Iowa Caucuses: CNN Coverage Plans…

CNN announced its coverage plans for the Iowa Caucuses…

CNN Plans Expanded Coverage of Iowa Caucuses

Countdown to Iowa: Final 48 Hours Kicks off “America’s Choice 2012” on New Year’s Day

On Jan. 3, the night of the Iowa caucuses, CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, Candy Crowley and John King will lead CNN’s election night coverage from 7 p.m.-midnight from the CNN Election Center and live from Iowa. Chief political analyst Gloria Borger, senior political analyst David Gergen, along with political contributors James Carville, Ari Fleischer, Dana Loesch and Roland Martin, will be on hand to offer expert analysis. Piers Morgan will broadcast a special edition of Piers Morgan Tonight at midnight.

The day kicks off with Soledad O’Brien in her new time slot, reporting and anchoring from Des Moines, Iowa from 7-9 a.m. and Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin anchoring from the CNN Election Center from 5-7 a.m.

Leading up to and through caucus night, chief political correspondent Candy Crowley will anchor and report from Iowa beginning Dec. 28 through Jan. 3. In addition, State of the Union with Candy Crowley will originate live from Des Moines on Jan. 1 at 9 a.m./noon, ET.

On Sunday, Jan. 1, CNN will kick off the network’s “America’s Choice 2012” coverage with a prime-time special Countdown to Iowa: Final 48 Hours with Blitzer anchoring live from the Election Center. The two-hour political special will air at 8 p.m. and replay at 11 p.m. In addition, CNN will launch The Contenders 2012 series on Saturday, Dec. 31 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 1 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The distinctive coverage, anchored by Crowley live from Iowa, will give viewers a chance to learn more about the 2012 GOP presidential candidates by capturing unedited, uninterrupted remarks from campaign events throughout the weekend.

“As the only cable news channel that has not chosen a side in this election, CNN will tap into the expertise of our anchors, reporters and analysts to equip viewers with information to decide for themselves about the candidates,” said Sam Feist, CNN senior vice president and Washington bureau chief. “In an election year where international events and the economy and jobs are of great concern to voters, CNN provides broader and more in-depth reporting than any other network.”

CNN will have more reporters on the ground in Iowa this year than in past Republican primary elections. On the ground in Iowa will be national political correspondent Jim Acosta, senior political correspondent Joe Johns, senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash, chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin and CNN Radio Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins. In addition, reporting from Iowa will be CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein, along with CNN political contributors Paul Begala, Donna Brazile, Alex Castellanos, Erick Erickson, David Frum and Mary Matalin.

CNN reporters who have been embedded in key, early voting states for the past several months including political reporter Shannon Travis, political producers Shawna Shepherd and Rachel Streitfeld and CNN’s political reporter-at-large Peter Hamby will all be in Iowa playing a role in caucus night coverage.

Technology and Social Media (#CNNElections):

On caucus night, Tuesday, Jan. 3, CNN will unveil a brand new Election Center studio, complete with new technology and data visualization capabilities. Anchor and chief national correspondent John King will utilize new features on CNN’s Magic Wall to explore the incoming results more in-depth than in the past. CNN will also utilize dual-screen technology to examine demographics and to track how voters cast their votes via CNN’s entrance polls. In addition, the network will aggregate social media conversations, by using #CNNElections, and display users’ sentiments about particular candidates or issues in real time.

CNN.com:

Online on the day of the Iowa caucuses, CNNPolitics.com will host real-time reports from the network’s political correspondents and anchors on the ground in Iowa and the region throughout the weeks leading up to the voting there.

On caucus night, CNN.com will live stream the events in Iowa. Users will also be able to track results by county as they come in at the CNN Election Center and through the CNN Apps for iPad, iPhone and Android. Also launching in time for the Iowa caucus is the CNN GOP Delegate Calculator. After each caucus or primary, users can submit their best guesses for which presidential candidates will win each state and compare their predictions to those of the CNN political experts.

CNN iReport, the network’s global participatory news community, will be asking for submissions related to the Iowa caucus, some of which will be shown across CNN.com and broadcast on CNN.

CNN en Español and CNN International:

CNN en Español will offer extensive coverage of the Jan. 3 Iowa Caucuses with correspondent Ione Molinares reporting live from Iowa throughout the day. Starting at 7 p.m., Washington D.C. anchor Juan Carlos López will host a special edition of Directo USA and will be joined by a panel of political contributors Maria Cardona, Juan Hernandez and Roberto Izurieta to offer analysis of the events of the day and the perspectives for this primary election process. CNN International will simulcast the domestic network’s coverage beginning at 7 p.m.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

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