Oh my gosh, I'm so tired. I'm too old for this, or at least for doing this and then getting up and getting twins ready for preschool by 7:30am.Anyhow, so much to report from the debate last night. I don't think I can pull off actual complete sentences & paragraphs, so I'm going for bulleted highlights for now:
- I worked press check-in from 5-11pm, then was free to roam the spin room. The only people I knew or recognized were Mora Liason of NPR (we chatted it up over the yummy UNH brownies; it pays to sit next to the food table), Brian Lawson, and the NECN reporter. And of course the official UNH Faculty Experts on display. When I compare to debates past, this one attracted a much lower status of reporters. Is that because it was Fox or GOP, or the combination?? Hmmm.
- We spent a lot of time hanging & chatting with the head of Fox News in DC. He was having a great time, and couldn't stop gushing about the great rental car he got--a Mustang Convertible--that he drove to Portsmouth every night with the top down. He loved the area, and especially loved Erika, our Media Relations Wonderwoman.
- Biggest excitement was when a well known crackpot managed to get in & eventually kicked out by the NH State Police dudes in jumpsuits and UNH superhero Deputy Chief Paul Dean. Don't mess with police who wear jumpsuits, OR Paul Dean.
- I got scolded by none other than Fergus Cullen, state GOP chair, for not giving a press credential to a McCain campaign worker, who wasn't supposed to get one.
- If you want real answers, talk to maintenance guys! My pals on the UNH Facilities crew set up their own tailgating (grilling steak tips!!) in the press parking lot. They confirmed that the Whitt is NOT air conditioned, and that it cost Fox $70,000 to bring it in for the past 2 weeks. The Hamel Rec Center, where the spin & filing rooms were, also are NOT air conditioned.
- Students working out in the weight room (which was open and is always air conditioned) were all over the press area. In fact, the bathroom that the press used was also the locker room.
- Past debates held in PCAC at UNH had a capacity of 700. The Whitt had seating for 7,000! Whoa!!
- The women of UNH Media relations are fun to hang out with! Thanks for letting me volunteer once again!
Now, about the candidates I saw in spin:
-Guiliani is a grumpy old man and his wife was wearing a fake smile & too much make up.
-McCain is paler than pale. I've never seen such white skin in my life.
-I got a handshake from Mike Huckabee (had to ask a colleague who he was). Thanks, Denny.
-Mitt looked and acted most "presidential," but he's not as tall as he looks on TV. He wins for best spouse, too.
-Our local paper reported (in the headline this morning!!) that Dante Scala is still at Saint A's. Oops, I should have given them our UNH Fact Sheet, where he was listed with our faculty experts. Silly Foster's.
(more later...the formatting & autospacing in blogspot is making me crazy.)
