MEDIA MEETS THE BLOGGER
The national press corps came in full force to Milwaukee this evening for (probably) the last of the Democratic presidential debates. Due to a glitch in the system, a ruptured seam in the universe, dumb luck – or maybe just a good friend from college (and one of my five regular readers) who got me a pass through one of the candidate’s campaigns – I officially joined the media horde, fully accredited and ready to cover the debate.
I always wondered why the reporters who write about these things have to be there in person for what is essentially a television event. My experience tonight makes me wonder even more. I think we’d get a wider point of view if some of these people filed from their homes rather than engage in the pack-mentality journalism that infects the media. It’s not like I saw anyone peeking at the next guy’s computer screen, but, somehow, all their reports end up exactly the same.
There had to be at least 200 people in the Marquette cafeteria just off the auditorium where the debate was actually taking place. While most dutifully pretended to pay attention to the debate playing out on the 15 or so monitors scattered throughout the rooms, many were reading newspapers, talking on cell phones, touring the Internet, etc. The excitement of following a political campaign was long gone for these people, the vast majority of whom were white, male and surprisingly young.
These were hardly the Boys on the Bus or the drunken, stoned screedheads made legendary in the great political books of the ‘70s by Hunter Thompson and others. These were mostly hard-working careerists who always ate right and got a good night’s sleep. Not many Big Feet here, from what I could tell. I helped one of the only talented writers in the mainstream, Time’s Joe Klein, find the door to the building and sat near him while he sat, paid close attention and chatted about the finer points with a couple of the more grizzled veterans around him. Fox’s Carl Cameron sat in a back row, watching the enemy forces on TV while trying to figure out how to spin it all Bush’s way in his report ("Well, the Democrats tried again tonight to chink the armor of our Brave War President tonight and only managed to embarrass themselves"...etc.). I didn’t spot any CNN or network talking head, but I could imagine that the elite rent their own power suite at a thing like this (they just don’t tell Klein and Cameron). Or, recognizing that the game is all but over, they didn’t bother.
But there I was, all pumped up, ready to be awed by the spectacle. My friend asked me if I had a camera, which I did – my little digital thing. So I got in with the photo guys with the Big Lenses for our pre-debate close-ups of the candidates. I felt a little silly standing there at the edge of the stage, blocking the view of most of Wisconsin’s political leadership in the front rows, while I waited for my photo-op. I snapped a few when they came out and we were then shooed out of the big room and into our media bunker.
As the debate started, the media room settled into a respectful silence, waiting for something to happen but expecting nothing to happen. Being there, you can sense why so much of the coverage of the campaigns – not to mention the campaigns themselves – are so uninspired. Everyone knows their roles and the candidates are so consulted-up, there can’t possibly be a spontaneous moment. The media knows this and the candidates know they know this, so, just to keep busy, they play an expectations game to spin victory out of defeat and to keep the horserace story operative.
However, tonight, you could tell how over this campaign really is. Democrats across the country are now united to get rid of George Bush and have decided that John Kerry is the man to do it. Kerry will get at least 45% in Wisconsin, Edwards will squeak in for second (as I predicted at the debate, Edwards will be endorsed by the Journal-Sentinel in tomorrow morning’s paper), Dean will be officially toast on Wednesday (with the thanks of all Democrats for lighting the fire). Kerry will win every state on Super Tuesday and that will be that.
The debate was well over half done before anyone got a rise out of either the debate audience or the media room, when Edwards made a lame comment about "the longest answer to a yes-or-no question". That’s how desperate everyone was to exhale or react to something – anything. That was followed shortly by Al Sharpton’s hilarious take on Bush lying, but maybe not even knowing he was lying. Sharpton has the chops and timing of George Carlin or Richard Pryor sometimes. The media throng appreciates the comic relief. Thanks, Al. You can go home now.
At last, the imprisoned hordes were released when the debate ended. Some clamored for the next bus to the hotels. Some went downstairs to the very disappointing spin room, where Edwards, Sharpton and Kucinich held court for about five minutes each. Dean had already bolted (did I mention he was toast?), and Kerry, like Elvis, had Left The Building. There were no politicians under signs with the candidate’s names on them. Just a bunch of the media’s less savvy creatures, looking for someone to talk to. Did I mention the campaign was over?
Within a half-hour after the end of the debate, John Kerry visited with some of his supporters in a local bar. I was lucky again to get close and shake the hand of the next president. Standing eye-to-eye with him (we are both about 6' 4"), I got about a minute with him. He looked much younger than he does on TV. I thanked him for his service to his country in the Navy, in the anti-war movement and in the Senate. I wondered aloud what we can do about the 24/7 free attack machinery the Bushies have in wingnut talk-radio. He mentioned the fledgling Dem radio effort. I promised by support, thanked him again and off he went.
There are many years in the past when I have just settled. Settled for Carter, settled for Mondale, settled for Dukakis. This year, we have a candidate that not only is the best choice, but is ideally suited to rid us of the radical Bush regime. Kerry is ready for Bush and I am ready to throw down with him and try to make it happen. John Kerry is someone that no one has to compromise or talk themselves into supporting or hold their nose while they vote. He’ll be smeared, attacked and slandered by the Bush Surrogates. But he’s the right man at the right time.
Bring it on!
12:17:58 AM 
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