- 3 months ago
An inside look at the candidates in the presidential campaign and the reporters who cover them.
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00:00Major funding for Frontline is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
00:06Additional funding is provided by this station and other public television stations nationwide.
00:11The men who would be president and the reporters who cover them.
00:16Those who do not have the name recognition have had a little difficulty attracting the powerful media and its attention.
00:24For more than a year, they've been locked in a campaign for the attention of readers and viewers.
00:31But as voters finally begin to participate, much of it may already be over.
00:36The day after the New Hampshire primary, I fully expect at least three candidates to withdraw.
00:42Tonight on Frontline, the campaign for Page One.
00:46From the network of public television stations, a presentation of KCTS Seattle, WNET New York, WPBT Miami, WTVS Detroit, and WGBH Boston.
01:07This is Frontline.
01:08I'm Judy Woodruff in New Hampshire, where the headlines are saying Walter Mondale will win big tomorrow.
01:22Gary Hart could come in second again, and John Glenn may be in trouble.
01:26What's behind those stories, and who writes them?
01:29Tonight, a story about a love-hate relationship, the press and the politicians.
01:34They travel together, manipulate, entertain, and infuriate each other.
01:40Why does it matter?
01:41Because their relationship defines what the rest of us know, especially now, the day before this first primary of the 1984 elections.
01:51Tonight, you'll watch some of these reporters' work and see how their reporting affects your choices.
01:57Our producer is Sherry Jones, and Frontline's chief correspondent, Richard Reeves, reports.
02:02There are more important things in life than politics, like paying the bills and jogging,
02:08so you may not have noticed that the 1984 presidential campaign actually began in 1982.
02:15Such things are left to a small band of political reporters.
02:18I used to be one of them, and I rejoined that trail this past year.
02:22We'll be traveling along tonight with six of the best, two syndicated columnists,
02:28the men from the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, and NBC News.
02:34And we began that journey last fall here in New Hampshire.
02:40One minute.
02:41One minute to the soil of the nation.
02:44One minute.
02:44One minute.
02:44The men who would be president, waiting to make yet another speech in an endless campaign.
02:54They've been on the road for more than a year now, on a journey that's supposed to tell us who they are,
03:00what they believe, what kind of president any one of them would be.
03:04But few of us pay attention.
03:06If we know anything, it's from a small group of political reporters.
03:10They're paid to watch.
03:11How the hell can they do it?
03:14It is unbelievable.
03:16But they've been doing it since, you know, March and April and way back.
03:21They have to really either believe in what they're saying or believe in themselves.
03:27Sometimes it even comes together.
03:30It's the same thing.
03:31I did it.
03:32Not always.
03:33Sometimes.
03:35There may be different actors that we're covering,
03:40but they keep looking and
03:42generally they're the same old hacks like us who are out covering the thing.
03:48I mean, we've been around forever.
03:49I mean, running might be fun.
03:51Serving would be terrible.
03:52Some people obviously like it, but
03:54I don't see why.
03:56I've always just been interested in it.
03:58Looking at it as theater, kind of.
04:00From an aesthetic more than an ethical point of view.
04:02You know, it's not really news that Alan Cranston gets up in the morning and runs down hotel corridors.
04:08That seems absurd to me.
04:10On the other hand, I go down and watch him do it and make a TV spot and show him people that he actually does it.
04:15One of the great advantages I have over Bodie is I don't have to cover things like that.
04:19I just watch him on television and say he did it.
04:22Isn't that absurd?
04:23I just envision this every time I hear about Cranston running in the morning in the hotel corner,
04:27somebody's going to walk out to get their newspaper and just get knocked for a loop by this guy,
04:31go by at about 30 miles an hour.
04:32A 69-year-old ball-headed man with an orange fringe.
04:38It's all absurd.
04:40It's all absurd.
04:46What town are we in?
04:48We're headed to Waldo.
04:50Waldo?
04:51Waldo.
04:51All right.
04:53These are the boys on the bus.
04:55I think we had a date line on the story Waldo.
04:57Or today, a train in Florida.
04:59They cover presidential politics from the start.
05:02They inform and they entertain the nation and themselves.
05:05It's a 5-year-old Chinese tamale vendor working to keep busy, hurt on job.
05:12Look at the danger.
05:13What is this?
05:14It's like a mummy.
05:16105 years old.
05:19He still feels bad.
05:20He had a wreck on his motorcycle.
05:26He had a wreck on his motorcycle.
05:27Oh, here we are.
05:28We have to go to work here.
05:29Let's go.
05:31I'll even take notes.
05:32Where are we going to do that?
05:34We just can go out that way.
05:35That's where we're going to be.
05:36They're an elite crew sent out by the Washington bureaus of the best newspapers in the country
05:41to chronicle the transfer of American power.
05:45We got him.
05:47Where's the governor?
05:48Don't worry about it.
05:50We got him.
05:51These guys decide and then they tell the rest of us what matters in a presidential campaign,
05:57who to watch, what's important.
05:58How fast was Glenn's space capsule?
06:1617,000 miles an hour.
06:21How many miles per second is that?
06:24I went to Ole Miss.
06:25I wouldn't know that.
06:26Well, here, we're working out.
06:34Wait a minute.
06:35I've got a calculator.
06:36I do have a calculator.
06:38No, you can't.
06:39Wait a minute.
06:4017,000?
06:41You're from the Globe.
06:42Yeah.
06:42I'm Steve Bosquet.
06:43I work for Channel 10 in Miami.
06:45I'm a TV reporter.
06:45How are you doing this?
06:46I'm interested as to why your paper is interested in the train ride and all that stuff.
06:49Oh, I like trains.
06:53I'm a sucker for trains.
06:55I ride on trains.
06:56It was 4.7.
07:00I had it.
07:00I had five.
07:01Good.
07:03Where are you?
07:03I'm doing the wrong thing.
07:05It's not that I don't calculate fast enough.
07:07It's that I did the wrong.
07:09Either that or you did it.
07:10What are you doing?
07:10Gosh, you've got a great job, I think.
07:13Who, Curtis?
07:14Yeah, you too.
07:16Curtis has had actually a pretty uneven run.
07:19I've heard the boys on the bus a couple of times.
07:23Sorry to hear that, too.
07:26Yeah, by 60.
07:28No, that'll get you two minutes.
07:30Oh, nice.
07:31I guess we're pretty clear now why you guys aren't science reporters, are we?
07:37We want class!
07:39We want class!
07:40We want class!
07:42We want class!
07:43Only the background changes.
07:45The faces don't.
07:47It's a Washington-based tribe that migrates from city to city.
07:51A small community of correspondents, candidates, and their coat holders.
07:55This night, they camp in New York.
07:57Well, look, everybody is anybody who's here.
08:00No, we're wrong!
08:01For Gary Hart, what can I say?
08:03Okay.
08:03I guess he's an asshole.
08:04Thank you, sir.
08:05Lots of love.
08:06All right, Prince, baby!
08:07We want class!
08:10We want class!
08:11In every town, the campaign moves within its own small circle.
08:17Outsiders mostly watch.
08:19This is an insider's game.
08:21Please come in.
08:22Take your seats.
08:23We'd like to have started.
08:26This is not a convention.
08:27This is a forum.
08:28It's the oldest established permanent floating crap game in America, with a set of rules
08:34all its own.
08:38October 1983.
08:40These seven men have already paraded before too many meetings to count.
08:45Cattle shows, they're called in the trade.
08:47And for months, the stories have said the race is only between the frontrunner Mondale and
08:52the astronaut Glenn.
08:54That's it.
08:55The other five may as well be talking to themselves.
08:58As has been said, if they were put there to fight, they were far too few.
09:03This is how the United States chooses its leaders.
09:06It goes on for two years or more.
09:09The same candidates saying the same things to audiences who are hearing them for the first
09:14time, and to the same reporters who are not.
09:17Half a year before any votes are cast, the political press is already bored.
09:22So outsiders, the rest of us, read just that.
09:26These are seven boring men with nothing much to say.
09:29The Washington Post editorializes.
09:32It's sort of like trying to remember the names of the seven dwarfs.
09:35You always leave out two, usually bashful and sneezy.
09:39Seventies.
09:40I don't limit my experience to just inside the beltway of Washington.
09:44It comes from all over this country and doing a number of different things that I think
09:47are important, not only to deal with the problems of this country, but also the opportunities
09:52that this nation has for the future.
09:56What was your assessment of tonight's debate?
09:58Oh, I'll leave that up for you experts in that area.
10:00Well, I thought it was very interesting.
10:02I was glad to present your name.
10:04I thought it was a colossal waste of time.
10:05What we had was we had a sort of a two-hour summation of their standard positions on all
10:11the issues.
10:12But it didn't, we didn't really learn anything.
10:17The press has heard it all.
10:18They're here to find out who's going to win and to listen for something new.
10:22Well, I think you look for small changes.
10:25The changes are more interesting than the standard line.
10:28And you also look for sort of early warning signs of testiness among the candidates.
10:33But it isn't.
10:34I mean, do you have to come to New York and spend two and a half hours in a hot room to
10:37do that?
10:38I don't know.
10:39It's creating politics as if it were a horse race or a football match.
10:43This is the leadership and the future of this nation.
10:46It's not a question of who gains some slight tactical advantage over somebody else.
10:50I think it's a first step, the first step in a long process of forcing the candidates
10:54to specifically state their views on some very critical issues.
10:57The reason I ask is because it always has been treated in that fashion.
11:00Well, let's do that.
11:01I think those polls have shown me coming up.
11:04They've shown Mondale, myself, virtually even now within the margin of polling error on
11:08several polls.
11:10And, you know, I think I'm doing well.
11:12But what are you doing differently from that, focusing on the issues?
11:24Augusta, Maine.
11:25They say the last time so many troops came here was with Benedict Arnold 200 years ago.
11:30Now it's for a straw poll, a meaningless vote devised by state parties to attract the candidates
11:36in the national media and bring in some cash, too.
11:40But reporters package the campaign as drama.
11:44So even if straw polls don't mean much politically, they have dramatic possibilities.
11:49The hero may stumble or fall.
11:52They concentrate on the frontrunner.
11:54He knows the rules of the game, too.
11:56A stumble is a page one story more certainly than any success.
12:01I'm experienced and I'm qualified.
12:05But more than that, as you all know, I'm a real Democrat.
12:11I am.
12:12I am.
12:14What I wrote for yesterday's paper was that for only the second time in 208 years, an event
12:19of some national significance was taking place here.
12:21And Walter Mondale seemed almost as anxious about this one as Benedict Arnold was about
12:26the last one.
12:26He had a win here.
12:27He knew he had a win here.
12:29Arnold did not succeed, by the way.
12:31He went to Quebec to try to take it from the British at the head of an 1100-man army and
12:34ended up getting wounded in the knees.
12:36But unlike a politician, he didn't shoot himself there.
12:39Gary Hart decides to skip the straw poll, so the press decides to skip Hart.
12:52It can be lonely at the bottom.
12:56Hi, how are you?
12:57Hi, Gary Hart, coming for president.
12:59Good to see you.
13:00Just wanted to stop and say hello and leave one of these with you.
13:04I'd like you to keep me in mind as time goes on.
13:07All right.
13:07Good to see you.
13:12You brought me in a run?
13:15Sure.
13:15I'll do it.
13:16Yeah, okay.
13:16Okay, take him right through the kitchen.
13:18Dark horses, by definition, have little name recognition or poll numbers or money, which
13:24means no press attention, which means they can't get those other things.
13:29Hart's in New Hampshire.
13:30The reporters are in Maine, where the stars of the drama can campaign wholesale.
13:35Bit players campaign retail.
13:36Gary Hart, one vote at a time.
13:38I will trade you a Gary Hart t-shirt for a Maplewood School t-shirt.
13:42Well, I've already got one of your things, so you've got to take one of ours.
13:45I'll be back.
13:47That's a president for you.
13:48I'll be back.
13:49Oh, good.
13:58Hey, Dad.
13:59Just who I wanted to see, yeah.
14:01Hi there.
14:02Everybody wants to get in there.
14:07Who wants to get in there?
14:09Glen's 16.
14:11Part one.
14:13Palms 33.
14:15Mondale, 145.
14:18The politics of a presidential nomination are the politics of expectation.
14:24Candidates don't just run against each other.
14:26They run against expectations, usually set by the press.
14:32If they expect you to win big and you don't win by enough,
14:36a win may be called a loss.
14:38If nothing's expected, anything might be a win.
14:42The hope for the unexpected is a hope that a boring story
14:45can be turned into a better one.
14:50From the very beginning, there hasn't been any reason
14:52to think this thing was going to change anything.
14:54The one way it could change something would be
14:56if Mondale did poorly, that would have hurt.
15:02Everybody knows that Mondale is stronger
15:04with party people than Glenn is.
15:07So if he wins a strong uphole that demonstrates that,
15:11it seems to me it doesn't demonstrate anything.
15:12On the other hand, you know, it beats losing.
15:14Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
15:17Feels good, doesn't it? Thank you, everybody.
15:20Thank you, everybody.
15:24Three weeks later, Florida, on the road to yet another straw poll.
15:29This week, there's a little more conflict in the drama
15:32of the frontrunner and the astronaut.
15:34Mondale's called Glenn an anti-Democrat, but that's backfired.
15:38The plot is pushed along with word that Mondale has decided to apologize.
15:42He's called Beckel and ordered him to tighten up procedures,
15:44and he sent a telegram of apology to Glenn.
15:46Well, what does all that mean?
15:50I don't know.
15:53They're going to be nice to each other for a few days.
15:58And that's no fun at all.
16:00What do you think of Dutch Reagan, how old?
16:05Oh, off the record, I'm pretty pleased with what he's done
16:08about the environment.
16:08Yeah.
16:09Driver, what is it that Reagan has done
16:15that has got you disturbed here?
16:17I mean, the man's really up there, you know,
16:19doing everything he can.
16:20I'm not Republican, I'm Democratic.
16:22Oh, I bet you voted for him, though, right?
16:25Oh, Reagan.
16:26Oh, really?
16:27The significance of this is that if Mondale should come
16:31within seven and a half points of ASCUE,
16:34it will show conclusively that
16:36you've never been on a press bus before, huh?
16:44Lucky, lucky you.
16:46Lucky you.
16:58There's something about a band playing every time
17:00you get off a bus.
17:01You begin to think it's all for you.
17:06It's not.
17:14They're making a television commercial here.
17:16Reuben ASCUE is creating his own version of the story
17:19to take directly to the voters.
17:21How about an E?
17:23E!
17:24And a W?
17:25Who's the next president?
17:27Who's the next president?
17:29Who's the next president?
17:31Who's the next president?
17:32Everyone!
17:34Who's the next president?
17:36Who's the next president?
17:40Who's the next president?
17:43Wow!
17:44Well, guys, I'll see you tonight!
17:48Ladies and gentlemen, welcome all the up.
17:50I've been in a nice case.
17:51Even a hotbie, you're on me today.
17:53That's me protesting.
17:54This better be good.
17:55better be good. The story needs some action, and a press conference provides the chance
18:05to provoke it. Mr. Vice President, what impact do you think the film the right stuff will
18:09have on the campaign of John Glenn, and have you seen the film? Haven't seen it, but I'll
18:13tell you, I'm glad of one thing, Chuck Yeager is not seeking the presence. You make a joke
18:20about this. Yes, I do. I wonder if you can elaborate. What impact do you think it will
18:23have, sir? That is the limit of my comment on that tonight. Mr. Vice President, are you
18:27concerned that you had to apologize to Senator Glenn for the letter here? No, I think I should
18:33have done that. The language used does not reflect my view, and I thought the Senator deserved
18:39that correction. I regret it. You don't think he's an anti-Democrat Democrat? No, and I said
18:43so. I define an anti-Democrat as a Republican. You don't get to do this job for a major newspaper
18:52or a network unless you are fairly confident of your own judgments. My God, that woman's just
18:56taking all her clothes off. Just kidding, folks.
19:02But it's, I tell you, whenever you come on new, it's like doing anything for the first time. It's
19:09as though it's getting on to a merry-go-round that's been going, and you kind of, it takes a
19:14while to orient yourself, you know, especially since this is rather a peculiar merry-go-round.
19:20And it's almost like home when, you know, this is, this is where I live.
19:23God, don't tell me the diplomat hotel is a home.
19:26No, I hope not that this is a home.
19:28We've been around forever. You wander in a bar last night, and there's Jermon and Don
19:33Campbell, and it didn't take long to catch you on. Certainly, like we're a living testament
19:40that there's not a great deal of wisdom.
19:42No, you don't have to be brilliant. The intellectual content and level is minimal.
19:47Just have to have a good, strong liver. Most of the events are fairly bogus, but they are
19:53events that are taking place, and the politicians are showing up.
19:57The Mondale Glen battle is heating up, and they're both here, and they're both going to speak.
20:03And we'll see what they say, and that makes this interesting. The straw poll itself is
20:08not very important.
20:09Basically, the barometers are national poll ratings and money in the bank. Clearly, it's
20:16Mondale and Glen. That's your two-man race. You know, the other guys are going to bitch about
20:22it, but until they show me something, with our limited manpower, if you've got to determine
20:32priorities, you've got to look at Mondale and Glen. That's where the point of phrase action
20:39is, it's not what Fritz Hollings forgot fits.
20:42Celebration time, come on, let's celebrate time.
20:49Is this party going on right here? Let's celebrate time.
20:55Let's talk now about this question of who are the real Democrats. Because I believe that
21:03real Democrats, real Democrats...
21:05Glen actually peaked in the polls months ago, but he's still a star in this drama because
21:11the press needs a challenger. He knows the rules of the game, and he tries to give them
21:15what they want.
21:16We conduct our democratic version of a political inquisition during this campaign. Then, on
21:22election day of 1984, we'll be staring at four more years of Ronald Reagan.
21:28Right.
21:29I think Mondale has to answer.
21:33That's true.
21:34Who's in here? Who's in here listening to that? Who listens to that?
21:37I don't know. Somebody.
21:38What does he say? What does he say? Does he take him on? Does he make peace?
21:43Well, no, soon. Voters of Florida make good sense when they speak. And what you're saying
21:50is this. In 1984, the time has come to put a People's Democrat in the White House as President
22:00of the United States.
22:02People's Democrat, anti-Democrat, real Democrat. This stuff means nothing to anyone without a
22:07deadline to meet, a column to write, an editor who expects action.
22:11will win this election and move this country forward again. Thank you very, very much.
22:16Thank you. Thank you.
22:18Mondale did not hit back hard at all. That's really kind of surprising. He led the end, because
22:23he gave Glenn the lead tomorrow. He gave Glenn tomorrow's lead. He ended it off tomorrow.
22:28I think.
22:32...try to re-undersell our Democratic Party.
22:35We've got to get that. Yeah.
22:37And so I say enough of litmus tests. Enough of those who would make this a party of exclusivity.
22:45Enough to those who would make this a party of elitism.
22:49Well, that's fascinating.
22:51It is to see, it is to see in the next couple of hours whether Mondale does anything to rebut
23:00it before he leaves or not.
23:02It's up to Glenn to carry the fight. Glenn is coming from behind. Glenn has lots of strengths,
23:07and Mondale has lots of weaknesses. But still, just on balance, Glenn is the one who has to
23:10be aggressive, and he was today. And now we'll see what they'll fight about next week.
23:15Enough of litmus tests. Enough of those who would make this a party of exclusivity.
23:29The campaign trail is like the Oregon Trail. You have to stop where there's water, preferably
23:34with scotch, like the bar at the Sheridan Wayfarer in Manchester, New Hampshire. This is the political
23:39capital of the country for press and candidates a few months every fourth year.
23:44This is it. This is New Hampshire primary. The other good thing about it is, you know,
23:49not yet, but in February, sometime in February, we'll take over the whole state.
23:54And if you win here, you're on the cover of time, because they are just, they follow the obvious.
24:06There's going to be an upset. It will be here. But, um, but the candidates are very much aware
24:13of how important this is. And the leading candidate has done a hell of an organizational job here.
24:19And if he, if he loses here, he doesn't deserve to be president of the United States.
24:24You know, even, for Tobago or Grenada, or even Grenada.
24:31Anyone who didn't bet that Fritz Mondale is going to be the Democratic nominee would be a damn fool.
24:37What odds would you give?
24:39Well, on the other hand, anybody who thinks it is a sure thing is, is just as much of a damn fool.
24:43Well, what odds would you give right now?
24:44give right now well short odds at the track is a two to one bet i think he's probably a two or
24:50three to one bet that's short odds see i told you he's a bookmaker that's what his job is
24:57that's the that's the other thing i'd like to be as a horse player
25:01for a living wouldn't that be great only in a week when marines are killed in beirut and
25:07grenada invaded does the outside world intrude has there been an invasion in the last couple
25:11of hours yeah we've invaded oh i don't mean the national press corps i mean the united states
25:16and i had a local radio guy i mean just literally jumped me the minute i got out of the van saying
25:28uh senator what's your response to the briefing this afternoon depending on where the admiral in
25:33charge of our forces said that they have just discovered 6 000 additional cuban troops in the
25:37hills of grenada and this proves the reagan thesis i said well i've been on airplanes and cars i'm
25:44going to check and find out i said 6 000 cubans the interesting thing is that is that all these things
25:50he finds out after he goes in humans arms and did we shoot a russian is that the latest
26:00it turns out the guy had it just exactly opposite there were 6 000 americans somebody said tonight
26:04that reagan had an ex post facto justification for going into grenada except he didn't know what
26:10the expression meant so he couldn't use it i think you said that what i think this is all about
26:17is anger and frustration at the killing of the marines in beirut i mean i think that's what it really
26:22is weinberger says we're going to retaliate and clearly that's nonsensical because you can't even
26:29find he can't even identify who you think that we're not going to retaliate because we can't
26:33find out who somebody you don't think we're going to retaliate at all what do you think i think we
26:38may do well we just didn't we just did one thing what do you think the president yesterday said last
26:42night said that we will he'll find somebody and retaliate against it now weinberger weinberger
26:48we are not in a position of giving the mink we're in the position of reporting what's going on and
27:12now if a guy is is a bomb all part of our job is to ignore them that's part of our job at the
27:22beginning i think we have to at the beginning we have to um we have to consider them all uh you know
27:32fair game this isn't like the mondale glenn squabble of last week and and to you know the few weeks ago
27:40where they were the story and heart was irrelevant this is we're not talking about an issue where
27:45what he has to say is is as valid as what is what any of the other candidates if i if i have decided
27:51that a candidate um doesn't deserve any more attention than i give him it's not because because
27:59of the polls because i've been i've been out there i've been out in the states and i've heard what people
28:05say i heard what he's doing and i've made a judgment that that this guy is just not cutting it
28:18the press judgment on heart is that he can't cut it what he says about beirut or nicaragua is not
28:23going to get him or them on page one if we believe the nicaraguan government ought to be overthrown
28:30the president of the united states ought to say that to the american people and we ought to overthrow it
28:34openly if he cannot sustain that position before the american people or world opinion then we
28:41shouldn't be trying to do it that's my simple point a point that on this day no national reporter is
28:46there to hear
28:51but john glenn reporters do come to see him he's still a central figure in their drama
28:57they want to know what he thinks on certain issues but they're not issues of war and peace
29:02where do you come down on the question of the moving the dates forward in iowa maine and new
29:08hampshire well i heard some proposals on that today and i haven't been through it and understand there's
29:13a letter or something that is being covering politics is fun it's covering government that's
29:18work in campaigns most of the questions are about dates and polls and strategies about predictions about
29:25expectations how important is winning new hampshire to you you have to all the national press right
29:32behind you there you ought to ask them that i think
29:40we're going to attack every country where there might be hostages taken we're going to have a lot
29:44of marines and rangers in a lot of countries the dark horses like cranston are quick in their response
29:51to grenade in lebanon but as long as glenn and mondale are the featured rivals they conduct those
29:57questions and they still dominate the headlines issues do count in politics but in the long run
30:03campaigns are the endless short run a series of one night stands forces should be replaced with more
30:09neutral u.n peacekeeping forces we have become the object of combat and not the peacekeepers and you
30:15cannot maintain an american military presence from behind bunkers that does not achieve the objective of
30:20peace in the region i can't wait to see what the media reports on the channel 11 you know 11 o'clock
30:29news tonight it's going to be good it's a good day for you well when the reporters get the message
30:33that this race is wide open that someone like myself has a very good chance their whole
30:41campaign is going to change i think today i really think today maybe there was enough national
30:47oh yeah oh let me tell you something they were in new york and they were in boston it takes them
30:52light years to figure out what's going on drives me crazy the idea today like you said it's a wide
30:58open race well i hope so i think today really the question i have is how interested viewers are readers are
31:10in these sort of detailed examinations of issues and how do you differentiate how eight different
31:18candidates stand and the fact is that if you start measuring them you really got to have a
31:24a seismograph to figure out in many cases what the difference is between these people and some of them
31:29what we think are important issues i mean nobody's going to walk through a wall over the domestic content bill
31:34you know it's just no big deal and the there are no issues all the issues that have sorted democrats
31:41out in an emotional way uh in an important way have been settled like civil rights and vietnam and
31:48things of that kind we don't have that kind of issue vietnam was a voting issue an organizing mobilizing
31:53issue in this primary in wisconsin and other places in 72 lebanon is not that right now mondale has
31:59going for him the fact that there isn't any cutting issue that cuts against his candidacy he's a bond
32:05mondale can be silent on lebanon because politicians and press are in the game together well mondale's
32:10an extraordinarily cautious candidate largely i think because of where he is in the pack i think it
32:15leads you to weigh and evaluate every statement you're going to make because whatever reaction there
32:20is to that statement is going to be treated very seriously by the press and you're going to see
32:24ramifications ripples in the water from everything you do when you're ahead you have more at stake
32:29and you have to be more cautious with your stake you've got more to gamble that's all if you are
32:35behind 47 nothing in the fourth quarter you throw the long bomb you know that's what they're all doing
32:41that's why it's easy for them all to be tough on lebanon you know it's fourth quarter and they're behind 47
32:46and nothing late november the fourth quarter of the campaign of 1983. the dramatic possibilities of
32:56the astronaut and the front runner are fading there's need for a new twist for conflict the stuff of page
33:02page one in the evening news
33:10i am
33:25mobile alabama before jesse jackson entered the game mondale thought he had all the states endorsements
33:30locked up goodness gracious great balls of fire jackson has knocked even the front runner off page
33:38one with moves like a challenge for the support of alabama's black leaders and now mondale has come
33:44to fight i didn't know we had to adhere to the globe's standards of dress for this event here we go here
33:48here we go looks like this is it i went and i saw the um the five minute uh commercial it's fine
33:55it's nice it's light it's sweet it's better it's good it's not exciting it's like
34:02it's okay the first word he says is i'm sort of a farm kid
34:10come on now how are you going to do tomorrow i don't know i hope to do well i'm asking for their
34:16endorsement would a dual endorsement constitute doing well i i'm not i'm asking for an endorsement
34:23in my own right i'm not uh giving advice uh to the conference as to how they should proceed would
34:28you care to comment on the reagan administration's approach to hungry people yes i want to uh today
34:34at the news conference tomorrow i'm going to a soup kitchen here in mobile i think that will
34:43symbolize the insensitivity of this administration toward human need in our country thank you sir
34:50thank you very much
34:55so uh we've got a good story and we've got a good uh you know we've got good pictures everything kind
35:00of going together nicely it's a really classic story you know reporters hustle just as much as
35:05candidates for space on page one or for one or two minutes on the nightly news two two that's your two
35:16give me 215 then give me 215 if you have to cut it back block it at 215 you won't be sorry
35:23you're going down oh yeah i'm going to mondale p to tell you the truth i i i can't uh i can't wait to
35:28see the way the guys who are in line at a legitimate soup kitchen react when the tv crews and mondale arrive
35:33in the limousine and things like that i just wondered whether they had to go out this morning
35:37and round up some winos to get in the line i don't know thank you so much candidates claim that
35:43television makes them do things like this television says no it's the candidates doing what wine are they
35:50serving for lunch what wine are they serving for yourself six tv cameras 66 print
35:57in fact they're partners in a process that can trivialize even the most serious issues
36:05it's use and be used it looks just like united airlines
36:10come on you can order anything actually that's better than nbc cafeteria
36:14it does you're right also better than anything we're going to get today standing here looking at
36:21these people okay that's what this guy that's what this guy said this this big guy he gets our
36:26producer aside and he says uh this is this is a shame he's a new people coming in here the press
36:31invading our people's privacy these poor people and so forth brotherford says to him hey it wasn't our
36:36idea i took it up with mondale yeah of course
36:43i want to say that he got a nice shot of uh you know close up on the plate with the forks of food
36:49it goes up right to monitor brings a shot of myrno actually food that's a nice
36:54reveal is it does he eat it yeah wow puts it in his mouth
37:02so he has such big cheeks it's on his cheeks he's got it all stored up in there
37:07it's good
37:15shelly did it
37:18it's awful what the hell take it back again take it back
37:26that's all i ever had
37:27it was a hard decision for me to make this choice to run it was a hard decision it's dangerous
37:43it's a tough journey it's lonesome it's risky you have to bear the marks in your body of a lot of
37:51criticism and misunderstanding but i made the choice i've made the choice and i said in my own way
37:59if you're looking for somebody who'll fight for civil rights here am i send me if you're looking
38:06for somebody that you know already here am i send me looking for somebody who will motivate your
38:13children here am i send me if you're looking for somebody who'll lift those votes the stock on the
38:19bottom here am i send me i've paid my dues i've earned your vote i am your choice thank you and god
38:26bless you stay stay stay
38:32okay okay
38:35i wish i could get in there and get them on jackson now
38:40good job good speech
38:42jackson's message was about as blunt as it could be that this is not just a presidential campaign it's a crusade
38:57hollings not a chance in the world to win this endorsement but as sharp of tongue as ever he called huh
39:03you're gonna try to do you know as soon as they make the announcement do a stand-up outside i don't
39:15know i don't know what you basically want me to do is write the body of the spot right we could finish
39:19the spot have that all done you know the body of the spot except for the stand-up they announced the
39:23thing uh let me say let's assume for a second that they don't that we don't make the announcement they
39:27don't get the announcement then what do we do the top of the spot we don't have a spot then i mean
39:34i mean you know they don't make the announcement what are we going to say anyhow television news is
39:40history in a hurry that means aversion for every possibility today the alabama democratic conference
39:46called it a tie it declared to its supporters that either reverend jesse jackson or former vice
39:51president mondale are acceptable choices for president okay today the alabama democratic
39:59conference dealt a serious blow to the presidential campaign of reverend jesse jackson by giving its
40:04unequivocal endorsement to former vice president walter mondale the alabama democratic conference has
40:10just given a major boost to the candidacy of reverend jesse jackson in a surprise the conference
40:15picked jackson over former vice president walter mondale okay that's uh it's about 20 seconds no
40:29really okay there's 10 seconds on that and just take it let's just use the last part to get the jail
40:38part i hate to do that god i'd like to use that i guess we're gonna get in trouble otherwise we'll
40:46drop the hollings thing if we have to but i guess we get in trouble otherwise let's not get in trouble
40:49at the top of the spot let's just go ahead and do it two minutes and 15 seconds to tell the story
40:53less than an hour left to put it together hello and with a half hour till he goes on the air there's
41:01one result bode hasn't anticipated holy shit wait just a hair
41:12go the alabama democratic conference found its way out of a very difficult choice today by endorsing a
41:17compromise a ticket former vice president walter mondale for president the reverend jesse jackson for
41:23vice president january 1984 new hampshire it's finally election year
41:31but the boston globe says the campaign really begins today if this is a beginning lots of
41:37conclusions have already been reached what we and these new reporters on the trail know about the
41:42candidates is what they got from the boys on the bus not a vote has been cast but impressions are set
41:48so are expectations the race has been narrowed and defined so if this debate moderated by ted koppel
41:56and phil donahue begins a new phase of the campaign then it's a good day to consider some
42:01questions about the process about the press and about the making of a president the system that
42:06we have is kind of a hodgepodge which grew and developed on its own and it doesn't entirely make
42:12sense and it's a little chaotic but that's also a pretty good description of this society while the
42:16candidates will complain about the role of the political press the fact is that they their strategist
42:24and their parties encourage a system where we are cast in the role of scorekeepers in the absence of
42:32an election there's nothing to keep score by so they casting about for some way to to measure their
42:38progress turn to the press and say you guys do it but as this part of the the campaign ends and and
42:47america is kind of presented with these people how much do people really know i mean david david sawyer
42:51says that they've got this significant number of people who think that john glenn is the governor
42:55of ohio that is placed on our shoulders it's our fault and i can't understand that because we've
43:01been we've been uh knocking ourselves out for over a year explaining what these people are saying what
43:05they stand for the fault ultimately lies with the the viewers and the readers who are too damn lazy to
43:11find out what these candidates uh stand yeah no i don't it's a tendency uh in this campaign
43:17among the second tier candidates to blame the press for not giving them the publicity that they think
43:24would create a natural national constituency for them they know that we're not uh universally loved
43:29and so they take a shot at us every once in a while because it's a good it's good politics isn't one of
43:34the reason that that print people like politics and like the early part of the process the fact that
43:40it's one of the things left in journalism that print dominates yeah i think that's there's something
43:45in that yeah that's true that's right especially early on we do dominate till now today our domination
43:51ceases so you know every place you go with television cameras and the booms are hanging over
43:56conversations that inhibits uh the relationship between reporters and one of the weaknesses or flaws
44:02in this whole in the whole system and in television role is this business of trying to make theater
44:07critics out of political reporters to some extent that that process has succeeded we're always
44:13writing about who won or who lost and who said the right thing or the wrong thing and performance
44:17levels which doesn't have an awful lot to do with being an effective president it seems to me
44:22i mean i don't know what does but i don't think that has much to do it's going to be such a major
44:25gangbang when all the when all all the media get involved in the thing when there are 30 40 camera
44:30crews the secret service the paid commercials then i think it's tough for the people who begin
44:34listening late to sort out the clutter the campaign is a lot less fun to cover in the late stages
44:40the story is better but it's and it's not just because of secret service and television although
44:44that's part of it it is also you're overrun by print reporters who don't know what the you know
44:50who don't know what the hell they're doing and because they haven't been doing it uh year round and
44:54you can't you can't stop and talk to anybody without six people without gathering a crowd and it really is
44:59a chore if you want to talk to somebody you've got to get them off in a hotel room or some damn thing
45:03you've got to arrange an interview or sneak off someplace and uh uh you you will get on page
45:09one more from now on in but it won't be quite as much fun in some ways the torch passes from margolis
45:13to bode then does the torch pass to donahue not if i have anything to do with it
45:22the campaign has been presented as drama for a year now the press has created conflict wherever it could
45:28that almost invites in people who are better at creating conflict the lines begin to blur between
45:35journalism and show business the precision that might be your goal in other programs has to be
45:41loosened up here a little bit so that if you get two candidates going at each other don't try to be
45:47wonderful and switch it take a two shot and enjoy it so you don't i'm like and i think that has to be
45:54i think that has to be the goal of the cameraman as well for half of tomorrow's debate here at
45:58dartmouth college the television personality phil donahue will field questions from a live audience
46:03to the eight democratic candidates just as if they were guests on the donahue show thereby completing
46:09the marriage of entertainment and politics let's go let's go the time is going so we are not going to
46:15stand this is going to just come right if we are if we have any luck at all the momentum
46:20the couple will give us big mo and we'll go with it you know if i think we're that we're sort of
46:26wooden here and that and if i'm disappointed in in the posturing there's a piece of me that would
46:31love to go to a break and kick their tires a little bit we have eight
46:37highly ambitious verbally skilled males as guests all of most of whom are in debt
46:44so so and i have and i'm we're going to actually try and marry an audience of 400
46:51with these people who are on high this is this is it for them it'll be interesting it is it will be
46:57instructive to see how these men deport themselves in this kind of arena where there are not time
47:03clocks and bells going up this i think that in itself will be instructive in terms of whether or not
47:07we think he should be in the oval office terrific um but pace pace will be my biggest problem it's my
47:15biggest problem uh this is gonna be fun the democratic presidential debate is being broadcast
47:24for 12 million people it's the first chance to see the candidates for themselves for the press it's a
47:29big day that might begin a new act in the drama especially if mondale makes a mistake a gaffe
47:35but after koppel's half of the show there's been no change the 350 reporters who will turn these
47:42three hours into two minutes of television or two columns of copy are still facing deadlines with
47:48nothing new you ladies and gentlemen who've been sitting in our audience have been sitting there for
47:52the most part thinking boy wait till i get at those guys i'll make an answer the question you're about
47:57to have your opportunity phil donahue thank you ted may i try for one just a couple of specifics
48:05senator hard if i understand your position you would cut off military hate el salvador as
48:10executive order immediately upon being inaugurated that's correct will anybody else join in that
48:15position senator mcgovern mr jackson senator cranston senator glenn demurs why i don't want to
48:24dump them right now i it's just let's try and get these 30 000 we have death squads which we've seen
48:30the bloated bodies it's horrible down there and and the archbishop himself has said our equipment
48:35our hardware is what's doing maybe you want to come up here and be a nice candidate
48:41all the candidates want to discontinue the covert operation
48:45in honduras true or false yep yes yes everybody yeah phil donahue you know you you guys you guys come
48:54in with two pitches in one ball game trying to intimidate now just slow down eight minutes just a minute
48:59just a minute mr mr askew yeah excuse my name mr donahue i appreciate you remember that
49:09reverend jackson in the 60 campaign people feared because kennedy was a catholic do you
49:21think it's a fear because you are a minister i do not
49:33senator cranston i noticed that you've dyed your hair
49:41i've worked this out very carefully i've worked this out carefully and i have pledged and i can
49:46achieve it to reduce the reagan deficits by more than half let me let me point out that's the same
49:51vague gobbledygook of nothing we've been hearing all through this campaign let's just get with it
49:56is this going to be a democratic party that promises everything to everybody and runs up 170 billion
50:01dollars a year let me finish hold it i'll tell you why it is it's because it's because it's because
50:06your administration gave us 21 interest rates 17 inflation rate and that's why we that's why we
50:14lost the white house and it's why we i don't send it i don't wait a minute you said it was free
50:19flooring wait a minute now mr donahue may i have your there's just been about a six minute speech
50:24all of it baloney our party has made some mistakes and quarreling between the two of you
50:34as to whose mistakes were the worst are not going to win the election or govern this country no gap no
50:42gap any epiphany uh today good heavens you're a good irish woman but would i would i criticize mr
50:51copple mr donahue the masters of the craft
50:57no they didn't ask anything uh that hasn't been asked before you got a winner or loser tonight
51:03i thought gary hart uh was uh was surprisingly good he uh he stuck to the points that he was
51:09trying to make he uh was critical of mondale without being uh i thought uh vicious or uh or
51:16grass thanks thank you what did you pick his career by putting that on are you well i can't say
51:30jesse jackson was the winner all the time no no i don't think it was jesse jesse didn't do anything
51:37i said it's finally the boring white guys have gotten you jesse he's just as boring as he is
51:42i didn't think mondale or glended themselves any good by jumping up and down mondale didn't lose
51:47that's all he had to do yeah i think you're right you don't think he lost his temper there when he
51:51stood up and said baloney i heard someone say that is anything that mondale does that shows that he's
51:56alive that's right it did away with the boring and dull furthermore heart did help him john
52:00green showed more if he didn't look angry but i think it was too late i mean heart stood out from the
52:05others so who wins who wins well what's your view what did you just tell i thought jackson did himself
52:12some good by appearing equal of the other right and even though he's even though you know he's full of
52:17shit but nonetheless what was it exactly that you think he's full of shit about you know i think his
52:24his foreign policy is cut the defense budget let let the russians run wild make up with all you're
52:30making it up as you go along more he doesn't say anything like that wait a minute i want you to go on
52:33but i thought jackson did himself a lot of good the answer is i think among the also rands uh heart
52:39did himself a lot of good by being by seeming to have an agenda and being very strong right what was
52:45that the agenda what was the agenda he just well he's seeming to have an agenda that's all he didn't
52:49he didn't say he's saying but he was forceful glenn's people were very worried going into this debate
52:57i mean they knew what he had to do whether he was going to be able to carry it off or not was another
53:00question you know the promises promises stuff you know glenn was i don't know who altered his
53:04amphetamine mix but boy he was really up there no but he i think it was all time don't you that it
53:08was at a certain point in the program well that's you go and you deliver you try to get yourself be
53:13the network news story no i mean no no don't you think so no then uh glenn interjected in the middle
53:18of it the only time he really came alive he said quote some of the quote same vague gobbly book of nothing
53:24okay all right i want to say i'm analyzing their performances so i'm going to say you know glenn had
53:32been uh passive until he suddenly uh blurted out yeah defensively it was a little it means you remember
53:39jimmy carter used to be there are more reporters now but the rules won't change they'll create new
53:44drama from daily events they'll tell us when a win is a win and when it's not who's ahead who's behind
53:51they're scorekeepers and bookmakers yes but they're more than that
53:58they often decide what we know about the men who would be president quickly say
54:04they make many of the rules mr monday will develop gradually now it's time for us to elect a president
54:11but what did we have to do with all of this what have they been telling us what do we really know
54:17only about a month remains to the first caucuses no more time for the candidates to mince words with
54:23one another and now it begins to get interesting ken bode nbc news hanover new hampshire
54:35you've seen glimpses tonight of a process that is complex chaotic and sometimes funny and even those
54:41of us inside the game are ambivalent about our role now that you've seen the way we do our jobs think
54:47about the results of last week's iowa caucuses heart charged into second place glenn faded to fifth both
54:54big stories and big surprises but how much of that surprise was due to the way the press covered the
55:00story what's for sure once president reagan's opponent is known the campaign for page one will start all
55:07over again and the strategies polls and expectations you see in the press will again be a large part of
55:14what you use in making your choices i'm judy woodruff
55:21in three weeks on frontline the scene los angeles 1977 a frightening series of murders by the hillside
55:29strangler one suspect an all-american boy the kid i knew couldn't have ever hurt anybody or killed anybody
55:37this one i killed this was the first one i killed the question is he insane i was quite convinced
55:46that he was a full-fledged multiple personality i believe that he is uh
55:53playing a role and playing a part a compelling analysis of the psychology of a killer
55:58the mind of a murderer three weeks from tonight on frontline
56:10uh
56:19uh
56:24uh
57:29Additional funding was provided by this station and other public television stations nationwide.
57:36For video cassette information about Frontline, write to PBS Video, Box 8092, Washington, D.C., 20024.
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