Washington Whispers
Greta to Reporters: Scrap the TV Egos
Greta Van Susteren, the No. 1 woman on cable TV by a mile, thinks she's found the answer to what audiences want. Give it to them straight, and junk the 'tude. "I think the news has changed," says the host of Fox News Channel's top-rated On the Record. "I think people no longer want to listen so much to us reporting." So, rejecting artsy shots of her interviewing newsmakers, the Washington-based Van Susteren takes just one camera on location. "Shoot the story," she tells her crew. "Don't shoot me." She also makes nice on the Internet: "I answer viewer E-mails during commercial breaks." Then there's her "GretaWire," where she chats about things like her dream job of working at Animal Planet. "It's the only time we can drop out of the formal aspects and seriousness of the news and have a little fun," she says of her blog.
It helps that she's a techie. "I love the technology," says the 5-foot, 3-inch Van Susteren, who lugs around a BlackBerry, a Motorola Q cellphone, a Sony camera and camcorder, and two laptops. When she left CNN for Fox in 2002, her first request was for a BlackBerry. "No one knew what I was talking about," she says. "I almost fell over." At last year's Christmas party, the head of Fox's IT department told her he now services 430 BlackBerrys. "I'm a trendsetter," says Van Susteren. "Either that or I'm a work creator."
That Times Leak Was No Surprise
Before you jump in with those heaping scorn on the New York Times for using a leak to reveal the secret Treasury program to search financial transactions for terrorist activities, know this: The Treasury Department expected it to leak. When the program was developed in 2003, a press plan was included. The goal: Get out front with the spin that there are safeguards to prevent snooping on private accounts, that it is legal, and that there are big benefits to it. "These three elements needed to be in the first-day story," says an insider. The plan worked. When the Times told Treasury it was running the story, top Treasury aides were OK'd to talk to the Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times, which presented the three points. "It was a textbook case of very good PR management," says the insider.
Sorry, Wolf, but It's Fox in the Sit Room
The real Situation Room--the war council office in the White House basement--is getting a face-lift, and even though he has a show called the Situation Room, we hear that CNN's Wolf Blitzer isn't on the bank of TVs in the design mock-up. Surprise, surprise--they all feature Fox.
First Family Feud Over 2008 Pick
White House insiders say President Bush and first lady Laura Bush are engaged in a good-natured bid to push their faves for the 2008 presidential nomination. "There are two wild cards in the race," says our tipster. "The first lady likes Condi" Rice, the secretary of state. "She has a great story to tell," says the insider of Rice. But Bush likes his bro, Jeb Bush, the Florida governor. "He thinks Jeb'd be the best." One problem: Neither wants the job.
Carter Says It Was Cronkite's Fault
Craig Shirley, author of the well-received book on Ronald Reagan's 1976 campaign, says he never thought Jimmy Carter would talk to him about the 1980 race for a new book, Rendezvous With Destiny. But last Tuesday, just two weeks after he wrote to Carter, the call came through. "He's concerned about his place in history," Shirley says. Over 45 minutes, the two hit on many issues, especially how the Iranian hostage crisis affected Carter's loss. "Updated opinion polls right before the election took place showed that we had slipped," Carter told Shirley. "And it was primarily because Walter Cronkite and everybody else was talking about it being the anniversary of the hostage taking."
Karl Rove Does a Mean Bill Clinton
Bush political adviser Karl Rove does a great impersonation of Bill Clinton, as about 200 business representatives found out during a White House briefing last week. When a fan suggested that Rove team with Clinton to raise money via a pay-per-view debate, Rove did an impression of Bubba inspired by a meeting in which the ex-prez offered ideas to help tsunami-wracked Indonesia. Every sentence started with the phrase, "It's not because I was president, but ... ." Rove says he left the meeting after it had dragged on for 45 minutes. "I am so glad," an audience member quotes him saying, "that I didn't work in his administration."
The GOP's Most Wanted: Cheney
There's some buzz in political circles that a handful of candidates don't want a vice presidential visit because it can generate more bad press than it's worth. But don't tell that to Dick Cheney. He's in bigger demand than ever, hosting more political rallies and fundraisers--80 so far--for GOP candidates this year than in the last midterm election in 2002. "The vice president," says Rep. Tom Reynolds, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, "has been a great partner for us."
Once a Professor, Always a Professor
With his trilogy of Civil War novels behind him, Newt Gingrich is on to his next writing project: a novel about the Pacific theater in World War II. Writing with longtime collaborator William Forstchen, the former House speaker is titling the book December 8. That's Pearl Harbor Day, Tokyo time. "We're trying to capture the essence of how Roosevelt was maneuvering in the Pacific," Gingrich says. "His real focus was on Europe, but he was trying to contain the Japanese." Heavy stuff, but Gingrich writes historical fiction to escape. "I lose myself in history as though it were a novel," says the onetime college history professor, who's considering a 2008 run for president. "I get lost in, 'What would FDR do?'"
With Bay Fang and Dan Gilgoff
This story appears in the July 24, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.