National Press Club, where he spoke alongside Levine family members and contemporaries such as former Meet the Press Moderator Marvin Kalb. He subsequently wrote a letter to the editor published in The Hill newspaper eulogizing Levine as a “top-notch raconteur” who many others have tried to emulate.
From his work at Fox News, Nelson Lewis was able to take a firsthand role in the DC journalism scene, and was blessed with the opportunity of meeting entertainment, political, and academic luminaries on a daily basis, including numerous sitting and former representatives, senators, governors and cabinet secretaries. These unique experiences gave Nelson a front row seat to many historic events and gave him a firsthand experience of how the Washington system works, from how laws are created to how news is made.
Through Nelson Lewis’ work creating Her Golf Network, coupled with his extensive booking experiences in segment producing gained at America’s highest rated cable news channel and through his time performing key internships at places such as WPBT’s Nightly Business Report in Miami, where he honed his scriptwriting skills, and at WTOC in Savannah, where he provided copyediting and on-site production assistance at the 2004 Sea Island G-8 summit, have provided him with a solid foundation and understanding of the news business. His time as a reporter/anchor growing up prior to his undergraduate studies helped him get an early start at doing what he loves most, reporting.
