OK, the headline is a bit of an exaggeration but, a night of debating was full of unexpected surprises for Chief Copy Editor Chris Stover and I.
If you live under a rock and have no contact with the outside world, Philly was invaded by the media and political supporters for a debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at the National Constitution Center.
After chatting up the hordes of Obama and Clinton fans and scoring a kick-ass interview with Mayor Nutter, Chris and I were all ready to set up our camera in the spin room and steal debate footage from ABC.
The gods of politics obviously hate me because our camera refused to record audio and video at the same time. We begged and made friends with the other media outlets as we searched for an adapter so the camera could function.
Shout out to all of the camera guys who tried to help us and didn’t laugh at our lackluster equipment. TV people are nice.
Of course, no adapter was to be found, and the debate was beginning, so after scrambling to try to record audio and video on two separate cameras, we gave in to defeat. Don’t worry, to all of our fans, we are getting debate footage and will be bombarding you with videos asap.
As the debate was winding down, PR people and assistants scurried through the room yelling that candidate supporters would be coming in for interviews and that media outlets should gather in an organized fashion.
Organized fashion meant everyone bum rush the front of the room and push and yell until someone came in and then trample everyone in sight to interview that person.
After almost getting bashed in the head by numerous cameras assorted elected officials came in to sing the praises of their chosen candidate. Since Chris and I were attached to one another via one very annoying microphone cord, we nearly choked everyone who got in our way. We’re tough.
Since we don’t have the street cred to get the big names to talk to us one on one, we mooched off of other reporters and shoved our microphone in peoples faces when crowds formed around officials.
We interviewed Rep. Joe Sestak, and jumped in on the interviews of Rep. Patrick Murphy, Rep. Chaka Fattah, Mayor Nutter and Gov. Rendell.
The spin room started to clear out as reporters rushed to go live at 11, and we packed up our equipment and dragged our sorry asses out of there. My killer shoes were killing me and I was tempted to wander Market Street barefoot. Luckily, I decided against that idea.
No wonder anchors wear amazing shoes while reporters wear comfortable yet ho-hum shoes.
If you haven’t gotten your fill of the democratic candidates, Barack Obama will be at Independence Hall on Friday for an “On Track for Change” rally at 6p.m. and former president Bill Clinton will be somewhere in the city for a “Solutions for America” rally on Friday. The time and place have yet to be determined but we will keep you updated.
