This week, six lucky members of Kent State student media got to go to the Democratic debate at Cleveland State. And I was one of them. With access to the media filing room and the spin room, I was in Democrat heaven.
I was able to get into the arena with the photographers for a short time before NBC went live. The audience was filled with an interesting group of people. Of course, there was the usual cast of Senators and Representatives. Dennis Haysbert of the show 24 sat rows behind John Glenn. Kent State Director of Journalism and Mass Communication Director Jeff Fruit was in the second row. I even pointed out local car salesman Bob Serpentini to a guy from Buckeye State Blog, who was excited about the Republican’s presence in the audience.
As I snapped photos, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and Washington bureau chief for NBC Tim Russert bantered back and forth. Williams said no matter where they go, Russert has a connection to the area. Russert is a graduate of the Cleveland Marshall School of Law at Cleveland State. Williams did his best to show his appreciation of Cleveland by placing a Browns autographed Browns helmet on the desk. It was good enough for me.
We watched the debate from the filing room, however, a fellow TV2-er somehow snuck into the debate arena and got Clinton and Obama’s autographs. In the filing room, I sat down the row from Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes. This was the place of my dreams and these people did not hold their reactions inside. There were oohs and awes, and even a few “oh snaps.” We all laughed as Williams tried to cut off Hillary Clinton so he could send it to break. She insisted on getting in the last one on Iraq, but Williams told her “Television doesn’t stop.”
After the debate, we headed to the spin room. It was a practice gym in the Wolstein Center that was lined with bleachers, light kits and cameras. At one end, Chris Matthews was interviewing Jesse Jackson. On the other end, politicians were filtering in to be interviewed. We went from sticking a mic in Ted Strickland’s face, to speaking with the Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party Chris Redfern about young voters. I even tried to trick Sen. Sherrod Brown into telling me who his favorite candidate is. It didn’t work well, but it was worth a shot.
We were there late, interviewing everyone we could. It was an awesome opportunity for a young reporter.
-Jen Steer
