Unequal coverage doesn't serve Obama or McCain
The Illinois senator's historic candidacy, battle with Hillary Clinton and public appeal help explain -- but don't excuse -- the gap in network airtime between him and GOP rival John McCain.
John McCain rushed Friday from touting electric cars in Warren, Mich., to New York for an evening taping of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien."
While the Republican chased the late-night buzz, his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, had buzz chasing him -- three network anchors readying their crews to head to the Mideast and Europe for prime-time interviews.
It got me thinking about what the conversation might be like when McCain checks in with blunt, bald-headed Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist charged with keeping his presidential candidate from being upstaged. I'm guessing it might go something like this:
McCain: "Cripes. Are you seeing this stuff, Sgt. Schmidt? That young plebe Obama takes one plane ride over the Big Pond and Brian, Katie and Charlie traipse right after him like a bunch of little kittens!"
Schmidt: "Yeah, chief. Pathetic. Unpatriotic, really -- all this fawning. But we have the new ad going up today. Lots of history on Obama's lack of history in the war zone. Killer stuff."
McCain: "Yeah, yeah. But he is getting this network stuff for free! He's doubled my time on the networks. Rev. Jackson threatens his private parts and that's news!"
Schmidt: "Senator, not all that airtime is good for him. Remember Rev. Wright, Bittergate?"
McCain: "I go to Mexico and Colombia, talk to my good friends down there, and who do I draw? Correspondents. Nobodies. CBS doesn't even air a story. I'm buried on page 17 of every newspaper in America, right next to the haberdashery ads."
Schmidt: "Haberdashery? Uh, never mind. I got one booker telling me they'll deliver their anchor if we do Hanoi. But it's got to be before August. That's when everybody's headed for the Vineyard. And you've got to get personal, recapture your darkest hour, all that."
McCain: "Sheesh, this is my darkest hour. Flailing around, while this upstart corners all the big guns, the force multipliers. Now I know how Johnnie Ray felt when Elvis came along."
Schmidt: "Johnnie who?"
McCain: "Never mind. I'll do Hanoi. I'll go back to my cell. But no dim lights. No hocus pocus. And tell Couric, or whoever, I'm not gonna cry."
While McCain strained for his moment in the sun, Obama threatened to blot it out entirely with his big road trip. That conjured up quite a different image of the conversation back at Obama headquarters in Chicago.
