Now the importance of sound and politics from los angeles this is a little over an hour. K, and swaggering advancement whove learned the craft on the campaign against Ronald Reagan in 1984 served as my role models. They were the democratic answer during the summer of 1988 and they taught me well. He was the lead advanced with selfconfidence and quick humor. [laughter] was that selfserving by the way blacks they got four pages but it is known as the Great Teachers are to be clear on that. Hes a good friend and a lot of people here worked with him and worked with me. We worked o on democratic polits together so its nice seeing everybody that he has written an interesting book most of you have bought and he said he woule sign everybodys. He the debate many people said when they heard on the radio they thought nixon had won but when they watch the tv version everybody said they thought heke looked younger, he was shaven and he had a 5 00 shadow and suchlike that. In the last 50 years i guess, the portrayal of the candidates through the Campaign Stops made a tremendous difference in this constant examples i will give you a quick three. The former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger when he wanted to abolish the car tax what did he do come he did this huge event where he had a car literally destroyed. Do you remember thi remember tho campaign it was such an extreme example but it got a lot of attention. So he destroyed a car im not exactly sure what that has to do with destroying it up as an example. Nd bill clinton and others who did more work than anyone have something where he was dedicating a monument in utah or designating land to be under the monuments terms which meant it was limited to knowledge building and other things you could do. He didnt put up the banners or anything. He set up a nice wooden table and there was a view of the whole area. Were you at that event . Was letting the picture speakssa for itself. You had the beauty of this area behind him and that was aa behi gorgeous shot. He would come into this big plane that was supposed to evoke air force one. The theatrics of the campaigns are more and more important and he stayed with it and became one of the experts and one of the best people and learned a lot from some of the folks here but on his own became one of the best and stayed with it and worked for the Clinton Administration and continued to do work and in this bucket is bs wonderful to read because first of all we all know the people in it but it is a somewhat overlooked part of the campaigns and some important. How many words of thousands of these days. In that day and age when the average sound bites on tv is about five or six seconds the pictures are critical and so people who do this maybe have an outside influence in the political system whether that is a good thing or bad im not sure. But when it is for the cause of good its a wonderful thing. Hes going to be interviewed by a recent citizen of la. He was the head of the New York Times bureau for a long time in washington and he now over ip. He is one of the best political writers if you follow him and his blogs and other things it is wonderful to read his stories because he writes really well and is so its astute. Its how he made the transition im not sure but people like that so we are in for a treat. It is my pleasure to introduce to you right before that a quick plug for those of you who its the first time. Its an institution here on the boulevard and its kind of theie epicenter and its a wonderful street you see people all the time in the community and its just a wonderful thing so the bookstores or hurting and he is in the back, a very accomplishe attorney who brought this to save it from becoming another coffee shop or something. Please get on his list and come back and say everybody who writes the books comes here and speaks. Several times a months keys added to the intellectual fervor and stuff in the community so thank you. [applause] without further ado. Very good to be with you. To my past employer i was the bureau chief but never the washington chief. Although i was a reporter. Because it is on television and the internet forever, welcome to you all its good to see you in particular and this is a timelye topic. Im going to start by asking a somewhat provocative question as you yourself point ou out in the book the advanced work is in ann essential way in visible and they are supposed to have a passion for anonymity. I wonder why youve chosen to reveal the trade secrets in the book and write about how it works. S its as if he were telling how the tricks were done. Can you react to that and see what the public could have t learned from this exercise . Spin it any time you finish a political trip, some of the other people that have been doing these trips as well, you would get around the table and at some point during the wheels of parties people would say im going to write a book about advanced work and i want to bebe part of this crustaceans. I always thought the people who do this work had never been the people that had written books but the chiefs o chiefs of stafd written books, domestic policy advisers have written books. There is a code if you dont talk about what happens on the road. And i felt like i was always obsessed with this one event. My i knew that my friend had some involvement and had been on that team and one day they were having a beer in ne and new yord is not unlike the other times during the parties he said i have a journal i havent looked at in 25 years. At it in 25 years. And it tells my story. I said can i take a look at it . I have a copy of it here. Its six typewritten pages. But it brought back history. It brought back that time in 1988 when it was george hw bush, and it was such a wonderful story and by honing in on this trip for the first third of the book i could tell the story of how the press works, how political advertising works, and advance team and how conventions work. I just thought that we do see, we see plenty of other books. For all of those hundreds, and how it sands of advance people out there, who would be law suited to tell their story, if i could start, in 1988 and follow an equal none of republicans and democrats moving up to the vest present day. Well you dont telltales out of the school. And they have told. This is not a david stock man book no. Youre not telling private conversations. It became as a piece of political magazine. Because he has given me his journal, late in 25012. And i know. Political magazine. If i could just in touch with her because the 25th anniversary, in the tank is coming up in september. 2013, they might like it. But, i went to the ideas festival, and the journal and i said i have to start writing it up. It could be an e book. And i started hammering away and said, well, it would lead me down all these other rabbit holes, and so by the end of the summer. I had 60,000 words. And susan said i can only take six. Just do the dew caucus story, interviewed matt bennett and me and talked to, him, and so once that ran in blitz co, and i think it was one of the most widely read stories, their first year in publication. An agent said, could you come up with any more . Yeah. One per campaign. One of the distressingly common threats, so many that turnout to be disastrous were thought at the time, the staff thought they nailed t. They had a good day. Walk us through the tank and how it happened and what we dont know about it. Its the summer of 1988, and he has really wind at his back, if you look at the polling, some of the critical measures, of cares, he had a advantage over vicepresident bush. A real devasat this time when it came to would be a commanderinchief. He was against bush, aviator. Chairman. Rnc. And c. I. A. So, he had to build up hits props to stand toetotoe as really could be entrusted. So, beginning back in the primaries, looking at what would be a good policy on a conventional deterrence, he is talking about the conventional deterrence initiative. And the tank, 70,000 pound is the perfect example of that. Lets buy more tanks, to counter the soviet threat. And forget about this star wars program. After his convention, does an initial trip, focus on foreign policy. Doesnt do enough and, john saso, the one Time Campaign manager, banished, after the videotape comes back and they hatch an idea, to do, what. Its theme weeks. Everyday were going to focus on foreign policy. So theme week was laid out for the week of september 11th through 14th of 1988. Monday brought them to philadelphia, and for cincinnati and tuesday would bring them to chicago, and Sterling Heights and matt bennett is dispatched to sterling hides, where they have a facility where they sell them to the pentagon and to foreign purchasers. So matt, is told by boston headquarters, we want him to take a ride in the tank. As any advance person does they do it. Well do a standard run at 45milesperhour, you got wear a helmet. And to also protect your torso, because you could be hurt in a tank like this. And, he called back to boston and he says, it was damn fun. But this, he will look terrible. Never put anything on your head. Thats politics, 101, when president barak obama is handed a football helmet. And this brings back, this is where the book starts. Never put something your head, if you are president. And this all stems from mike, with this, it fit him. Oversized. And it this large lay bowl it, black writing on a white background that said his name. It looked like pete maverick mitchell from top gun. He didnt look like tom cruise. To just to finish up, because we could talk about that all night, but when the event was actually over, the correspondent, producers, and writers, and the t. V. Guys, would, came up, to joe lockhart and said, you guys really figured it out. Weve been covering reagan and you havent given us any like reagan like moments. Do more of this. So sam donaldson, and Chris Wallace, and, bruce morton, that night did two minute packages, that, if you look at them, in isolation and you break down the way Chris Wallace reports it. He gave him all the visuals, he needed. His speech, and his quick ride in the tank but his policy focus against vicepresident bush. And the way that story was put together, it showed vicepresident bush, and dan quale on the defensive. We got great visuals and substance from chicago, the t. V. Networks had all the video for put together a terrific two minute package. And the way tom brock cow and dan rather, and, peter jennings, did it, looked pretty good. And he says, i have an idea. So five weeks later wasnt part of the fatal flaw the day that it took a sweep close to the photographers. Into the close up shot of him. And 45milesperhour, he was a little car sick. Very. So, arthur gray, says it was a photographer to shoot for newsweek. He tried to warn the campaign, that this was headed for disaster. So hes seeing pictures, back in a hangar, and then dismounts and he sees a very wobbly governor. There was a huge debate about whether the helmet should be worn or not. Wouldnt let it go forward without it. On what he just do a slow roll in front of the press . But if they broker a compromise where, the governor would emerge from this behind closed doors, in the hangar, and, he had become the secretariest navy and a slow roll for the cameras, and, those who have done politics, these are 60foot long constructions. You could almost do like a cat walk. Very slowly get all the pictures you want and the governor will not be wearing the helmet. Hell look like patton. Then the tank will cruise well off, about a half mile, on the field, have a stop and the governor will put his helmet on and goat see how this conventional piece of military equipment can operate. They wanted to show everything they could. This guy could be president and they want to sell more. So, there is this story, between matt bennett, who gave me his jury dismal jack weeks who was on the plane as the trip director, where matt is trying to tell boston, im not comfortable with this. And the tour, that had gone from philadelphia to cincinnati is running into snags. Theyre booing him, at the General Electric plant and you better get it, because we cant have another day screwed up and jack flies to Sterling Heights, gets site, and im trying decipher the story, that they told. They tried to have it both ways. The slow path and then have the helmet on. He had no idea the helmet would go on. And the tank stops at the far end of the proving ground and he says, the story is going to be tank runs out of gas. But then it goes on these passes backandforth, but then strangely and oddly it comes back toward the press riser at full speed, and face a lastminute left hand turn with its 105 millimeter turn almost decapitating the reporters. But it is that the moment, that a photographer gets a close up shot of mike, a smile on his face, and, this is what he does. He just decides that he looks like the turtle . He thought, he was a great ad man. He made ads for reagan and hes thinking of that old 60s or 70s, hang on. All he did was flip it in the machine, slow down, add sound effects like the wheels of a tank it winding. It was just basically silent footage of dukakis in the tank. And then he makes is a. With the networks be so principal today or with they want revenue . I think today you find campaigns regularly assigning what we call trackers to show up at any of these open events and get their own video and own footage the way they want. This is what happened to george allen in 2006 when he came up with this moment. You talk in the book the term uses the age of optics and in the introduction they talked about the Kennedy Nixon debate in the sixties, when did the modern age of optics as we understand it begin . In the 60s with kennedy on television . I had to look at a point when everything conspired to make daily storytelling of a politicians life more important and easier. Sophie that was reagan. It it would be reagan as tv networks transition from film to video and can satellite their footage back to new york for editing. Live. But they dont have canisters of lb and sent off to anyone else. Note canisters and no developing. This is when white house correspondents become like themselves like donaldson and he can get on like the way he story tells of reagan from 81 89 and then picks up. So im thinking about the age of optics it is reagan has always seemed and to me as well as the great communicator, great person who understood through michael dever, the ability of stagecraft to tell stories. The question is as the ada Campaign Comes up is who can understand the reagan model better . George w. Bush are dukakis. What im seeing as i remember it as a young man, but also going back and looking at it is spring, the the primary season and then the spring and fall as every day both campaigns were trying to tell new stories. I called the age of optics. Its not just the pictures, as the sound. Theres several aspects of the sound and i loved reading about it from your days with president clinton which is music. Used to love the thing from the magnificent seven. That is a stable and western venues especially. How do you go about picking the right kind of use it for a candidate . I learned some of this, i remember i think it was an 84, mitchell a western Governors Association event where someone decided to have all the governors of the Western State walk together toward the event. Lets position the press so you can actually capture their strides on lets play on the loudspeaker the theme to the magnificent seven. Almost just trying to coop the way a movie producer movie director would film the scene and then add musical soundtrack underlay and postproduction. So that always stuck with me. Whenever we would do an event with governor clinton in the president clinton i would say, what music and particulars going to fit with this theme . So 1996 as an example that he wrote about, he goes to concord, New Hampshire in the beginning of his reelection effort to show its focus on education. Early in that day we brought him to an Elementary School and he is looking over the kids shoulder as their playing with the newfangled thing called a computer. We programmed the computer to speak to president clinton. When the kids oppressed their mouse on the button that says you will be reelected and we position the microphone right next to the computer through cabling and what we call almost box so the networks traveling with us can hear it. Then to finish the day we went to a large auditorium and give a speech to several thousand people. But for his walk out music the theme to mr. Hollands opus. About a beloved music teacher in high school. One of the most fascinating sections of the book is when you talk about the realities of sound in a crowded place. Talk about governor howard deans famous scream in iowa. Leave aside the fact that his campaign had collapsed before that moment, he didnt feel beef because he screamed. He screamed only only to the people who are watching him on tv who did not realize that what he was doing was struggling to be heard and to hear himself above the roar of the crowd which was not been picked up on this directional mic in front of him. So you go back to the bel air ballroom in january 2004, the Iowa Caucuses just concluded. He came in a disappointing third. He has these thousands of volunteers who have all streamed into the state, who came in with the highest of hopes with him on top of the polls, no father bark then thanksgiving or christmas and suddenly they have this huge letdown. Governor dean is back stay with joe trippi, what should i say . They say you should go on give them hell. Fire them up because the next morning we have to send them to all of the primary caucus states. Keep keep them energized. The bel air ballroom is a real venue that usually housed rock acts weekend and week out in west amoy. It is filled filled with 3500 people to the rafters. Theyre so loud as the governor walks out, a young man named bo who would eventually go on to become the executive producer and house of cards is trying to figure out how to wipe at this event together. I dont have that much equipment. Physically what he has is a microphone, he doesnt have the big stage monitors which are the things that rock musicians use to modulate their own base based on the decibel level in the room. So dean is trying to project a way out to 3500 people and he has no idea if they can hear them because he cannot hear himself. So all you can do is give his speech, a two minutes longing and talk about where work on ago, south carolina, south carolina, north carolina, washington d. C. , yeah he cannot hear himself. But but because he is speaking into this microphone, that wire, all