11.06.2003
Campus Press Notes Rocks The Vote
So, yes, I managed to get into Rock The Vote on Tuesday night.
I didn't expect to, thinking that I was going to have to skirt the fringes of the bar-parties that were going on in the area, but the woman at the front desk was kind enough to issue press credentials to me, and I walked into the press room to join The Mass Media's news editor, Carl, who had been there since the early afternoon.
The pressroom was held in The Comedy Connection. Inside, each mini-table had a scrap of paper taped to it with the news organization's name and the correspondent who was going to be sitting there that night. I was early, and the room was nearly empty, so I walked around, checking out who was sitting where. So many, many people, some from newspapers I've never even heard of, like "The Asahi Shimbau."
While I was sitting with Carl (who, by the way, was able to get the file a story on it for the MetroWest Daily News), waiting for Kathleen McCaffrey to come and take her seat from me, Time's Joe Klein and CNN's Judy Woodruff were standing not even a foot away, talking about (what else?)politics. I'll admit I was a little in awe. I mean, that was Joe Klein up there. Later, he took to the stage in the spin room to give his analysis of the debate with Candy Crowley.
I overheard Woodruff tell another reporter that she was there only as a "watcher," and that it was Anderson Cooper's night.
Carl and I met Cooper after the debate, in the spin room, after the press and the candidates had cleared out. There were a few stragglers here and there. Cooper was talking with people, taking pictures with them in front of the CNN CNN CNN CNN wall. We spoke with him for a short bit, and he seems like a really cool guy. He said he had a really great time, and told of how it was his first time moderating.
The spin room (held right across the atrium from the Comedy Connection) was an absolute madhouse after the debate. Right in front of the doors, a bank of cameras was set up, as if meaning to lay in wait (like tigers burning bright, perhaps?). When John Edwards walked in, he saw them, and with his eyes wide open in surprise, he mouthed, "Oh my God."
When Sharpton came in, a small group broke off to follow him.
It was when Dean walked in that I almost got crushed. I was two feet away, and couldn't hear a word he was saying. I was also concentrating on not getting hit in the head by the cameraguyas he, with his back to me, moved about.
I can't explain how odd and fantastic it felt to see on the big screen that was up in the spin room, Joe Klein and Candy Crowley doing their stand-up, and then look at the other side of the room, and there they were, in the flesh.
Other highlights:
-When John Kerry mentioned that he had seen a poll that had him 15 points ahead of Hillary Clinton, a lone cry came from one corner of the pressroom: "Where?!"
-John Friedman of the Nation, sitting down to take his place one seat over from The Mass Media. Upon finding out we were college students, he quizzed us on the recent Harvard poll put out that said most college students supported Bush and were conservative. He appeared to be truly puzzled and concerned about it.
-All the campaign aides (the Kucinich kids actually camped out in the press room) were rushing press releases that still felt warm in your hands.
-When CNN people came by after a quarter of the debate was over to hand out transcripts of what had just been played, my back corner all looked at the transcript, the notes we had been furiously scribbling (or writing on laptops), then to each other, before saying, "Well, screw this."
The collegiate press was well represented: I spotted The Harvard Crimson, Northeastern News, Daily Free Press, The Comment, the Tufts Daily, Suffolk Journal, BC Heights, and the Berkeley Beacon.
With the exception of The Mass Media, all the college papers were in the back of the room. I hung out there with the Harvard Crimson and Tufts Daily for most of the debate.
Earlier, I spoke with Bridgewater State's Comment. And the BC Heights guys, who were cool. One of the BC Heights reporters and I both agreed: we felt like small fish in a big pond, and were just totally stunned at how cool it was to be here surrounded by the people like Klein and all the rest. They mentioned their big story right now is the college getting sued over the sports thing, and nothing new on the Massachusetts State Police denying them press badges.
Rundown of the big media:
The New York Times ' Adam Nagourney. The Boston Globe's Sarah Schweitzer. The Boston Herald's David Guarino. The Washington Post 's Jim VandeHei. The New York Daily News' Helen Kennedy.
Full transcript up here.
Anyway. Back to studying for midterms.
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