By: Charles Geraci As day one of the Republican National Convention got set to start Monday morning, editors and reporters at The New York Times met over breakfast at the newspaper to discuss strategy. "Part of it was a pep talk," Adam Nagourney, one of the paper's chief political reporters, explained later. "The reporters were reminded how important these conventions are."
But Nagourney seemed to need little pumping up. "It's an interesting story in my hometown in my home paper," he told E&P at the media center next to the convention site.
The Times' Todd Purdum, who was working on an analytical piece for the Tuesday paper, said that so far "everything is going remarkably smoothly," noting that the New York setup was better than in Boston, where the Democrats held their convention in July. "We have running water and real bathrooms," he said.
When this quip was passed along to Tom Edsall of The Washington Post down the hall, he joked, "The New York Times is very fussy about its bathrooms."
Edsall tried to spread a false rumor during the Democratic confab that the Times had demanded some of its own Port-a-potties because "they felt the ones that were used by all the other reporters smelled too much." He was aiming to get the rumor published in a blog, but that did not happen. "I didn't try too hard," Edsall admitted.
He has also tried to get into two convention parties in New York, but has not yet been successful. He was told no press were allowed inside a party for Southern delegates. Edsall also could not get into a bowling party for Rep. David Dreier last night. "I should have called before," he said, noting that he has since seen Dreier on the floor of the convention.
"I couldn't get into your party," Edsall told him. "He told me he had specifically ordered that Edsall not get in!"
Edsall has been working on stories about money and lobbying for the Post, but he believes this year's political conventions are not as interesting as in the past, as both of the parties have "submerged their internal tensions."
If the election were held today, he thinks Bush would win. "The trend lately has been slightly toward Bush," he said. "Kerry has not dealt with the 'Swift Boat' controversy in an effective way. It keeps hanging on. The trend has been against Kerry and unless he reverses the trend, he's not going to win."
The Post's chief political reporter, Dan Balz, said that "Kerry has given up some of what he gained at his convention with perceptions of him as a leader." He noted that Bush, on the other hand, has "re-established some of what had been lost" after the DNC, emphasizing issues such as terrorism.
Balz will have the lead-all story in the Post's Tuesday edition, he said. Nagourney said he would have the Times lead, after watching the Monday night speeches -- probably via television.
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