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Cain cancels meeting with NH Union Leader editorial board
An editorial board meeting between Herman Cain and the influential New Hampshire Union Leader in a dispute over scheduling.
The interview peaked the interest of political observers after Cain struggled with questions on Libya and unions in a meeting with a Wisconsin editorial board earlier this week. That interview was videotaped, but the campaign had requested that the Union Leader interview be just pen-and-pad.
Cain’s request to not allow cameras was unexpected, as other GOP candidates — including Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum — all allowed their sessions to be taped and aired on C-SPAN.
"The newspaper cancelled with one of our advance staff at approximately 9:00 am today. I was surprised to hear that minutes later," said Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon. "We had been in discussion on the length and format of the interview since Monday. Yesterday the campaign agreed on 20 minutes, vice the 45 minutes with video that had been requested."
But Drew Cline, the Union Leader's editorial page editor, seemed to blame Cain for cancelling.
“Cain campaign said we’d do a one-hour interview. Then said no video taping. Then said interview only 20 mins. Then canceled,” Cline said on Twitter. That comment came nearly an hour after the interview was scheduled to take place, and it is apparent from Cline’s tweets that the paper was not immediately aware of the cancellation.
“If Cain is more than 30 minutes late for our interview, is our next one free?” Cline asked in one tweet, playing off Cain’s history as a pizza executive.
The Cain campaign said they hope to reschedule the interview the next time the candidate is in New Hampshire.
The Union Leader’s endorsement is considered a key bellwether in the first-in-the-nation primary state, and the meeting with the editorial board is one of the political traditions of primary season.
This article was updated at 2:30pm to include comment from the Cain campaign.
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