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If Unspun had to read every domestic article on the Nov. 5 U.S. midterm elections, we'd be here until 2004. Instead, we decided to be un-American and see what the rest of the world thinks. Short answer: nothing good. .

It doesn't help that the United States' last big election embarrassed nearly everyone involved. The Herald of Glasgow, Scotland, showed that no one's forgotten 2000. "If hanging chads don't stall the results of today's crucial congressional elections, then legal challenges, recounts, and accusations of electoral fraud almost certainly will," wrote the Herald's Aaron Hicklin. There's even another Florida election involving a Bush: the gubernatorial race in which Dubya's brother Jeb seeks re-election. This just isn't the part of 2000 we want back.

Life and times in Minnesota have also reached hanging-chad levels of absurdity since liberal Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash in late October, leaving the Senate with 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and one independent. He was replaced on the ballot by former Vice President Walter Mondale. Enter Governor Jesse Ventura (formerly a pro wrestler) of the Independence Party (formerly the Reform Party). Ventura filled Wellstone's empty senate seat with Independence Party member Dean Barkley, either because he was miffed about the undeniably partisan slant to Wellstone's memorial service, or because third-party candidates were excluded from a senatorial debate on Monday. Either way, now we've got to suffer leads like The Scotsman's "A former car-wash assistant last night became potentially the most significant power-broker in Washington after being appointed to the Senate for just two months." Barker himself did nothing to dignify his appointment, saying he'd "caucus by myself in a bathroom if I have to." The Financial Times said the appointment "changes nothing immediately, since Congress is not officially in session and is conducting no legislative business," but it also misidentified Barker's fellows as the "Independent" party. That's OK, we're all still a little confused about this one.

This election has been a bit fuzzy in general. No one's that excited about Iraq except peace protestors. No one's too angry about the economy except the poor. Getting riled up about corporate crime is just so April. "The theme of the 2002 mid-terms is there is no theme," said the BBC News Online. The Independent added, "If these have been elections without a theme, it is because the Democrats have failed to provide one," and observed that a Senate majority is 60 votes, not 51, so we're probably looking at deadlock no matter who wins on Tuesday.

That's partially because it's getting harder and harder to tell the two parties apart in a blind taste test. "With Democrats supporting Bush's policy on Iraq, and the Republicans adopting some Democratic issues, the parties appear to have neutralized each other," said Canada's CBC News. The Canadian Press spoke of a pro-choice, anti-gun Maryland Republican, and an Arkansas Democrat who "avows his commitment to Jesus and guns." And pundits wonder why voter turnout is so low. - Jen Muehlbauer

Neck And Neck, All The Way To The Courts
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/5-11-19102-0-38-20.html

Stand-In Senator Holds The Balance
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=1230222002

US Elections 2002 (Financial Times)
http://tinyurl.com/2fvu
(Paid subscription required.)

US Mid-Term Poll (BBC)
http://tinyurl.com/2fvt

Special Report: United States of America
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/0,12271,759893,00.html

Analysis: The Fighting Will be Close, The Spectacle Exciting, The Outcome Meaningless (The Independent)
http://tinyurl.com/2fvv

Lawyers Expect A Win In Florida 'Grudge Fight' (The Telegraph)
http://tinyurl.com/2fvr

Blurry Party Lines, Shield Of Patriotism Favours Bush and Republicans (Canadian Press)
http://tinyurl.com/2fvs

U.S. Vote Likely To Preserve Status Quo
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/04/uselxn021104

Is it a commentary on our time that the business ops of Winnie the Pooh, too, are now in court? Don't snicker. Pooh is a $4-billion-a-year business, and Walt Disney Co. upped the legal ante in the copyright battle for all things Bear yesterday with a cartoonish turn. It has -- poof! -- produced the heirs of Pooh's creators, who say they're staking their claim to copyright ownership and (feign surprise here) turning the rights over to Disney. If that end run sounds suspicious to you, it's helpful to remember here that it's black ink, not good ink, that Disney cares most about these days.

Today's media mention of bears isn't just about the stock market, but also about contracts -- and very old contracts at that. Pooh's copyright ownership goes back to 1929, when a company called Stephen Slesinger Inc. angled the rights to it. Disney got its hands on the rights in 1961, when the Slesinger estate sold them to it in exchange for a cut of the Pooh profits. In 1991, the estate sued Disney. It said the House of Mouse cheated it out of royalties worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including the proceeds from newfangled marketing options like video, DVD, and software games not covered under the original pact but, the estate says, promised to it verbally by Disney. They want out of the contract. But wait! Disney has pulled out of its pocket the granddaughters of Pooh's creators, A.A. Milne and his illustrator, and they've jumped into the fray to claim ownership of the copyright to the book's characters.

The Associated Press's report best explained the machinations. According to AP, the granddaughters are exercising what Disney's lawyers believe is an option under the 1998 copyright extension act: Heirs of creators can reclaim their copyright ownership once they give two years' notice to existing owners. Quotes from the Slesinger attorney questioning the move are abundant. Missing from media accounts is comment from the legal sidelines indicating whether the granddaughters' move is genuinely allowed under copyright law. What, no concern for balance in a Pooh story?

The Barron's cover story this week on Disney's threadbare empire underscores the importance of every dollar the Magic Kingdom can reap from Pooh tchotchkes. The weekly mag predicted the company will recover, though the honey pot of profits is still several years away. It was enough to cheer investors, with CNBC reporting a post-Barron's rally for Disney's limping stock. Part of Disney's problem, Barron's reported, is that it's out of touch with youth. "Youth in America is edgier today," the mag quoted an unnamed expert as saying. When copyright owners haul Pooh into court, how can they not be? - Deborah Asbrand

Battle for Pooh Royalties Heats Up With New Disney Deal (AP)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/4444228.htm

Disney Gains Edge in Rights Battle for Pooh (Financial Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/business/FT1035873002948.html

New Twist in Disney Conflict Over Pooh
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pooh5nov05,0,360916.story

Disney Claims 'Pooh' Rights Amid Fight Over Royalties
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1036466851239176428.djm,00.html
(Paid subscription required.)

Wishing on a Star
http://online.wsj.com/barrons/barrons_cover

Is The Worst Over For Disney Stock?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/830400.asp

Investors Cheer Cablevision's Bravo Sale
http://www.thestreet.com/_tsclsii/tech/georgemannes/10052111.html

Vivendi faces US criminal investigation
http://media.guardian.co.uk/city/story/0,7497,829461,00.html

Ford Recalls 572,000 Focus Cars (AP)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/4444052.htm

Ebbers Dominated Board, Report Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4974-2002Nov4.html

Wall Street Deal May End IPO Suits (Wall Street Journal)
http://www.msnbc.com/news/830256.asp

Copyedited by Jim Duffy (jimduffy86@yahoo.com).

Editor and publisher: Jimmy Guterman (guterman@vineyard.com).

Media Unspun is produced by The Vineyard Group Inc.
Copyright 2002 Media Unspun, Inc., and The Vineyard Group, Inc.
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