The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, California • Page 2

FROM PAGE 1 A2 THE DESERT SUN WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012 model linage used used smi. Suffering Jrom Lower Back ram: Sciatica? -'Wantfast xJainneliefa $3 ATTICS ('ill'. k. 'W'l IsbruanMOuUOtt Vrrfi Examination .,.,.,.1 II, urn i 1 4.4 Neurologic cier Centers grich isn't on the ballots of some states, such as Virginia. Florida is one of the ultimate prizes for Republicans.

The winner likely gets 50 of the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination. It also carries outsized importance heading into the general election. Because of the Electoral College, Republicans need to win Florida to balance out likely Democratic victories in New York and California. Yet, a Florida primary win is no guarantee of general-election victory. Ask John McCain.

He beat Romney in 2008 and had the backing of then-Gov. Charlie Crist. But Obama won by almost 3 percentage points, in part due to a massive ad campaign and the aftershocks of the Bush-era economy on Florida. A big help for Obama: Gingrich. If he fights on, Democrats like consultant Screven Watson will be cheering him on.

"I'll personally contribute money to keep Gingrich in this race," Watson said. "The question heading into the general election is: What's the hangover? Are independents believing anything Newt Gingrich is saying? Are some of these negatives on Romney sinking in?" Watson answered his own question: "I think they are." which has a heavy population of fellow Mormons. Gingrich is already lowering expectations there. There are also no debates until Feb. 22.

Until Florida, Gingrich was viewed as the great debater. But Romney edged him in Florida's two debates. That had an effect. Two-thirds of voters said the debates made a difference, exit polls showed. The exit polls suggested Romney, who highlighted foreclosures as a problem, might have won on the issues.

Only 20 percent felt they were getting ahead financially, half described foreclosures as a major community problem and about 60 percent felt the economy mattered most in choosing a candidate. If Romney can keep communicating that message, he's sure to do well in Arizona and Michigan, which share Florida's hard financial times. Another potential edge for Romney: His father was governor of Michigan, and Arizona is home to a large Mormon population and temple. Also, polls suggest Arizona Republicans favor Romney's hardline immigration stances more than Gingrich's. Still, Gingrich is expected to do well in Southern primaries from his home state of Georgia to Tennessee.

Just over a week ago, he crushed Romney in South Carolina. However, Gin Dr. Jeff Stansberry, DC 72880 Fred Waring: Ste. D-18, Palm Desert (760) 346-4698 True authentic Neapolitan Pizza it's all about balance. The Oven, San Marzano tomatoes, Fior di Latte Mozzarella Doppio Zero flour.

PIERO'S LATE NIGHT DINNER SPECIAL! PM ANY PIZZA or PASTA $10. PREMIUM DRAFT HOUSE WINES $3. OPEN ALL DAY FROM 11am MONDAY -SATURDAY, CLOSED SUNDAY 73-722 El Paseo Dr. 1, Palm Desert EASY PARKING IN REAR, ENTER LARKSPUR OR SAN LUIS REY TELEPONO 76O 568 2525 www.ppizzavino.com Demonstrators turned out in force on Jan. 30, 2011, in Rancho Mirage to protest a four-day retreat of elite Republican donors organized by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, crystal chathamthe desert sun GOP Continued from A1 of early votes that could have exceeded 60,000.

While the other campaigns were silent in early January, Romney advertised on radio and television and aggressively called and mailed early voters, who cast more than 632,000 ballots. With the big results in from Florida, Castellanos said, the Republican race is almost history, though Gingrich has vowed to fight all the way to the national convention in Tampa this summer. "This race won't end tonight, but it will be over," Castellanos said. "Romney will have done something no other non-incumbent Republican candidate has ever done: He really only lost one of the first four contests. That's remarkable." Technically, Romney lost Iowa, which initially declared him the winner only to hand it to Rick Santo-rum, even though ballots disappeared.

But Santorum has little chance if Florida's vote is-any indication. Same with Ron Paul, who didn't campaign in Florida so he could go to smaller states with caucuses. All the candidates lack Romney's money and organization. On Saturday, Nevada holds its caucus. Romney is expected to win in that state, KOCH Continued from A1 Indeed, this year's conference was a dramatic change from last year, when more than 800 protesters rallied against the Kochs, their Kansas-based conglomerate company and the goals of their advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity.

About 60 officers in riot gear kept the protesters away from the Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage, where the Kochs held their meeting last Jan. 30. About 25 people were arrested. Liberal groups have spotlighted the activities of the brothers because of their funding of the opposition to measures aimed at counteracting global warming, especially by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Kochs have also aligned with tea party Republicans and proclaimed the 2012 presidential election to be one of the most important in modern history.

Neither the Wichita, headquarters of Koch Industries nor the spokesperson who handled media inquires during last year's event returned phone calls Tuesday. It was the 10th time that the Koch group held an annual conference in the desert. The Kochs also have held events in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage. MERGER Continued from A1 ing. Among those who lost their jobs were KPSP Assistant News Director Alyssa Pivirotto and Sports Director Scott Hennessee, who also hosted "Eye On The Desert." Hennessee noted on his Facebook page that "It was an amazing 8-plus years." Weatherman Patrick Evans will be the new host of "Eye on the Desert," which airs at 6:30 p.m.

on KPSP. KPSP morning anchors Stella Inger and Todd Piro are among those who will he Desert Sun A GANNETT COMPANY VttakiesdBy. Ftebnory 1, 3D12 8Sth wr. No 108 IWtuh pougc pad hta Spnip. CA (USPS I5M0OI (800) 834-6052 Subscriber customer service GENERAL POSTMASTER Mailing aMm) Send xMrest chanfM to PO B27J4 P.O.

Box 2734 Ptlm Spring. CA 92263 PMm Spring CA 92283 Suggested retail rates by carrier Wf.73monthly (S16.311.42 sales tax) Trie Thartksgiwng Day edmon is SI 25 on trie rtews stand All home delivery subscribers, regardless of scheduled delivery days, are delivered and cnarged for the hanksgiving edition accordance to the Published bunday newsstand rate This charge will be reflected tne November subsenpvon invoice. Publisher reserves the right to change subscription rates during the term ot a subscription upon 26 days notice. This notice may be made by mail, by notice contained the newspaper or olhe'wise Subscription cnanges may be The two leading candidates and the two political action committees supporting them spent more than $19 million on TV advertising alone in Florida. More than 80 percent of it favored Romney.

And a whopping 92 percent of the ads in the last week were negative, according to Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group. Of all the ads, CMAG told the New York Times, 68 percent cast Gingrich in an unfavorable light, hitting him for his ethics troubles as House Speaker and his consulting work at Freddie Mac, the mortgage institution reviled by many in a state of foreclosures like Florida. "It is phenomenally negative, phenomenally one-sided in its focus," said Ken Goldstein CMAG's president. "Everybody likes to say this is the most negative race ever. I'm hard pressed to remember when the proportion of advertising has been so negative." Goldstein pointed out that negative ad campaigns actually tend to have more accurate and more interesting ads that people inevitably pay attention to.

As he did in Iowa, Gingrich complained in Florida about the negative ads. But Gingrich had his chance at the debates. And he also hit every one of the 10 major media markets in Florida and gave almost-nightly interviews with Fox to get his message out. Desert Sun. "They had things locked down pretty tight." It was the first time in at least three years that a private client has closed down the hotel.

Kathy Daw, the director of sales and marketing at Renaissance, declined to say who booked the resort but described it as a business group. "It's a larger group that brought in family. They wanted to enjoy the amenities, the hotel, and have meetings," Daw said. Former Vice President Dick Cheney kicked off the Desert Town Hall lecture series at the same hotel on Jan. 26, two days before the conference began, but it could not be determined if he attended the Koch meeting.

Palm Desert attorney Brian Harnik, board president of the Desert Town Hall, said speaker appearances are not scheduled around or based on any other engagements in the area because officials want to protect the exclusive nature of the series. The town hall series generally runs from January through April, with speakers spaced about a month apart. The dates are often based on the hotel availability. Kate McGinty can be reached at (760) 778-6451, kate.mcgin-tythedesertsun.com, or TD-SKateM. waukee, Journal Broadcast which owns more than a dozen TV stations in 12 states and 33 radio stations.

KMIR-TV staff referred calls from The Desert Sun to corporate officials, who did not immediately return phone calls on Tuesday. "We're going to continue producing both hours of morning news on both stations (from 5 to 7 a.m.)," Stutz said. The two will also air separate newscasts at 11 p.m. KESQ, which first went on the air as KPLM-TV in 1968, plans to do an early evening newscast at 5 p.m., followed by KPSP at 5:30 p.m. The stations will follow that with their respective world news broadcasts.

KESQ will present another half -hour of news at 6 p.m., and KPSP will have a newscast at 6:30 p.m., Stutz said. KESQ will list how it plans to shuffle news broadcasts on its website, Stutz said. "It's probably going to be rocky at the beginning, so we're just going to have to ask viewers to be patient as we work out the bugs." Stutz said Gulf California will strive to continue to produce programming such as "Eye on the Desert" that have made KPSP stand out from competitors. "Mrs. (Jackie Lee) Houston took a lot of pride in that station, and we plan to keep that going," Stutz said.

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The Kochs went to greater lengths this year to keep their event under wraps. Reports from Renaissance Esmeralda employees this week indicated that the Koch group used an alias in reserving the hotel for the conference. The ruse worked. Common Cause a national government watchdog group that tracks Koch Industries and the elected leaders who attend their conferences was not aware of the Koch conference. "We have not heard a thing," Derek Cressman, the group's western states regional director, told The the Bradley family, owners of Gulf California, was ultimately chosen as the best opportunity." KPSP has studios in Thousand Palms.

Gulf California officials didn't say what the company paid for KPSP. But an agreement to transfer ownership of KPSP filed in December with the Federal Communications Commission noted a $10 million purchase price when the station was transferred from the JLH Holdings LLC living trust to James Ralph Houston II. Because KPSP and KESQ are low-power TV stations, they don't fall under more strict Federal Communications Commission guidelines that limit media ownership, FCC officials said. The Coachella Valley TV market is ranked No. 145 in the country.

Even in the top 20 TV markets, the FCC in December agreed to move forward with a proposal to loosen the ban on owning a TV station and a newspaper or radio station. Separately, the FCC is looking into whether TV station owners in large markets are skirting federal rules that ban them from owning too many stations. They do this by entering agreements to share marketing and newsroom personnel, FCC officials said. Competitor KMIR-TV, 6 News the NBC-affiliated station is owned by Mil $65 rays, Exam Cleaning Retail value $295 OFFER VALID FOR NEW PATIENTS ONLY. Expires 22912 Serving the CoachellaVailey for 16 years Friday 9am-4pm 1 SEMINAR Learn About Natural Looking Facelifts Facial Fillers, Vein Cures Breast, Body, Hand Shaping Rejuvenation of the Eyes Skin Rejuvenation Plus Special Presentation: Stem Cells and Cosmetic Surgery Date Time Thursday, February 9 10 am 11:30 am OR 2 pm pm Place The Morrow Institute Reservations Call 760-202-2770 Admission: S5 donation to Shelter from the Storm Since 2003, they have held invitation-only conservative summits that have been attended by deep-pocketed philanthropists, business leaders, state and federal officials, and U.S.

Supreme Court justices. Such events stayed of the public radar until the Jan. 30, 2011, gathering at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort. The invitation for that conference was leaked to the New York Times and the liberal blog Think Progress, and hundreds of protesters, some bused in, gathered outside. Officials later said that heavy security was needed to protect 125 federal judges, including members of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who were also at the hotel for a separate conference.

stay on. The merger makes sense from a business standpoint, but for consumers, it arguably reduces the diversity and different perspectives that competing news organizations offer, said Heather Hundley, a longtime media studies professor and assistant dean at California State University, San Bernardino's Palm Desert campus. "In my ideal world, we'd have as many diverse perspectives as possible to contribute to the news," Hundley said. "None of us should get our news from one source." KESQ owner Gulf California Broadcast Company's purchase of KPSP gives it five local stations. It also owns Telemundo affiliate KUNA, Fox aff iliate KDFX and CW affiliate KCWO all based in Palm Desert.

KPSP was owned by James Houston and his wife, Jackie Lee, who died in September. The couple purchased the station in 2002 and had operated it since then, often promoting philanthropic events and providing a spotlight for hundreds of causes across the valley. "With her passing, we have now made the difficult decision to find a new owner for our television operation," Jim Houston said in a statement. "While a number of options were carefully considered, a merger with Steve Phan D.D.S. Kristina Pham, D.D.S.

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