Rye, New Hampshire, 05/18/07 4:45pm
Candidate: Barack Obama
Event: Town Hall Meeting
Location: Rye Elementary School in Rye, NH
Attendance: Approx: 250
Candidate was X minutes late: 15
Television cameras: 5, including one from HDN – the high definition television network.
Print scribes: 12
Lenses: 7
Substance: Obama’s town hall stump speech, then approximately 9 questions on topics ranging from the war, to defense spending, to global warming, to defense spending.
News we’re supposed to write about: how Obama asked Rye residents to pressure their two Senators, Sununu and Gregg, to change their minds on withdrawing U.S. troops on Iraq. Problem is, Obama kind of worked this in to a question about defense spending, so its effect was somewhat diluted. The "only realistic option" is to find a "veto proof majority" to "bring this war to the close." One of the thingss that every I think has to do is to help generate those 16 votes. You've got a couple of senators here in New Hampshire you know, I think, they need to recognize our troops have preformed valliantly and it is now time for them to come home." People "speaking out vigorously and forcefully."... "In some ways, the power is in the hands of the American people to put enopugh pressure on the other side to move things along.."
Interesting non-anticipated question: an Obama supporter from Atlanta asked about the acute shortage of FAA-certified air traffic controllers. Obama responded with his call to reform the civil service.
Gaffes: none, although about 100 early-bird supporters had to wait in the rain for the Secret Service to finish their ordinance reece – the press got to wait in the lobby. And it was cold outside.
Discordant note: with proud lobbyist/Obama New Hampshire senior adviser Jim Demers looking on , Obama blasted lobbyists and their culture. (The AP noticed this first). [MARC AMBINDER]
You know there are other Democratic candidates that don't have the last name Obama, Clinton, and Edwards.....just saying....
For y'all's information, Jim Demers is a NEW HAMPSHIRE lobbyist. He represents NEW HAMPSHIRE companies and interests before the NEW HAMPSHIRE legislature.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the lobbyist culture Obama was talking about is the Washington lobbyist culture. And it doesn't take a top-notch journalist to know or to rapidly discover that the role of lobbyists in NH politics is vastly different, far less privileged and infinitely less corrupting than in Washington.
But it does take an unserious twit whose appetite for hype and manufactured controversy grossly exceeds his respect for journalism as a public service to say, "Ooh! Appearance of contradiction or hypocrisy if presented in a certain way to the underinformed populace that we purport to serve! Let's run with it!"
Good for you for actually covering in some way what happens at these events, even if you did almost entirely focus on the trivial.
Now try covering them in a way that is useful to your readers, instead of merely aiming for high-fives for jaded cleverness from the other kids on the bus.