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Newspro: D.C. Talkers

May 14, 2007  •  Post A Comment

THE BIGGEST GET

Leading vote-getters: As the current occupant of the Oval Office, President Bush is always the biggest possible interview booking. (“He could do himself some good if he would come out.” “He’s in denial.”) But running right behind him this year in this category is Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who has lived in the White House as Bill Clinton’s first lady and now hopes to be voted head of the White Household in 2008. She’s a good get because she’s “so hard to get” but also because her candidacy makes her unique in history.

Also mentioned: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; top Bush advisor Karl Rove; Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

2006: Vice President Dick Cheney

UNDER THE MISTAKEN IMPRESSION THAT THEY ARE THE BIGGEST GET

Leading vote-getters: It’s a tie among Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.; Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. (“Mr. Sunday Talk”).

Also mentioned: “Any congressional leader.”

2006: Category did not appear.

THE HARDEST TO GET

Leading vote-getter: No one was named nearly as many times as Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., whose low TV profile is a signature. Getting her is “very tough.”

Also mentioned: President Bush, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., whose lack of availability after her Mideast trip “didn’t make sense”; Vice President Dick Cheney; embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz

2006: Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. Hillary Clinton

PLAYS HARDEST TO GET

Leading vote-getter: Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who “won’t go on with this person or talk about that subject.” “He definitely plays that game.”

Also mentioned: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has become less accessible as his presidential candidacy has faltered (“He’s going down in flames”); former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who “thinks he’s hot stuff.” “Anybody running for president.”

2006: Category did not appear.

To Make the Most News

Leading vote-getters: President Bush, because he is this country’s leader; and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., “hands down” because the cancer survivor doesn’t always follow the party line and “even his personal story is heroic. He’s just a very good guest.” “If you have Specter, you are guaranteed to make news.” “He always has a turn of phrase and usually says something worthwhile.”

Also mentioned: Vice President Dick Cheney (“All he has to do is show up and smirk to make news”); Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who “goes on determined to [be restrained], but “you can pop him”; the chairmen and ranking members of the key committees on the Hill “always generate news”; “usually an administration person.”

2006: Sens. Arlen Specter and John McCain, R-Ariz.

DON’T MAKE THE NEWS THEY PROBABLY SHOULD

Leading vote-getter: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has become “a robot” repeating her talking points. In general, “People are being more careful,” perhaps because they are part of the large population of presidential candidates and do not want to say the wrong thing. But it often feels as though “less news is being made.”

Also mentioned: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean (“Nobody wants to go on with him anymore,” and “He won’t go on with Republicans”); Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.; Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.; Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., because “He’s a maverick who has become very serious. He makes the best argument against the war, whether you agree with his position or not”; “some of the more radical guys on the fringes” who “try to play the middle when they get on camera.”

2006: Category did not appear.

HARDEST TO BUDGE OFF THEIR SAY-LITTLE TALKING POINTS

Leading vote-getter: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, once a popular guest and now considered “impossible” to get off talking points. “She just won’t move.” “She is the queen of talking points.” “We always lose ratings when she is on.”

Also mentioned: Vice President Dick Cheney is “very good at it”; Bush National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, who worked for and was “trained right” by Sec. Rice; Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., “almost never makes news”; Sen. “Chuckles” Schumer, D-N.Y. “Any guest worth his or her political salt should put away their talking points before they get in the makeup chair. We want to hear their opinions, not their talking points.”

2006: Category did not appear.

MOST EFFECTIVE USE OF NEWSMAKER SHOWS

Leading vote-getters: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., because “He’s very good at explaining his point of view in a way people can understand. He has been able to not only prove his point but move his legislation”; and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who “was a disaster two years ago.” Now Rep. Emanuel does well in his own appearances and by being “the guidance counselor” for the Democrats.

Also mentioned: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (“Up until the campaign started, he was everybody’s favorite guest”); Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “comes to say things”; Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who has “made huge improvements” since a disastrously unprepared appearance on “Meet the Press” in 2002 and “who now is seeking out interviews. He’s that confident”; former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.; Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.; Vice President Dick Cheney “just by making so few appearances.” “He does the Greta Garbo act, then he comes on.”

2006: Category did not appear.

LEAVE THEIR BEST STUFF IN THE GREEN ROOM

Leading vote-getters: Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is “certainly more ‘outgoing’ for a small audience” than for the national TV audience; Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “The intent of newsmaker shows is to not let guests use their best lines off-camera.” “We say, ‘Save it.'”

Also mentioned: Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., is “the king” of sounding better off-camera than he does on; Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., “goes on the air and mumbles,” as does Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “is pretty guilty of that these days”; “all administration people.”

2006: Category did not appear.

STAR OF THE GREEN ROOM

Leading vote-getters: Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., is “just the most adorable, down-to-earth, chowing-down guy” who also is “very newsworthy” and “very outgoing”; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is “very congenial” in the green room; former Secretary of State Colin Powell is missed in the green room, where he “would engage everybody.” “He’s one of the best briefers on television and off-camera.” “He has a kind of irreverent side to him that comes out in the green room that you never see on television.”

Also mentioned: John Edwards, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who has “that megawatt smile he turns on everyone from security guards to interns and who goes on the air and is the same” in addition to having given “the straightest answers of anyone this year”; Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who hangs around after the show to “work the crew” and ask what they think about this and that. “If they were all as charming on the air as they are in the green room, citizens would be better off.”

2006:Category did not appear.

HIGHEST MAINTENANCE

Leading vote-getter: Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., “who arrives late because he thinks he’s cool.” Just before the show starts, he will summon someone to make up his hands because “When he holds up his hands, he doesn’t want them to be a different shade from his face.” “He does require handling.”

Also mentioned: Neoconservative foreign policy adviser Richard Perle; Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., “the winner and still champ.”

2006: Sen. Hillary Clinton

EASIEST TO DEAL WITH

Leading vote-getter: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is “a sweetie pie” and
his staff is “very accommodating.” He arrives early and leaves late because he “wants to talk about things.”

Also mentioned (along with their staffs): Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.; Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is “a gentleman with a personable staff”; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolton. “They all show up sometimes without even an aide.”

2006: Category did not appear.

MOST OVEREXPOSED

Leading vote-getter: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. He’s everywhere.

Also mentioned: Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “but he wears many hats”; former Sen. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., especially for a “non-candidate”; Sen. Chuck Hagel; R-Neb.; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., “says he’s not going to talk much and then he does.” “The new has worn off. It’s very hard for maverick candidates to make it through two election cycles.”

2006: Sens. Chuck Schumer, John McCain and Joe Biden

MAKES the LONG ROAD TO 2008 ELECTION FEEL EVEN LONGER

Leading vote-getters: The “third-tier” wannabes including Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel for the Democrats and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo and Texas Rep. Ron Paul for the Republicans. They represent the wannabes who “really don’t have a chance but suck up oxygen.” “They’re not even comic relief.” “Oh, gawd. Enough.” “They have to waste all of our time just getting in the way of serious candidates.”

Also mentioned: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. , who “never goes on the shows, but her staff nitpicks everybody else who does and who mentions her.”

2006: Category did not appear.

MAKES DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED HILL SOUND MOST LIKE REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED HILL

Leading vote-getter: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., not in a good way (“He’s a wholly owned subsidiary of the left wing of the Democratic Party”); and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a good way (“She’s been cracking the whips”) as well as not in a good way (“She wants to be all bipartisan when the Republicans are in charge, but now that her party is in charge, there’s no small ‘d’ in Democratic. Plus, she’s never in town.”

Also mentioned: Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., in a good way (“He really is very smart about this”); and Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., not in a good way, “certainly on the war.”

2006: Category did not appear.

MOST EFFECTIVE SPOKESPERSON FOR MAJORITY ON THE HILL

Leading vote-getter: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; but the “frustrating” shortage of opportunities to question her and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who “doesn’t put out enough,” leads some observers to suggest the Democrats “don’t have one.” “They’ve been given every opportunity and can’t get it together. Nancy is the biggest offender. She wasted a lot of political capital among thinking women when she went after Jane Harmon,” a fellow Democrat from California.

Also mentioned: Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.; Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who is “getting more and more disciplined”; Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., an “interesting dude” who “comes well prepared” and has “credibility” and “the ability to use words like a scalpel”; Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., “deserves a category all his own. He proves there are second, even third acts.”

2006: Category did not appear.

MOST EFFECTIVE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE MINORITY ON THE HILL

Leading vote-getter: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is “very polished and very passionate.”

Also mentioned: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky is “masterful”; House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; Newt Gingrich; Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind.

2006: Category did not appear.

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