LA Times: Don't count out the regional reporters

Los Angeles Times media critic James Rainey interviewed me for an August 10, 2008 column on how regional media outlets cover visits from presidential candidates:

From his column:

Not all local interviewers are so unctuous. Take Chad Livengood, who encountered McCain at a June rally in Missouri.

The Springfield News-Leader statehouse reporter heard McCain tout his plan for a gas tax holiday, then concede afterward, in another one of those short interviews, that the proposal had very little chance of making it through Congress.

"He was promising it up on the stage, but behind the scenes he was admitting it wouldn't go anywhere," the 25-year-old reporter said.

So Livengood let his readers know about the discrepancy. And his story described how some economists doubted the tax cut would make a significant difference.

Sometimes campaigns dial for dummies and end up reaching sharpies.