Posted on 04/11/2015 5:24:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If the intent of the “going small” campaign wasn’t already obvious enough, MSNBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald connects the last remaining dots. Team Hillary wants to run an “intimate” campaign in order to counter the impression that the former First Lady and Secretary of State feels overly entitled to voters’ support and higher office, which means doing what other candidates regularly do as part of retail campaigning — smaller events, one-on-one interactions, especially in Iowa where voters expect that approach. Seitz-Wald reports that the campaign has already begun to strategize how that can keep the media from asking too many questions of Hillary Clinton, and that they may impose reporting “pools” — as the White House routinely uses for events.
Yes, that won’t look arrogant or entitled at all:
Still, no one disputes that reporters will end up frustrated at times. Some events may be closed to the press, others may have limited access, and many may have access to only a select “pool” of reporters who represent each type of outlet on behalf of their colleagues.
To offset perceptions that’s cutting off the press, Clinton may regularly take questions from reporters after events where some were denied access. Or she could prioritize local media and give a few minutes to the local TV affiliate or newspaper, like Obama did during the primary.
The format of the events could further inflame relations between the press Clinton, which she acknowledged are “complicated,” but pooling coverage may be the only way to satisfy all sides. After all, Clinton wants reporters to cover her small events as much as they want to cover them. If a touching connection is made with an Iowa voter and there’s no reporter around to Tweet it, does it make a sound?
Yes, but Clinton wants reporters to cover the events the way she wants, and not ask questions that might otherwise put her on the spot. So which reporters will go along with those plans? The pool selection at the White House gets handled by the correspondents themselves. Something tells me that this will not be the case when it comes to Hillary Clinton’s press pools. This approach leaves the campaign with a lot of leverage over the reporters assigned to cover her campaign. Ask a tough question once, and don’t hold your breath waiting for another slot in the pool. Nice beat ya got there, kid. Shame if anything happened to it.
But what’s to keep reporters from just showing up anyway to these events? The Secret Service might be a complication. Unlike other candidates at this stage, Hillary has full Secret Service protection as a consequence of her status as former First Lady. The campaign will also manage access in other ways, too. It may not be impossible to cover events outside of the pool, but it will be a lot more difficult, and good luck getting the candidate to interact with you if you crash the party.
That’s not to say that the campaign plans to keep the relationship completely adversarial. They’ve already begun to schmooze the reporters who will cover Hillary. What’s the fastest way to a reporter’s heart, anyway? Pasta puttanesca:
On Thursday night, Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff John Podesta held a private dinner with campaign reporters at his Washington home, where he served his signature pasta puttanesca, as well as a pasta with a walnut sauce, POLITICO has learned. On Friday night, Clinton strategist Joel Benenson will hold a similar dinner with reporters, correspondents and even some television anchors at his apartment in New York.
The dinners are part of a larger Clinton-team effort to build a rapport with the men and women who will spend the next 18 months covering Clinton’s bid for the White House. That effort is seen as a necessity for a candidate who, in the early months of 2015, has had no safe harbor in the media. To date, The New York Times alone has published more than 40 articles related to Clinton’s use of a private email account while secretary of state, and many other news outlets, including POLITICO, have come forward with revelations of their own. Meanwhile, right-wing media outlets criticize her daily and left-wing outlets are unabashed in their desire for a more liberal alternative.
Should beat journalists take part in these efforts, at least without disclosure? Hard to say. They’ll be on the campaign trail with the same people for weeks or months at a time, and they’ll likely break bread out there with them at times. The relationship is bilateral to some degree; these reporters are also looking to create personal relationships, connections that can land them scoops and inside information ahead of the competition. With the campaign trying to limit coverage to “pools,” they may need to do this more than ever, which is another manifestation of the leverage that the campaign will have under the pooler concept, and why it’s exactly the opposite of the full transparency that a campaign should provide.
Update: Olivier Knox, a reporter for Yahoo News, responds to this idea with something less than enthusiasm:
@EdMorrissey you asked the right Q about "who decides who is in the pool." Two thoughts follow.
— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) April 10, 2015
@EdMorrissey 1) putting the committed "Hillary Correspondents" in charge could go all kinds of wrong.
— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) April 10, 2015
@EdMorrissey 2) the related Q is "how big?" Just a TV camera? Photogs? How many writers? Etc. Pools come in all shapes/sizes.
— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) April 10, 2015
These are pretty good questions, and another reason to be skeptical of any claim that the press is getting access to Hillary in a campaign covered by pools. Olivier notes that the size of the presidential pool and its composition is a constant struggle with the White House.
Why do the news media bother with reporters anymore?
Why not just let Hillary’s staff write the stories and email them to the “news” department for distribution?
The main stream media has chosen sides, and it is not with the American people. We are no better off then the citizens of the old Soviet Union. The main source of “news” controlled by one view point.
From the confines of the palace bunker her majesty deigns to even throw in her name for lowly President. Ruling class majesty shrouded in secrecy and choreographed pseudo appearances among the masses.
Masses that are limited, specially chosen for their eager support to her (willing or not). Media saps who have been cultivated by the royal family for decades to always go on the attack at the first sign of discord or dissent.
She “listens”, she “connects”, she “gets acquainted” (rather the sheep get reacquainted with the new storyline). From that cocooned gilded bunker she issues forth the connection with everyman - she’s broke, she’s been downtrodden, she’s the savior of women - she couldn’t use two email accounts on her Blackberry.
Vince Foster, 900 FBI files and Benghazi are old news - we’ve been there before so what does it matter at this point? Hillary! is right for the time and that time is NOW - you believe or suffer. She’s a loving wife, women’s advocate and a doting grandma who’s the champion of the middle class, a part of she’s never been.
Sleaze bag and company wants to “control” how and what coverage she gets.
No pools!Time to drain the pool and remove the scum.
Full unbiased coverage.....
Debate request and rules should really stink.
Will the moderator be Sharpton or Holder?
Hillary Chivez must be defeated
If Walker or Cruz tried this scam the press would figure out a way around it.
Have always said....if she wasn't married to Bubba, we'd all be going "Hillary who??"
The headline instantly evoked a picture of Mrs. Bill sitting in a lawn chair in a bikini and clogs at the edge of a swimming pool and several reporters with press cards in their hatbands a la 1950s standing in the water holding up microphones.
Her best bet for election is to not get too close to the people, she needs to be the myth, the woman, the powerful politician, the smartest woman on earth, tamed Bill Clinton, philanthropist, veins flowing with nectar, not blood, working hard for the little person!
And selfless, not the selfishly piggish oaf in a pant suit she is and always will be.
May age be upon her and be our willing ally in this battle to the finish.
The Queen makes the rules as she goes. I thought it was ‘equal justice under the law.’
“Clinton wants reporters to cover the events the way she wants, and not ask questions that might otherwise put her on the spot.”........
I see a letter coming from Hitlary’s campaign going to the media with the following instructions, “Here are the questions Mrs. Clinton wants you to ask. Any questions not on this list will be ignored.”
Hillary Rotten Clinton.
I wonder if there will be any hidden microphone incidents, you know, like there was with Mitt Romney?
And if so, will the pro-Hitlery media report them?
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Her criminal empire will extort the media like zippy does, most of the idiots are on board
“pools” = friendlies
==
It will be interesting to see whether she can run by hiding from the public.
Anyone who would vote for Hillary Clinton should be sterilized so that the stupidity can be neutralized.
Barak Obama can be likeable on a personal level. Politics aside, he can be “nice”.
Hillary Clinton is the most dislikable politician I have ever seen.
Stealth running for President ,LOL
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