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Jim Lehrer and Judy Woodruff were at the helm of PBS’s 2008 convention coverage. They have covered conventions for nearly four decades and remember them all with fondness.
Lehrer v. Woodruff
Conventions attended:
Lehrer: All of them since ’68.
Woodruff: I covered the 1972 Democratic Convention in Miami. I was just a child. I had only been a reporter for a year or so but I was covering politics and they sent me after much pleading. I was working for a CBS affiliate in Atlanta. I didn’t have press credentials. I basically stood on the outside and interviewed people going into the convention.
Favorite convention:
Lehrer: No, no, no, I’ve enjoyed them all. They’re magic, meaningful events for me.
Woodruff: I have to say maybe the conventions in 1992, New York and then Houston. The news was all about Bill Clinton and his having fought his way to the nomination. At that point he still had some competition leading right up to the convention from Jerry Brown. That same year George H.W. Bush was fighting for reelection. It was just a great political story in both parties. I just have real clear memories of there being high energy at both conventions.
Convention memory that means the most to you:
Lehrer: There have been all kinds of events, great speeches. I think probably Barbara Jordon’s speech in 1976 where she gave the keynote address. Superb. I remember being moved as was everyone else.
Woodruff: I would agree with Jim. That’s a good one.
Wackiest convention memory:
Lehrer: I interviewed then-President George H.W. Bush at the Houston convention in 1992. He was running for reelection. I interviewed him in his hotel room. I did a long interview with him. The convention had already begun. I had to ask him some routine questions. I thought they were routine. He said offhandedly, we may want to look at some of these folks, those involved in the economy. No news was made. We ran the tape that night. It made banner headlines. What he basically said was that he was going to get rid of his economic advisers, but I was so dumb I didn’t even know. It was a slow news day at the convention. I felt like an idiot.
Woodruff: I was thinking back to the Republican convention in 1980. Everybody was trying to figure out who Ronald Reagan was going to name as his running mate. The news broke that he was naming George H.W. Bush. I was in what they call the perimeter of the convention center. I remember running into [former Nevada Sen.] Paul Laxalt, and he was moving quickly with some of his aides along the way. I started to approach him to ask him, What do you think about this? and clearly, [Bush] was not his first choice. He didn’t physically push me away, but he brushed me off. It was not something he wanted to talk about. I remember it vividly because it was a day where people were excited. He was fresh off the information and it wasn’t what he wanted, but he couldn’t get away fast enough.
Interview you will never forget:
Lehrer: That was the interview I did with Bill Clinton the day the story broke about his having a sexual relationship with an intern. It was the first interview he did and it was a big deal. He denied it [the affair]. And he used the present tense a couple of times.
[Did you think he was he lying? ]
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