News Item

17 DAYS AND COUNTING…

PRESS INTERACTION: Obama has not held a press conference this week. In fact, it has been 17 days since the candidate has done so -- on Thursday, Aug. 7 on the plane from Minneapolis to Chicago before Obama departed for Hawaii.

The press corps was told there would likely be one this morning, but later we were told that we should get one tomorrow and that the issue is working out the timing and whether it will be on the ground or on the plane.

The only interaction Obama has had with the traveling press is shouted questions from the pool during his comings and goings, which he alternately answers and ignores.

Access seems to be declining more and more. Because NBC's press pool days have not included any local stops, the first time this week I have been closer than 15 feet from the candidate was when deplaning here in Wisconsin earlier today.

It's noteworthy that the first group interview with the Obamas and the Bidens was with People Magazine. It was ostensibly a photo shoot, but the magazine's correspondent asked questions here and there throughout. Only the wives were quoted in the story, but there is surely more to come. 

CROWDS/VOTERS: Generally speaking, the events this week seemed to be populated by mostly by supporters. The crowds in Raleigh, NC, and Lynchburg and Chesapeake, VA, were especially enthusiastic.