Thursday, May 08, 2008
Political Planning
The candidates make grand entrances to roaring crowds of fans and supporters but little did you know the preparation for that short speech was days in the making.
Planning for political stumping is a time consuming operation. If you were not already aware, the candidates for the White House (and their surrogates) are given Secret Service protection. As a result, a simple stop for an ice cream can become a big deal, not to mention taking hours to plan.
They are called the “Advance Team” and they plan out every detail of a Presidential candidate’s life. The team consists of people who have highly specific tasks and functions...worrying about things like the position of the stage, the height of the podium, the location of the trash dumpsters in the parking lot, and even what roads the motorcade will take coming in, going out and any alternate routes should they be necessary.
In the newsroom, it’s a similar operation. We await the event logistics from the respective campaigns and then, in turn, begin our planning process. We almost always will do a “site survey,” which consists of an actual visit to the site of the event. We are looking for things like where will the media trucks park? How many feet of cable will we need from the live truck to the room or stage? Is the location a microwave shot or satellite shot? and so much more.... Much like there are multiple people working on the Presidential “advance team,” there is a team of people in our newsroom planning out how to cover these events.
Let us not forget about the U.S Secret Service....the group of people who arrange the media “pre-set”. This is the time when the media can get into the room with our equipment and set up. Often times the pre-set is somewhere between 3-4 hours ahead of the event. (example: a 6pm event would have a 1pm or 2pm preset). This can make for some very long days.
In the end, the biggest delay can be with the actual candidates themselves. Having help plan our political coverage in recent weeks, I can tell you that the candidates almost NEVER arrive on time. It always seemed to be an hour or more delay, every time.
Hours and even days of planning all come down to a short speech before it’s on to the next campaign event. And, for the “advance team” - it’s the end of one day and the beginning of planning for the next stop in the road to the White House.
