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| PRIMARY PRESS | |
 February 1, 2000 
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Media
correspondent Terence Smith takes a look at the legions of reporters who
flocked to New Hampshire to cover the nation's first presidential primary.
The NewsHour Media Unit is funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
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SEN. JOHN McCAIN: You know and I know that labor gives millions of dollars, and it would -- TERENCE SMITH: There's nothing the media love more than a good fight ... AL GORE: If I could finish. I haven't interrupted you, Bill. |
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| Spinning a "fast and furious" race | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Ceci Connolly is covering Vice President Gore for The Washington Post. CECI CONNOLLY, The Washington Post: The phase that we are in right now is very intense because of these early contests. They're so early; they come so fast and furious, especially on the Republican side, and I think you see a lot of news outlets trying to cram so much into such a limited time period right now. TERENCE SMITH: Little surprise, then, that a small army of news people has descended on New Hampshire to cover today's first-in-the-nation primary. Many have followed the campaign for months, tracking the ups and downs of this hotly contested battle for the presidential nominations of both parties. The so-called "spin room" was where campaign operatives were busy during last week's debate trying to convince journalists that their man had won, even before the event was over. Clarence Page, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, was among those being spun by Doug Berman, chairman of the Bill Bradley campaign. DOUG BERMAN: It took them three days to correct that statement.
TERENCE SMITH: Validating the notion of presidential politics as a high-profile spectator sport, corporate chiefs like Gerald Levin, the newly announced CEO of AOL Time Warner, came to see the process for themselves. |
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| In the spotlight: George W. Bush | ||||||||||||||||||||
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REPORTER ANDY HILLER: Can you name the president of Chechnya? GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: No, can you? ANDY HILLER: Can you name the prime minister of India? GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: Ah, the new prime minister of India is ... uh, no. GEORGE WILL, ABC NEWS: The media this fall came to the conclusion -- and I won't mince words -- that you're not smart enough to be president, and aren't educated enough. What can you do to combat this? GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: You win. TERENCE SMITH: These days, ahead in the polls nationally, Governor Bush can joke about this press portrayal of him, as he did in this exchange Friday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. NEW HAMPSHIRE RESIDENT: As president of our country, what are your plans to continue the battle against racism and to help our company -- this country, rather --embrace diversity rather than be afraid of it? GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I appreciate it. I know how you feel. Some of the best of us mispronounce words, and some of the best of us can't even name all the foreign leaders. (Applause) TERENCE SMITH: Karen Hughes is communications director for the Bush campaign.
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| The Straight Talk Express: John McCain | ||||||||||||||||||||
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TERENCE SMITH: Like Governor Bush, the press coverage of John McCain has been both positive and negative. But the Arizona Senator has maintained an open-door policy.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS REPORTER: There's a situation on the McCain bus -- all access, all the time to reporters -- and it has worked very well for John McCain. He has achieved very, very favorable media coverage. TED KOPPEL, ABC NEWS "NIGHTLINE": If the usual problems of a press corps covering a presidential candidate is inefficient access or a candidate who doesn't like to answer a variety of pointed questions, if that's the problem, John McCain may be the solution. TERENCE SMITH: Jeff Greenfield is a senior analyst for CNN. TERENCE SMITH: Does access equal love? JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN: Look, it is very hard not to treat someone well who treats you well. And after days when you go on a press bus and you're, you know, and the Secret Service pins you against the wall if you walk three feet toward a water cooler and other candidates give you, you know, eight minutes or 10 minutes, the idea that you're sitting with a candidate who will answer any question you ask can't help but be treated favorably. TERENCE SMITH: But it has not been all roses for John McCain. Newspaper headlines dogged him earlier in the campaign about his famously volatile temper, and Tim Russert challenged him about it on "Meet the Press." TIM RUSSERT: How many senators have you apologized to for blowing your stack? SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Oh, maybe three or four, from time to time. TIM RUSSERT: Your temper's under control? SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Absolutely. Again, it's not only under control, but I've been through now 11, 12 months of this campaign. |
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| Coverage of the Democratic race | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TERENCE SMITH: Vice President Al Gore too has experienced
bumps in the media road, from criticisms of his speaking skills and his
controversial "alpha male" advisor, to policy questions on his
record on abortion and his position on gays in the military.
THALIA ASSURAS, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The issue of gays in the military has become a focal point in the Democratic race for president, one that has Vice President Al Gore scrambling to explain himself. But it's not the only issue that's causing him problems. TERENCE SMITH: Ceci Connolly says the coverage of the vice president has waxed and waned.
TERENCE SMITH: Democratic challenger Bill Bradley enjoyed an early honeymoon with many in the press, only to see his style and manner come under attack. TERENCE SMITH: In the Bradley example again he was initially perceived as fresh and original and different. And now people write he is aloof and distant and excessively private. JEFF GREENFIELD: Yes. TERENCE SMITH: It's the same fella. JEFF GREENFIELD: It is. I think you're on to something there. I think it's what Bertrand Russell once called the congregation of irregular firms. I am firm, you are stubborn, he is a pig-headed fool. The same qualities that seem incredibly attractive when a candidate gets in trouble, you look at him in a new light. I think there's that kind of revisionism. TERENCE SMITH: Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, says the critical scrutiny of Bill Bradley increased as he rose in the polls.
TERENCE SMITH: In recent days, Senator Bradley has been questioned closely about his health, especially after a story in the Sunday New York Times noted that he might have to undergo anesthesia to correct his irregular heartbeat. SAM DONALDSON, ABC NEWS: Don't you think some Americans would be a little skittish about the fact that you would have to go under and have this procedure and have that 25th amendment?
TERENCE SMITH: Perhaps. But Karen Brown, news director and anchor of the ABC affiliate in Manchester, New Hampshire, reflected the prevailing skepticism in the press. KAREN BROWN: Then there's the whole question of his health. I don't personally think that hurt Bill Bradley, but some might say, I don't know, when push comes to shove, I want somebody that I know is going to be 100 percent healthy in that Oval Office. |
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| The other GOP candidates | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TERENCE SMITH: Judging from the mainstream media coverage,
the presidential contest would seem to be a two-man race in each party.
But in fact, three other Republicans -- Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, and
Alan Keyes -- have been campaigning vigorously, if against long odds.
Tom Rosenstiel says it is difficult for news organizations to cover them
as well.
TOM ROSENSTIEL: This is just an inevitable problem of how do you stage a campaign, how do you stage debates, how do you manage coverage in the newspaper? There's only so many inches. One of the glories of the United States is that we don't regulate the press. We allow the press to make its own decisions about coverage, and there's enough newspapers and news zealots out there that it sort of averages out. TERENCE SMITH: At WMUR, which devotes 40 hours a week to local coverage, most of it politics, Karen Brown says her station is taking Steve Forbes seriously.
TERENCE SMITH: And the performance of the press generally so far in this campaign? CNN's Jeff Greenfield thinks good work has been done, but an old habit has asserted itself. JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN: Actually, what strikes me is that the besetting sins of political journalists are alive and well, and the besetting sin is the absolute, compulsive need to say what is going to happen before it happens -- to predict, to extrapolate our from a small series of events, and to never learn the lessons of political history, which are humbling to any of us. TERENCE SMITH: Indeed it is, and more political history will be made tonight. |
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TERENCE
SMITH: ... and this year, they've got one. With contested races in both
parties for an open seat in the Oval Office, campaign coverage is up
sharply. According to the independent Tyndall Report, the major commercial
networks have not devoted this much air time to the presidential campaign
since 1988, the last time a two-term president was vacating the White
House.
CLARENCE
PAGE, Chicago Tribune: For the past 20 years, I've said that
the coverage and the public relations game has gotten to be like a "Road
Runner" cartoon. We're kind of like Wile E. Coyote trying to get
the best of those spin doctors, and they keep coming up with new tricks
every four years. 
The
press scrum was equally visible out on the stump. From the time he launched
his campaign eight months ago, George W. Bush has been followed every
step of the way by a huge press corps that has often treated him as
his country's presumptive presidential nominee. But that same press
corps has also questioned whether he has the experience, the credentials,
and even the intelligence for the job. 
KAREN
HUGHES: There are topics in the news and to some extent there's still
a pack mentality that when one subject comes up, like intelligence,
or like the pop quiz. I can't, you know, there are different hot topics
that become hot in the media. And those are the subjects for a few days.
Sometimes the subjects that the media focuses on are sometimes not the
same subjects that the voters are focused on. So occasionally there's
a disconnect. But I think by and large the coverage has been fair.
SEN.
JOHN McCAIN: I'm always going to tell you the truth. 
When
it comes to the care and feeding of the political press, nothing succeeds
like access. Senator John McCain has provided it virtually nonstop to
the reporters who travel with him aboard his campaign bus, which he
has dubbed "The Straight Talk Express." Not surprisingly,
McCain has won rave reviews from reporters for his openness. 
CECI
CONNOLLY, The Washington Post: If we go back to pre-presidential
campaign, when he was just "good ol' Vice President Al Gore,"
he had pretty good press coverage, with the exception of the campaign
finance scandal off of the '96 race. And then he had a pretty good go
of it for a while. But what became obvious in, say, spring into the
summer, was that this was a man who couldn't settle on a campaign staff.
There were all sorts of palace intrigue going on, a lot of back stabbing,
who is up, who is down? And he couldn't seem to figure out who he himself
was, and he had a very public almost soul-searching process that was
obviously reflected in the coverage. 
TOM
ROSENSTIEL: He benefited from a kind of gentleness early on. Then he
suffered from becoming very competitive very quickly, and at that point,
something you might call the "Oh, my God" factor kicks in,
which is "Oh my God, this guy could actually win! We need to take
him seriously." And then the worm turns, and the press becomes
more rugged. 
BILL
BRADLEY: No, I don't think so. I think that it's a very simple procedure.
KAREN
BROWN: I think he's a better candidate in the campaign 2000 cycle than
he was in the 196 cycle. He learned from that first go- around. He's
honed his message. I'm not sure his message is playing as well, the
flat tax message, but he is a better candidate, a better campaigner.