Thursday morning in Quicken Loans Arena was so cold, CBS This Morning co-anchor Gayle King wrapped herself in a blanket between segments of the program.
It was cold in part because the place was almost entirely empty save for the folks delivering news for local stations, for CBS and for ABC’s Good Morning America, along with those eager to talk to people on the programs. When Newt Gingrich started to leave the Q after a TV interview, a scrum of reporters and videographers closed around him; one cameraman, a bit slow into the fray, almost took off my shoulder on his way toward Gingrich.
It wasn’t the most convenient place to put on a show, either. The TV desks and rows of equipment had to be taken down after the shows, since the convention was resuming Thursday night (and very efficiently, down they went, in about half an hour). Off-camera crews could dress casually, but the stars suited up — except, perhaps, for the blue sneakers Charlie Rose had on with his suit.
But Cleveland locations gave a sense that the shows were in the midst of the action, and offered to varying degrees a striking local visual. NBC’s Today was out on East Fourth Street, where MSNBC also had a booth, and early in the morning folks got a glimpse of former area residents Al Roker and (on Morning Joe) Chris Jansing. Fox and Friends, meanwhile, came from outside the Huntington Convention Center.
Also remarkable are the long days some of those TV stars are putting in. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos (another former Clevelander) and CBS’ King, Rose and Norah O’Donnell have been on both the morning shift and the prime-time coverage.
Asked how much sleep he was getting, Stephanopoulos said, “More than you think, but not enough.”
“It’s very difficult but it’s temporary,” said King. “You just sort of go on adrenaline because this is a very cool thing that we get to do.”
Who, though, could nap with all that has been happening? Wednesday night alone included the Ted Cruz speech, which seemed to add to a sense that this convention was downright nutty.
“I don’t know if I would use that word,” Stephanopoulos said during a GMA break. “But it’s an unusual one.”
Asked how much crazier things could get, Rose said, “The crazier the better. What we’re watching here is something very serious … one of the important steps on the way to selecting the next president. … But it’s exciting and it’s different and it’s unexpected and unpredictable.”
“Nothing’s gone according to plan, and that’s not a bad thing,” added King.
Glancing at the decorations around the Q, Stephanopoulos said, “It looks like a normal convention here on the floor but there have been so many surprises. … I can’t remember the last convention where on the third night, right before the vice president, you had a major speaker come up and not endorse the candidate. That’s really something right there.”
Dramatic turn
On Wednesday night, just as the 10 p.m. coverage began on broadcast networks, Cruz gave his non-endorsement, boos ensued and Trump arrived on the scene. That all set up drama when the networks might have instead spent time on, say, earlier speeches by firebrands Newt Gingrich and Laura Ingraham.
O’Donnell said that the news teams had a copy of Cruz’s speech beforehand — “We knew he was going to say ‘vote your conscience’ ” — although King added that people in the hall hoped he would still endorse Trump.
“There was a lot of anticipation that [Cruz] had carried out an additional sheet of paper to the podium, and perhaps he would ad-lib an endorsement,” O’Donnell said. “So everyone was listening very closely to what he had to say. And then when it was clear that what was supposed to be a 10-minute speech had stretched to about 20 minutes, and the crowd liked it, I could see the Trump family working their phones. And then there was a commotion in the hallway, people starting to boo Ted Cruz. And then … Donald Trump coming out to say, by his presence, ‘By the way, this is my convention. Don’t forget that.’ ”
Not so unexpected?
Of course, the Trump campaign has said it knew what Cruz would say, and had even signed off on him getting extra time. So Rose said, “Some people have suggested this is exactly what the Trump campaign hoped for. That, if he didn’t endorse, there would be a rebellion against him.”
If so, it was a canny move in a campaign and convention that more than once lacked such calculation.
“I think the Trump team has done a good job of shutting down protests on the floor, and [Trump’s] kids have done a great job,” said Stephanopoulos. ABC even billed it on air as the “Trump Family Convention.” But Stephanopoulos added, the Republicans “haven’t had the storylines they need in these first few days.”
“The rollout of their vice presidential pick has not been perfect,” said O’Donnell. The reveal was delayed, Trump talked for almost half an hour before introducing Indiana Gov. Mike Pence at their formal announcement, and in their joint interview on 60 Minutes, Trump did most of the talking. Then, Pence’s speech on Wednesday night was overshadowed by the Cruz crisis.
But newscasters had to roll with events. Once things went crazy on Wednesday, Stephanopoulos said, “We just sort of ripped up the top [of the telecast] and went straight to that. We’re here to do the news and that was the news. …
“We’re so used to these conventions, over the past couple of decades, becoming basically pre-programmed television shows, to have something happen that was real, and a surprise, was something,” Stephanopoulos said.
That was interesting
Not that the surprises were only from the politicians. King thought that singing a bit of Getting to Know You from The King and I was a way to set up a conversation about Pence.
“Most people in the room, with the exception of those delegates from Indiana, were saying ‘We don’t know this guy, we don’t know anything about him,’ ” she said. “Did you not like that [singing]?”
Striving for tact, I said, “I thought it was an interesting choice.”
“I thought it was an interesting choice, too,” King said,
“We aim to be interesting,” added O’Donnell.
Democrats up next
And they’ll follow the fallout, whether it’s Cruz’s future or how the next convention will look.
“It’s going to be very different,” Stephanopoulos said of the Democrats’ gathering in Philadelphia. “We haven’t seen a lot of the Republicans’ past stars up on that podium. … Contrast that with the Democratic convention, where you’re going to see the president, the first lady, the vice president, former President Bill Clinton — a lot of star power.
“Now, one of the things that the Trump team is banking on is that that kind of thing doesn’t sell, that people are looking for an outsider,” he said. “Although our latest poll for ABC shows … the majority of Americans want an experienced politician more than a political outsider.”
With all that is going on, long hours for newscasters may not end soon. Stephanopoulos expected to be back in New York for GMA on Friday, then to do his This Week show on Sunday — and everyone has to cover the Democratic convention next week.
Maybe the best idea for coping came from O’Donnell: “I’m following the Charlie Rose model. I’m taking naps.”
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, Ohio.com, Facebook and Twitter. You can contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.