All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Kathleen Frankovic is Director of Surveys for CBS News.

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Sometimes a news story require some rapid polling, and last week’s John and Elizabeth Edwards press conference announcing the recurrence of Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer was one of them. And when it was followed by a much-discussed "60 Minutes" interview, the story became even more interesting.

We knew on Monday that we should find out answers to questions about whether Americans supported the decision to keep campaigning, and if this new information would affect Edwards’ chances of winning the Democratic nomination. Did men and women react differently? How did watching the "60 Minutes" interview affect people? Did people have their own experiences with breast cancer that impacted their opinions?

To measure the impact on the Democratic primary race, we needed to make sure we interviewed enough Democratic primary voters to get significant results. And we also wanted to get results as quickly as we reasonably could. So we planned a two-day survey (Monday and Tuesday), and over-sampled Democratic primary voters (we did this by calling back some on the people we had interviewed in previous polls).

We released the first result on today’s Early Show, and the rest of the poll later in the day. We did learn that the support for Edwards’ decision crossed all age groups, was the same for men and women, and the same for people who watched on Sunday as for those who did not. Those people who know someone who had breast cancer were also supportive.

But public support for Edwards’ decision to continue his presidential campaign doesn’t necessarily translate into support for him as president – at least not yet. Most Democratic voters believe Edwards is qualified and say he could win the election if nominated, but right now John Edwards runs behind Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in a three-way contest. In the CBS News Poll, 36% of Democratic primary voters support Clinton, 28% Obama, and just 18% pick Edwards.

For more on these and other polls, visit our poll page right here.

Byron Pitts is National Correspondent for CBS News.

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We're supposed to ask hard questions.

I've read some of the comments/criticisms of Katie's interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards: Wow! It's good to know people watch her work so closely. We can all benefit from critiques. But my goodness, some of the comments have seemed “over the top.” One week she's “too soft.” The next week she's “too tough.”

Any journalist worth their salt is supposed to ask tough questions and make no apologies for it. It is both the great blessing and burden of a free press. Our viewers and readers expect it and deserve it. John Edwards is seeking the most powerful office in the world at a time of so much uncertainty around the world. Americans deserve to know: is he up for the job? And, God forbid, if there's a turn in his wife's health, could he still focus on the nation's business?

Like or dislike Katie Couric or her questions, they were necessary. Like or dislike John Edwards or Elizabeth Edwards or their answers, hearing and seeing their response was a worthwhile exercise.

And it seems to me, Katie wasn't simply asking questions stacked on a sheet of paper, but asking questions that she once had to ask herself as her husband battled cancer. Since the interview aired I've run into sky cabs, cabbies, housekeepers, and a host of others all talking about "Katie's interview." (Granted these aren't people who 'blog' all day, they actually work outside.) Some thought she was right on, others thought she was way off. "The Edwardses were brave." "The Edwardses are being foolish." Opinions varied to say the least. And who says there is a single right answer...

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Katie, Senior Producer Bill Owens and Correspondent Wyatt Andrews offer a First Look at tonight's Evening News. Big stories include a follow-up on Katie's interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards, plus developments in the investigation into the "friendly fire" death of Pat Tillman. Just click the monitor to watch.

I’d taken my daughters away for weekend. But before we took off, I called the office to find out if CBS would be interested in an interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards. When I landed, there was a voice mail from Jeff Fager, the Executive Producer of “60 Minutes,” asking if I could go to Las Vegas the next morning for the interview.

I’d interviewed Elizabeth two and a half years ago, when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, and I had been impressed ( as I’ve written before) by her strength, and no-nonsense unpretentiousness.

I also felt that I have an inherent understanding of the physical and emotional toll that cancer takes on a family, given that I have lost both my husband and my sister to this disease.

Flying on the plane to Las Vegas, I was surprised at the repercussions of the Edwards' decision-–the ripple effect that had caused so many conversations among so many people about family, love, commitment, responsibility, priorities, mortality. In other words, the real stuff that transcends politics.

I was also surprised to read an article in the New York Times about how people viewed this story through their own personal prisms – some in a negative way. I really used some of those voices as a framework for my questions. I knew that everyone was reacting differently to this, and I wanted the Edwards to have a chance to elaborate and respond to issues people were raising. When the interview was over, the biggest complement came from Senator Edwards, who thanked me and said: “You asked all the questions that were out there.” I think they appreciated having an opportunity to respond...

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Reading over some of the comments on Katie's interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards, you can't help but be struck by a recurring theme: viewers didn't like the questions and how they were asked. You would think that Katie was the only one doing any talking.

Which led me to wonder: well, what about the answers? The purpose of an interview is not to create memorable questions, but to elicit compelling answers. Did the answers shed any light on the Edwards' decision? Did they offer insight into the character of the man who wants to be President? Did they give others who are facing this kind of crisis some perspective? Did the answers have any value or add to our knowledge? (Well, among other things, Elizabeth Edwards revealed for the first time that the cancer had spread to her hip.)

Herewith, a few of the answers that came out of the Edwards interview. You can read a full transcript right here.

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Elizabeth Edwards: You know, you really have two choices here. I mean, either you push forward with the things that you were doing yesterday or you start dying. That seems to be your only two choices. If I had given up everything that my life was about – first of all, I'd let cancer win before it needed to. You know, maybe eventually it will win. But I'd let it win before I needed to.

And I'd just basically start dying. I don't want to do that. I want to live. And I want to do the work that I want next year to look like last year and... and the year after that and the year after that. And the only way to do that is to say I'm going to keep on with my life...

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Katie's interview on "60 Minutes" with John and Elizabeth Edwards has generated a lot of e-mail and comments around the website, and it's prompted our sibling blog Public Eye to do a little chin-scratching about the piece.

Here at "Couric & Co.," our "in" box had over 200 e-mails about the piece this morning, and they're still pouring in. Viewers have described the interview in a variety of colorful and unflattering ways, using phrases ranging from "insulting" and "rude," to epithets (particularly some describing Katie) that are frankly unprintable.

You can check out the interview yourself, in the monitor on the left, and draw your own conclusions. Also, drop by Public Eye for more discussion on it.

Watching John and Elizabeth Edwards talk about their battle with cancer (and I use the word "their" because this disease affects an entire family, not just an individual) was so poignant. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing both John and Elizabeth on several occasions. I remember visiting them at their house in Georgetown -- which was lovely, but homey -- and being struck by their extraordinary ordinariness. I say that as a compliment. They are relaxed, unpretentious, and completely unaffected by their intelligence and accomplishments. Their appearance today was dominated by love and hope. Hope that the treatment would be effective, hope that the cancer would remain under control, hope that their lives could continue as normally as possible.

In her first interview after being diagnosed with cancer, she told me she was determined to do everything she could to try to beat it. She also said then that she knew there were no guarantees with cancer.

Having lost my husband and sister to cancer, I felt so much empathy for them. Of course, like so many watching, I immediately thought of their children, Cate, who is in her twenties and eight year old Emma Clare and six year old Jack. The fear of not being there for your children, of leaving them motherless is so deep and primal. Cancer treatment has come so far, but clearly not far enough. Patients are often able to live with various forms of the disease as if it were a chronic illness…as Elizabeth mentioned, like diabetes. But cancer can be a wily and unpredictable foe. A friend whose husband had colon cancer the same time mine did often described the omnipresent notion of it getting worse as “the sword of Damacles.”

Yesterday, as we did a story on a brain surgeon fighting his own brain tumor, we mentioned that 4,000 people hear the three words “you have cancer” every single day in this country. So many more are fighting it and living with it. Watching the Edwards today made me think about all of them…and all the under-compensated and tireless researchers who have committed their lives to finding new, better treatments and possibly cures. It’s a reminder for all of us. Take a moment today to think about those you know who are dealing with cancer. Better yet, call them to tell them you are thinking about them…and will support them in any way you can.

Take it from me, someone who’s been there. It means so much.