Reporters Struggle For Access To Clinton

Washington Post: National Press Increasingly Frustrated By Apparent Game Of "Catch Me If You Can"

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Howard Kurtz.

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ABC correspondent Kate Snow was ready to push through the crowd and ask Hillary Clinton a question until an aide blocked the path of Snow's sound man as he aimed his boom mike in the senator's direction.

"Sorry, we've gotta go," the woman said, though it was clear that Clinton would be shaking hands for some time.

Moments later, as the Democratic presidential candidate was mobbed by well-wishers, Boston television reporter Joe Battenfeld managed to shout a question -- a meaningless question, truth be told -- about whether she needed to win both Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton was defiantly bland in response, as if determined that her comments not be used.

"Oh, I don't think about it like that. I'm just thrilled to be competing in Iowa and New Hampshire. . . . There's something very special about the New Hampshire primary. . . . I take nothing for granted. . . . We have wonderful candidates running."

Such is life spent trailing the Clinton juggernaut, where reporters can generally get close enough to watch but no further, as if separated from the candidate by an invisible sheet of glass.

National correspondents are increasingly frustrated by a lack of access to Clinton. They spend much of their time in rental cars chasing her from one event to the next, because the campaign usually provides no press bus or van. Life on the bus means journalists don't have to worry about luggage or directions or getting left behind, since they are part of the official motorcade. News organizations foot the bill for such transportation, but campaigns have to staff and coordinate the buses -- and deal with the constant presence of their chroniclers.

With rare exceptions -- John McCain chats endlessly with reporters aboard his bus -- leading presidential candidates take a wary approach to the press, doling out access in carefully limited increments. Journalists sometimes question whether it is worth the time and energy to trail politicians who rarely engage them. In this regard, Clinton differs only in her degree of discipline, honed during eight years of often testy media relations in her husband's White House.

Clinton blames an overtaxed schedule for the arm's-length approach, but something more fundamental is at work here. She, like her rivals, wants to deliver a daily message, usually framed around some policy prescription, while reporters want to ask her about the latest polls, tactics or blast from Barack Obama or John Edwards. And answering questions off the cuff always risks the possibility of a blunder, as when Clinton told NBC's Andrea Mitchell during the 1992 campaign that she had chosen to pursue a career rather than stay home and "bake cookies."

At the same time, much of what Clinton wants to communicate -- the nuances of her health-care plan, for instance -- doesn't fit the media's cramped definition of news.

Clinton did a phone interview this week with the Chicago Tribune and a previously scheduled feature interview with The Washington Post, which included a question on her husband's claim that he had opposed the Iraq war from the beginning. But such opportunities are relatively rare. Obama, for his part, held a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Clinton aides say they try to stage a "press avail," or brief news conference, every five or six days, but they acknowledge the schedule often slips. (Obama is also on a weekly schedule; Edwards, third in the national polls, is more accessible.) The result is little red meat for the press pack. In fact, much of the chatter among the reporters is about MapQuest and GPS devices and Hertz's NeverLost technology as they trade tips on how to track their constantly moving quarry.

Earlier this month, Snow ignored the speed limit as she chased Clinton from a Manchester diner to a Concord state office where the candidate was filing to run in the primary. "I parked seven blocks away," Snow says. "I ran up the street in my high-heel boots. I got there out of breath, and the Secret Service stopped me and said, 'You can't come in.'"

Snow and other late-arriving reporters talked their way in through the back door, but the room was so packed with supporters that her crew couldn't get near the former first lady, whose news conference was almost over. "We're constantly playing catch-up," Snow says.

Newsweek's Andrew Romano says the press didn't even get to take the tour when Clinton visited a Las Vegas sheet-metal factory. "The way we were herded into a small area to watch her walk into a room and meet with union officials just seemed slightly absurd," he says. When a colleague asked the staff for a chance to question Clinton, "they just kind of laughed it off."

My day-long pursuit of the senator on Monday was typical. She arrived more than an hour late, from Iowa, at a 19th-century Victorian mansion here and spoke for all of nine minutes about the importance of health care. With half a dozen cameras rolling, Clinton accepted the endorsement of pediatrician Susan Lynch, wife of the state's Democratic governor, John Lynch.

When Clinton stepped away from the microphones, Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" began blaring from the speakers, which effectively drowned out any attempted queries from the journalists sprinkled throughout the room. Battenfeld, the Boston reporter, launched his horse-race question during a brief lull between songs.

"It's kind of an art form," he said afterward. "I would have asked her about Obama, but I figured she would have turned and run."

While candidates operate in something of a bubble, their headquarters staff conducts an outside game with tougher language, and Clinton is no exception. As reporters awaited her arrival here, an e-mail arrived by BlackBerry, sparked by a Washington Post report on Obama using a political action committee to make donations to officials in early primary states. "It was surprising to learn that he has been using his PAC in a manner that appears to be inconsistent with the prevailing election laws," the Clinton release said.

After the Concord event, Clinton retreated to a previously scheduled taping with Katie Couric (story | video), her only sustained encounter that day with the national media. The CBS anchor asked how disappointed she would be if she isn't the nominee. "Well, it will be me," Clinton said. When Couric pressed, Clinton insisted -- not terribly convincingly -- that she hadn't even considered the possibility she could lose.

Reporters, meanwhile, were making their way along unmarked back roads, past moose crossings and flocks of geese, to find a home on an isolated cul-de-sac in Goffstown. There, Judy Lanza, a nurse, and her husband, Joe, a retired police officer, hosted Clinton in a small kitchen adorned with pumpkins, apple baskets, a cookie jar and a straw doll affixed to the wall.

For more than an hour, 30 journalists watched from the small, darkened living room as Clinton chatted, awkwardly at first, with the five preselected guests. Her rhetoric against health insurance companies was harsher than might have been expected. They give patients the "runaround," deny care, "slow-walk" the payment of bills, she declared. "This is all part of their business model. This is how they make money. . . . The small-business health-care market is really rigged."

From there, Clinton drifted into special education, meetings she had as first lady on religious tolerance, how she was "deeply involved" in the Northern Ireland peace process, and her plans for a "post-Kyoto agreement" on global warming. But although the meeting was staged for the assembled journalists, there was no chance for follow-up, and the event received virtually no coverage.

As Clinton made her way to the door, she observed: "All this good food -- can we feed the press?" But the press was feeling undernourished.

Campaigns often brush off national correspondents in favor of local journalists, who tend to be less critical. Clinton did hold an off-the-record session with New Hampshire reporters and spoke to an Exeter radio station on Monday. But she paid a price for her limited interaction with reporters on the 6 p.m. newscast of WMUR-TV, the state's only network affiliate.

Obama, in New Hampshire that day, was shown talking to one of the station's reporters about Oprah Winfrey's decision to campaign for him. Edwards, also in New Hampshire, was seen talking to reporters about the need for a candidate who "tells the truth." But Clinton's endorsement by the governor's wife warranted only a brief mention, with no sound bite from the candidate.

Her last major event was a potluck dinner at a cavernous union hall in the town of Brentwood. But only a handful of reporters attended and I arrived late, driving down unlighted streets in a heavy rain as confused Clinton aides kept giving me the wrong directions.

The candidate spent half an hour signing campaign posters and posing for pictures, and I persuaded her tired-looking staff to grant me a single question as she made her way out. The question: Wouldn't providing more media access help get her message out?

"We try to balance what we do every day," Clinton said. "I'm trying to reach as many voters as possible one-on-one" while also dealing with the local press, "which has a very big role to play," and making time for occasional interviews with national news outlets. "It seems I have mushrooming demands," she said. "The balancing is really intense."

With that, she was off to a waiting plane to South Carolina, while reporters headed for commercial flights to follow her there.

[news12rogers]

Trust me.
It''s no better for the local stations trying to cover the Clinton campaign. Here''s a link to the blog I wrote after her visit to Aiken, S.C. earlier this week...followed by the short version.

http://wrdwnews12.blogspot.com/
=====================================================
Presidential Politics & The Media

Senator Hillary Clinton brought her presidential campaign to Aiken today. Her supporters were there and the media turned out to tell the story. The only problem was the Clinton campaign and its tight reign on the media. The idea seemed to be -- to keep reporters at arms length.

Access to the candidate was extremely limited with cameras and microphones kept across the room from the senator--- for the most part. I did manage to get close enough to ask a couple of questions. One about Senator Clinton''s chances in South Carolina and the other about Oprah Winfrey joining Barack Obama on the campaign trail.

Here''s how the 11 second conversation went.

(Rogers) "...Senator Clinton, what''s your biggest challenge to win in South Carolina?"
(Clinton) Oh, I''m having a great time campaigning."
(Rogers) "What''s the Oprah factor gonna be for you?"
(Clinton) I''m just gonna do my campaign and its up to the voters."

Richard Rogers
News

[avraamjack]

It is possible that Senator Clinton is the best candidate. However, even though any may like the policies that Senator Clinton proposes, they should also consider her record, just as Senator Clinton insists.
.
The last Clinton Administration, when faced with the fact that protection rackets where torturing people with poison and radiation, chose to avoid its responsibilities to incarcerate the criminals and to protect the citizenry.
.
Instead, they made a deal with the criminal gang stalker protection rackets to leave them alone and to consequently abandon the citizenry.
.
Do we want a President who sells out the citizenry for votes?
.
Do we want a President who sends a "crime does pay" message to society?
.
Would you vote for a President who signed nonaggression deals with the KKK or the Nazi party? Gangs that torture with poison and radiation are much like the KKK and Nazi Party.
.
We do not need a sellout President. We need a principled leader President.
.
If you are one of the few who do not know what the above refers to, do a web search for %u201Cgang stalking%u201D to see the tip of the dirtberg. Please do it before you decide to reply to my post. Here let me make it easy for you: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22gang+stalking%22.
.

[nyckate]

Hillary controlling the media?? Of course she is - she''s learned from Bush that it can be done and done easily.

Without a very controlled media Bush would never have been elected in 2000 - he was (and remains) a poor leader with little knowledge, terrible record and of course the maturity level of a drunken foolish frat boy who''s professional career experience was to run 3 companies straight into banktuptcy after using up their assets.

[krazykat2525]

She''s afraid of the reporters who will point out her flip floping on every single item. To see what a woman democrat would be like in power, see Nancy pelois. Need anyone say more?

[freedemm]

After 8 years of the "Arkansas Project", and 8 more of the Half Vast RW Cons Piracy making mountains over the slightest point they could get a hook into, and you are complaining that she has learned to not give you anything to hook?

I am not fond of her and would not vote for her unless she was the only Democrat running, but only an idiot would give a clear shot to anyone who has already declared themselves a sworn enemy, and blown helk out of every target they could find or invent for the past 15 years.

[denn034]

First, that may be an attempt to control the media. Lastly, the whole notion of people clamoring to see Hillary is laughable, such seems like flies to you know what to me.

[omega39-2009]

They spend much of their time in rental cars chasing her from one event to the next, because the campaign usually provides no press bus or van.

Ah....sweet memories of Thompson''s fear and loathing on the campaign trail.

[lenstein]

To those reporters who feel shut out, whose passion for the message and truths they seek far exceed the printng press''s and air time''s gravitational pull on their ego, please help me understand the problem a bit better. Is the problem that you cant ride roughshod over the crowds who have their only chance in a lifetime to be up close and personal with the person who might be president? Forgive me, you would never shout over a "regular" person''s query or hello -- they can wait til their turn on meet the press. Is it that the horserace tactics, he said/she said and gotchas of your coverage is more vital knowledge to the public you try to tittilate than the prospective and respective policies that may impact our lives And policies are no doubt what you want to ask the candidates about. And "covering" the events is not good enough, you need to create the news (in your views)...is that the issue?

Please give us all a break and a benefit by helping us understand the truth and consequences of the candidates...truths that may make you more wonks than wannabes...and maybe then we''ll have some sympathy.

Have I got this right or is that candidates owe something more to you than to the crowds they travel to?

Help me get it.

[likeitis5050]

She''s in total control. Don''t doubt that for a minute. As evasive and secretive as Bush, but not a drop of loyalty in her. Unlike Bush, she won''t hesitate to throw a trusted aide under the bus to further her cause. This is a woman with so many different faces for what ever audience she is greeting that she requires an Excell spread sheet to sort them all. I know being a woman in politics can''t be easy, but being hard azzed and unemotional is all systems go for her comfort level. That''s just not right.

[pepperp1]

Senators Clinton has a hostage situation at her campaign office in NY, some loon claiming to have a bomb has taken her campaign workers hostage in NY.

[gunownerdan]

The best prostitutes for big money and corporate interests will get the most media attention.
That''s why you see more stories about Hitlery, Giuliani, Obama, and Romney than pretty much any other candidates.

[oleander8]

"National correspondents are increasingly frustrated by a lack of access to Clinton."

...Yo! correspondents, you''re breaking my heart. You have a whole year until the election. Complain about access after she''s nominated - and she will be.

[hillaryin08]

pepperp1 , go make me a pie!

[hillaryin08]

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaha

I am the queen!

[mike71067]

Headline: "Reporters Struggle For Access To Clinton"

Of course. Hillary may be a communist wacko, but she''s no idiot. She knows which reporters are "friendly" to her cause, and anybody else will not have easy access to the bittch.

[gunownerdan]

Hitlery is more of as NEOCON than Bush himself is.
And democrats are lining up to support her.
Amazing.

[greatdrivew]

Ode to HillBillary 2008

first came Bennifer
Brangelina was great
but on center stage
HillBillary 2008

Illinois, New York
HillBillary considered all
except one that is
yeeehaaw Arkansas

two headed monster
attached at the thighs
love-hate relationship
for all to despise

nipped, tucked
skin so tight
tool of the system
oh what a fright

[mudrose-2009]

Actually, it''s that vast Right Wing Conspiracy that''s preventing her from speaking her mind. If she ever truly opened up, we''d toss her out of the country.

[pepperp1]

And she is absolutely right and what passes as a supposed journalist press like Russet, Matthews, Bill Crystal, and now Karl Rove at Newsweek is a joke, anyone of Murdoch%u2019s media outlet rags or shows they all want ratings they want media ownership they are political patsies sometimes alibis as the Libby trial surely showed. How many of you knew Andre Mitchell who works for Russert was the wife of a member of the Presidents Cabinet%u2026.hmmmm not many%u2026..yet I saw her report on the Clintons many times without mention of hubby. And Hillary has a very extensive public record, and communication team not to mention she has had the most expansive and exhaustive back ground check of any human being brought to you by the rabid republican partisans on the right who spent 66 million trying to slime her. I understand her record, what she stands for and her integrity no question in my mind. But the press wanting ratings is looking for the WWW sound bite to pound her she not dumb and a free press isnt helping our democracy. Ask yourself out of the tens of thousands of Iraq men women and children killed and to help Americas understands their actions in this war for oil how many dead bodies have you seen in the press?


The current press groups are like the accounting firm that did ENRONS books, in it for the money hiding behind a historic noble profession but playing fast and loose with Accounting Standards if bothering to employee them at all.

[walt1944-2009]

Do I detect a "Bushism" mentality about Hillary Clinton? Is that her perfume or the Bush agenda of "Don''t Ask, Don''t Tell", that I smell? Is Hillary a Democrat or a female neocon Republican in disguise?

Given all this, it''s not a real surprise that Clinton has fallen a lot in the polls. Voters are looking for someone, anyone, who will give them answers and by avoiding the media and the public, having "planted" questions aimed at you in supposed public forums, and using "double-speak" when someone finally does corner you, you can expect to lose your voter base real quick. People want a change from the last 7 years of Bush lies and Republican greed, immorality, and stupidity; they don''t want 8 more years of it from a Democrat!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!