WASHINGTON — The cabdriver had something he had to tell Katie Couric.
"He said, 'By the way, thank you so much for that interview with Sarah Palin,' " the CBS anchor said Monday, recalling the conversation she had in a New York taxi the day before. "It is amazing that it continues."
It's been four months since Couric interviewed the Alaska governor, soliciting stumbling responses from the vice presidential nominee that became some of the most defining and parodied moments of the 2008 presidential race. But even now, the anchor is still feeling the after-effects.
Palin herself keeps talking about their exchanges, complaining to a conservative documentary filmmaker earlier this month that her conversations with Couric were spliced together unfairly and suggesting that the anchor had exploited her for ratings.
"I felt bad about that, because I have been very circumspect about the whole thing," Couric said Monday. "So I don't really understand what she meant."
But there's no question that Couric emerged from the campaign with more buzz than either of her more-watched rivals, in large part because of the Palin interviews and the "Presidential Questions" series, in which she pressed the candidates on topics as varied as Roe vs. Wade and infidelity.
When she anchors CBS' presidential inaugural coverage today, Couric will be marking what has been something of a turnaround season for "CBS Evening News," which has finally been getting attention for its reporting and not just its third-place ranking.
Even the ratings have seen a little lift. Since September, the newscast has averaged 6.5 million viewers, on par with its average last season for those same months. But during the last five weeks, the program has attracted an average of 7.22 million viewers, a 7% hike over the same period last year.
The broadcast still lags far behind top-rated "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams," which has averaged 9 million viewers this season, up 2%, and ABC's "World News With Charles Gibson," which has pulled in 8.5 million, down 2%. But for the first time in two years, CBS executives can point to some signs of positive traction.
"We're on a roll," said Rick Kaplan, the newscast's bullish executive producer. "I don't think there's any limit to how far Katie can go in the evening news venue."
Added CBS News President Sean McManus, "There's a real feeling of optimism and a real feeling that we're certainly on the road of getting to where we want to get to."
