Heading into home stretch with CNN's John King
By David Bauder, AP Television WriterIf a stranger appears in the back row of your town's school board meeting sometime during the next two months, a baseball cap worn low to partially obscure his face, don't be alarmed.
It could very well be CNN's John King, on a mission to take the nation's political pulse ahead of the presidential election. He likes stopping off at school meetings, since he's bound to find people interested in talking about their country and community.
King, 45, stands out among CNN's crowded political stable for his reporting ability — he broke the news, post-midnight, that Barack Obama had selected Joe Biden as a running mate — and his mastery of CNN's "magic wall," the screen with a world of political trivia at his fingertips.
He will travel briefly with John McCain and Barack Obama for the campaign's final eight weeks to get a feel for their messages, but much of his time will be spent trying to see how Americans feel. He's most interested in blue collar towns in the Midwest that voted heavily for Hillary Clinton during the primaries.
"If you don't go into the communities and get a feel for them, then on election night when something surprising happens, you don't understand why," he said.
King spoke by phone from St. Paul, Minn., where last week's Republican national convention was wrapping up. It was a tough environment for reporters, who found themselves under attack from the McCain campaign for aggressively investigating the background of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
He saw resentment bubbling up early, since he received more than 100 angry e-mails from people he's met along the way — mailmen, doctors, preachers — wondering who reporters were to be questioning Palin's qualifications.
If McCain's people didn't know that their surprise selection of Palin wouldn't draw serious scrutiny, "then they're naive," he said. "And they're not naive."
The attacks on the media were a campaign tactic, and while it doesn't mean reporters shouldn't be very careful about their work, especially when a candidate's family is involved, they should be recognized for what they were, he said.
"I've been doing this a long time," he said. "I don't get as worked up about this as some people do, because I've been bullied by the best of them."
His "seen it all" tone of a veteran reporter seems jarring, since King still looks like a college linebacker, despite the flecks of gray hair. (And he's a newlywed, to fellow CNN political reporter Dana Bash). Yet he has been doing this for a long time, covering presidential politics since 1988 — first with The Associated Press and, since 1997, with CNN.
The Biden scoop brought back memories, since a similar beat set his career in motion. He was first to reveal Michael Dukakis' selection of Lloyd Bentsen as a running mate two decades ago, leading the AP to entrust a key role covering that campaign to a man barely 25.
King had heard from a trusted source that Biden was the choice, but he wouldn't go public with such a big story based on only one source. He was anchoring CNN's political coverage that Friday night, Aug. 22, leaving him little time to make phone calls. He got the key second confirmation as the clock ticked close to 1 a.m. on the East Coast.
"The Biden night is one of those things where I laugh and say it's time for the kids to do that kind of stuff," he said. "But I got off the air and there's a buried treasure out there and if nobody is going to find it then, damn it, I'm going to find it."
King's political obsession met its perfect partner on the night of the New Hampshire primary, when he first manned the magic board.
Throughout the primary season, King used the tool to analyze the votes. He'd call up a map of a state and, with his finger, circle counties expected to be heavy in favor of one candidate or another and explain why. Since the nominations were decided, he constantly uses it to call up an electoral map, showing different scenarios how McCain or Obama could win.
"We've seen other networks use the touch-screen, but without the essential component — John King — it becomes just another piece of technology," said CNN U.S. President Jonathan Klein.
Klein calls King "relentlessly objective," with an encyclopedic political mind. King is paid to understand and respect all points of view, not to pontificate. This sets him apart on CNN's political set, filled with opinionated folk identified with one side or another.
"There is a disconnect between some people in our business and the everyday human being," King said. "If you watch television, and read certain columns, you are seeing people who still haven't come to terms with the fact that George W. Bush won the last two presidential elections and that Bill Clinton won two presidential elections by tacking to the center."
Once again, the nation seems headed for a very tight presidential election, even though the unpopularity of the Bush administration would indicate Obama should be further ahead.
It made for a fascinating atmosphere at the Democratic and Republican conventions, he said.
"In Denver, it was `there's no reason why we shouldn't win this,' and yet there's some anxiety," he said. "Here, it's like `there's no reason we should win this, yet we have a chance. How can that be and how can we capitalize on it?' It's a funny flip side of the mood."
King's contract with CNN expires at the end of the year, although neither he nor Klein expect any drama.
"I have every reason to believe I will be here for a good, long time," King said.
