By Jacqueline Hlavenka
NEW YORK-Just before the Texas and Ohio primary polls closed for the evening, New York Times national correspondents Elizabeth Bumiller, Michael R. Gordon, David Leonhardt and Robin Toner took an hour-and-a-half out of their reporting schedules to speak to the public about the presidential candidates themselves.
Students in the University’s Honors College were invited to attend a Times Talks event called “Inside the News: The Issues and the Elections: Where Do the Candidates Stand” at the Times Center on March 4 at 6:30 p.m., supervised by trip coordinator, Brian Clocksin, Ph.D.
The Times Talk series, sponsored by the New York Times, is a new program designed to take readers behind the news scene, providing critical perspectives of what reporters observe in the journalism field.
“You probably think we’re geniuses for planning this event today,” said Richard L. Berke, assistant managing editor for the Times. “Truth is, we planned it five months ago and it couldn’t be more appropriate now, given today’s primaries.”
The event began with a New York Times/CBS News Poll with readers’ stances on important issues in this year’s presidential race. The economy was ranked highest at 35 percent, the Iraq war at 25 percent, health care at 7 percent and “other” at 35 percent.
“This election originally was overwhelmingly about the war in Iraq,” said Robin Toner, a domestic correspondent in the Washington bureau of the Times since 1999. “In this poll, these are the bread and butter issues that reflect the economy right now.”
Economic columnist David Leonhardt encouraged the audience to listen closely to what the Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), say about trade agreements, foreign policy and the economy.
“Both Hillary and Obama are so different from their rhetoric than their policies,” Leonhardt said. “They send dual messages. The biggest difference is [that] Hillary Clinton is interested in narrowly targeted programs, where Obama feels those may not work out.”
Chief military correspondent for the Times, Michael R. Gordon, described how the election and the candidates have changed in six months.
“The differences [in the candidates] were more pronounced six months ago,” Gordon said. “She [Clinton] started out with a clear, triangulated plan. She wanted a less[er] presence in Iraq, a limited mission, but a presence.”
Gordon, who has worked for the Times since 1985, has covered the Pentagon, national security issues, the military and weapons proliferation. Throughout his years of covering the Iraq War, the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf War and the Kosovo conflict, Gordon has noticed weaknesses in the three presidential frontrunners: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Obama and Clinton.
“They all have their talking points down,” Gordon said. “But neither the Clinton or Obama plan for Iraq can secure the region, and increase the risk of sectarian violence.”
After countless trips through Iraq, Gordon believes the plans Clinton and Obama are proposing may be unattainable if they reach the White House.
“It is a difficult problem that could create a potential civil war,” Gordon said. “What they are proposing I don’t think can be executed. Colin Powell once said ‘you break it, you own it.’ You can’t go back to the Pottery Barn and pick up the broken pieces.”
Though McCain supports the war in Iraq, Gordon believes McCain needs a more focused plan for political and economic progress.
“The hard part is the political engineering of Iraq,” Gordon said. “Our mixed-up politics are getting confused with Iraq. What’s his backup plan? Military and political success hasn’t been delivered.”
After finishing a biography on Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Political Correspondent Elizabeth Bumiller covers the McCain beat for the Times-and shares her experience with some humor.
“You don’t get assigned the Republican beat. It’s hard, especially at the New York Times,” Bumiller said with a laugh. “But McCain shows little interest in the economy. Anytime he would get a question on the sub-prime mortgage crisis, he would say, ‘here, let my secretary handle this.’ McCain gets more conservative by the minute. He’s more conservative on immigration-he wants to secure the borders.”
However, Bumiller described that McCain has been “easy to talk to” with the press, sometimes more so than the Democratic candidates, as he loves to speak to reporters on the McCain tour bus.
As McCain became the hot topic of the conversation, a journalism student at New York University (NYU) asked the Times reporters about McCain’s alleged relationship with a female lobbyist that first broke in the Times, during the question-and-answer period.
Assistant Managing Editor Richard Burke acknowledged that the Times would be attacked for printing the story or not writing it altogether, but explained the newspaper handled the situation poorly.
“We stood by the McCain story, but we messed up on the public relations aspect of it,” Burke said. “We should have done more than let the story stand for itself.”
Despite the controversy, the McCain camp had their single best day of online advertising after the article hit newsstands.
“In a way, it worked for conservatives,” Burke said. “We have almost a name brand, the New York Times, and this was a time to ban against the big, bad New York Times.”
Burke then asked the audience for a show of hands to see which candidates they support. Dozens of hands went up for Clinton and Obama, a few for McCain, one for Ralph Nader and zero for Mike Huckabee.
Even after tonight’s primary, for the Times, the election race is just getting started up.
“The public is not ready for this to wrap up the way the pundits want to,” Toner said. “It’s fascinating.”
Elizabeth Bumiller (left) and Michael R. Gordon discuss covering the presidential campaign as part of a Times Talks event called “Inside the News