When Will Palin Meet the Press?

ST. PAUL, Minn.--Over the next 60 days, I'm curious to see whether the McCain campaign will drastically restrict press access to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin--and, if so, whether that will make any difference with voters.

I bring this up because Palin just took her first off-the-cuff question from a reporter since joining the Republican ticket last Friday. (She has spoken to People magazine about her family.) After McCain's running mate emerged from a private Republican Governors Association luncheon at a Minneapolis museum earlier this afternoon to deliver a short Obama-bashing statement, an Alaska television crew captured her attention for a brief, fleeting moment. "We feel like we're losing you a little bit," shouted the enterprising journalist. "No, I'm happy to be governor of Alaska," Palin responded. "Couldn't be more proud, of course, of my position as governor of Alaska." 

That it's. One week. Millions of dollars. Fifteen thousand reporters. And "I'm happy to be the governor of Alaska" is all we have to show for it.

This isn't necessarily the norm. If I'm not mistaken, Joe Biden did a half-dozen or so interviews during his first week on the trail; a Google News search turns up several for the past few days alone. Then again, Joe Biden probably grants interviews to everyone he encounters.

I understand that Palin spent the week prepping for last night's speech and that she's now learning to recite McCain's policy papers in a Minneapolis hotel room with his top issue advisers. But the fact is, the woman will be busy from now until Election Day. As my NEWSWEEK colleague Jonathan Alter wrote yesterday, the fear for reporters is that to "get Palin through the next three weeks" Team McCain will "dodge press conferences in favor of interviews with people like Sean Hannity, Larry King and Ellen DeGeneres. Then, when the media complain that she is being kept away, the McCain campaign will cite the half dozen or so interviews she has granted as proof that the campaign press is just bellyaching"--and as a way to further stoke the anti-MSM flames they've been fanning all week. The early signs aren't good. Biden is doing "Meet the Press" this Sunday. McCain is doing "Face the Nation." Obama is doing ABC's "This Week." And Palin is doing ... something that doesn't involve journalists and live television cameras.

If Team McCain does shield Palin from the spotlight for the remainder of the month, voters could react one of three ways. If they 1) don't notice or 2) say "good for you, Barracuda"--a likely response, given the way most members of the human race feel about the MSM--McCain wins. It's all about message control and reducing the risk of gaffes. If, however, a critical mass of swing voters starts to suspect that Palin can't handle the heat, it could reinforce the idea that her selection was a cynical political ploy and undercut McCain's "straight talk" appeal. 

Either way, it's worth noting that in times like these, the political press corps--as despised as it might be--is actually important. As I wrote earlier today, Palin's relatively skimpy C.V. means that the greatest test of her readiness for office--as it was for Obama--will be how well she performs in the presidential pressure-cooker. Obama himself said as much at a press avail today in York, Pa. "I think she has got a compelling story, but I assume that she wants to be treated the same way that guys want to be treated," he said. "I have been through this for 19 months. She has been through it, what, four days so far?" Like Alter, I believe that unless Palin is "forced to submit to real interviews with real questions"--just as Obama was--we won't have the foggiest idea whether "her real-life experience is any preparation for assuming high office."

So, yeah. Ellen is great. I dig the way she dances. But Ellen alone is not going to cut it.