Waiting (And Waiting) For Hill
As the CBS News producer assigned to cover the big "Hillary for Senate" announcement, I scouted out the location, a college gym in Purchase, N.Y.
The key man in such campaign events is called the “advance man.” Today, it was Neil Lattimore, once Mrs. Clinton’s press aide. The first thing I wanted to know is why Hillary had to wait until 3:00PM until she actually said the magic words. This is something of a ritual between producers and handlers. When big events are scheduled late in the day, it’s often because the handlers don’t want the TV guys to have too much time to “interpret” the event or get reaction. They want their favorite sound bytes and pictures on the evening news in as unfiltered way as possible. And news organizations feel manipulated by such tactics.
Of course, Lattimore’s response was “no comment” and a sly smile.
My bosses also wanted, quite reasonably, a start time and a finish time for this big event. No problem here. Lattimore assured me that on Announcement Sunday “by 3:45pm, she’ll be down in the crowd shaking hands.”
Announcement Sunday. At 3:45pm. Hillary wasn’t “down in the crowd.” In fact, the event had barely begun. In fact, at 3:45PM, the gym was dark and guests were watching a made by Hollywood Hillary Docu-autobio-film.
The program was hopelessly behind schedule. Mrs. Clinton never apologized to the crowd for running late. Candidates almost always apologize profusely when they’re late. She just came on stage more than an hour late and acted like everything was fine. A sign? Who knows? A producer stomachache? Absolutely.
And there were signs of testiness amongst the invited guests. Most had given up church or other activities to be there. Waiting in line in five degree whipping wind chills, they weren’t even sure if they were going to get in. Many didn’t.
More tickets than space had been given out. The Fire Marshals cracked down. People were turned away, not to a comfy overflow room to watch the event on big-screen TV, but to their cars and homes. I heard lots of “this stinks.”
To fill the waiting time, somebody got the bright idea to play endless Billy Joel songs over the public address system. Oops. Seems not all of Billy Joel’s songs are family friendly. They played one called Captain Jack about booze, namely, Jack Daniels. The song’s theme is that no matter how awful adolescence gets, Captain Jack can make all your troubles go away. “Captain Jack will get you high tonight and take you to your special alleys.”
Somebody goofed. But when you run late, mistakes are made. And 24 hours after her announcement, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, her likely Republican opponent, made an issue out of it. "Hillary, he says, let a bad message slip out &150; drugs and whisky are okay."
Monday, about 24 hours later, she shows up in Buffalo, the first day of her new, official campaign. She’s an hour late to a rather dinky rally in a tiny private aviation lounge. Seventy-five local officials and friends have been invited.
Once again, no apology for being late. None. Not a word.
So, as a producer who has covered four presidential campaigns and a zillion Senate races, I start wondering about all this. Surely with the whole White House logistical retinue at her disposal, she has no practical reason to be consistently tardy. And most all the candidates I’ve covered grovel to waiting crowds. Not Hillary, not this time.
Mrs. Clinton has been campaigning for two decades. She’s no novice. But it has probably been a long while since she had to wait on anyone.