By Colby Itkowitz

WASHINGTON-I sat wedged between Newsday’s bureau chief and news editor during last week’s debate. The office was empty except for the three of us, each with a notepad in hand, ready to pounce on any impending craziness that may arise. Like maybe a bomb threat or Ralph Nader charging the building-I had my hopes up, but my chances seemed slim. As it turned out, the debate was on the surface pretty uneventful. Bush didn’t mispronounce or make up any new words and Kerry didn’t come back with any life-altering statement that would have sent Bush quivering back to Texas.

But I was there to learn. The editors in the room were veterans. They’d been covering campaigns for as long as they could remember. I had always watched the debates through the eyes of a voter, a concerned citizen. But suddenly I was watching the debate not for me, but for everyone else. It didn’t matter so much what the candidates said, but how they said it. I scribbled a note about Kerry’s incessant note taking while Bush spoke, an observation mentioned the next morning in The Washington Post.

The bureau chief’s knowledge of the issues was impeccable. He acknowledged all of the candidates’ inaccuracies. He knew there was not technically 10 million people registered to vote in Afghanistan or even 100,000 trained troops ready for combat in Iraq. He was strictly objective, recognizing both candidates’ strengths and weaknesses with the prose of a man who had seen one too many debates in his lifetime.

I wanted to cough, roll my eyes and laugh at Bush, but I wasn’t in that office with a notepad in hand as a partisan. I was a reporter.

With thirty minutes left in the debate, as Bush scrambled for clarity and Kerry spewed soundbites, my editor told me I would have ten minutes to collect commentators’ statements and voters’ reactions before feeding him a 400-word story. He told me the second the debate ended I could not ask any questions, interrupt him for any reason and would be expected to have quotes available upon request. Positioning myself in front of a mini-television, my heart pounding because I’d never had to meet such intense deadlines, I struggled to copy down quotes from numerous political pundits. Just as I would be focused on one channel, my editor would come sprinting up the aisle screaming that CSPAN had better reactions than CNN.

They were quite possibly the longest 10 minutes of my life. Every news channel seemed to have better and more astute information. Each interviewee spoke so quickly it was difficult to transcribe exact quotes. I knew the editors wanted real people with real reactions, so I took initiative. I gave up on watching TV and I called the University’s student president, Heather Gibbons and the College Republican’s vice-chairman, Bradley Smallberg.

Gibbons said, “I was disappointed in both of them actually. I think Kerry could have done a much better job and I don’t think Bush responded to any of the claims Kerry was making.”

Smallberg said, “I think that Kerry came out with the first punch and Bush came right back with another attack.” Newsday is a Long Island newspaper, so I figured the connection was apparent.

I filed a 400-word story in 15 minutes last week. It had quotes from General Wesley Clark, Madeline Albright, Gen. Tommy Franks, two undecided voters from swing states and two University students. The reporters stationed in Florida had to write a 1,200-word story in 15 minutes. They decided not to use any of my feed. But, I didn’t mind. As Kerry declared victory that night for being better prepared and more presidential, I too felt victorious. In my own way, I had also won my first debate. And as the veteran bureau chief said as I walked out the door, “You did a real good job tonight.” n