After members of the media literally chased down Hillary Clinton’s campaign van in Iowa on Tuesday afternoon, MSNBC reporter Alex Seitz-Wald appeared on All In with Chris Hayes and did his best to sympathize with her campaign’s inability to push her message without the media following her.
The liberal MSNBC reporter lamented how "[a]nywhere she goes, she attracts huge media following and it’s just impossible for her to do these kinds of small events that she wants to."
After Chris Hayes proclaimed Seitz-Wald "heroically" refused to chase down Clinton’s van, the MSNBC host insisted that his colleague was "part of television history this morning. That was kind of -- I feel like that was iconic. It was an instantly iconic moment window into what a modern campaign is."
Seitz-Wald went on to bemoan that Clinton’s campaign repeatedly has to figure out how to "solve this problem" of the press following her around everywhere she goes:
I`ve asked a bunch of Democratic strategists, if you were working for her campaign, if you were in their shoes, how would you solve this problem? And the answer is you can’t. I mean, it’s just impossible so she’s trying to kind of split the difference here. She’s doing some events like this one today and another one tomorrow that are for the media where they will have access.
We have footage. We can go inside. But then she’s also doing a lot of these smaller events where she actually gets chances to meet with people and the secret to those is she doesn’t tell the press about them or she has just a small member of a pool of reporters that are with her.
The MSNBC reporter continued his defense of the Clinton campaign’s media strategy and admired how similarly her campaign and the White House handle the press:
[I]t’s actually kind of very similar to the way the White House does things, which is kind of incredible. This is the first day of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and, you know, we’re already at this level of just the full-on kind of operation and circus footprint of an almost White House level operation.
As the segment concluded, Waltz complained that it’s "just impossible" for Clinton to have "casual spontaneous genuine interactions" with the American public, and provided tips for her to attempt to navigate these waters:
You know, you can’t have small events in Iowa while simultaneously allowing access to the media, so you’re going to let somebody down on one of those two fronts or you know, kind of split the difference on both sides, and we’ll see how it has to go. But, you know, today is a preview of what’s to come for sure.
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes
April 14, 2015
CHRIS HAYES: Joining me now from Iowa is that MSNBC political reporter Alex Seitz-Wald who is once again heroically refusing to sprint away from a live shot. Alex, you`re part of television history this morning. That was kind of -- I feel like that was iconic. It was an instantly iconic moment window into what a modern campaign is.
ALEX SEITZ-WALD: Yes, absolutely, Chris. I mean, this is a big problem for Hillary Clinton. She is 100 percent name recognition. Anywhere she goes, she attracts huge media following and it’s just impossible for her to do these kinds of small events that she wants to. I`ve asked a bunch of Democratic strategists, if you were working for her campaign, if you were in their shoes, how would you solve this problem? And the answer is you can’t.
I mean, it’s just impossible so she’s trying to kind of split the difference here. She’s doing some events like this one today and another one tomorrow that are for the media where they will have access. We have footage. We can go inside. But then she’s also doing a lot of these smaller events where she actually gets chances to meet with people and the secret to those is she doesn’t tell the press about them or she has just a small member of a pool of reporters that are with her.
So, it’s actually kind of very similar to the way the White House does things, which is kind of incredible. This is the first day of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and, you know, we’re already at this level of just the full-on kind of operation and circus footprint of an almost White House level operation.
HAYES: Well, and that’s only going to grow. I mean, I think the way to understand a campaign for folks that have not ever worked on a campaign, whether as a volunteer, as a staffer, as someone covering one in any capacity is that it’s like -- it’s like a little mini society that gets set up with all kinds of -- all the things about a society like they’re shunning and shaming and status and back and forth.
There are romances. There are -- that’s what happens in this universe. You saw a little glimpse of that today and we’re just on day two. This is only going to grow. I mean, dozens and hundreds more people will be coming into that in the next four, six, ten months.
SEITZ-WALD: Yeah, absolutely. And in a place like Iowa, New Hampshire, these first two states what you would love to do is just have kind of, you know, casual spontaneous genuine interactions, like what Rick Santorum drove around the state all 99 counties in a pickup truck. But that’s just impossible for Hillary Clinton as much as she would like to do it.
And, you know, for her especially in 2007, she’s trying to execute this reset here, she flew around the state in a helicopter literally, so she’s trying to reintroduce herself. But at the same time she’s trying to do this other reset with the media where she had toxic relationships with in 2008. And these two things are in tension with each other.
You know, you can’t have small events in Iowa while simultaneously allowing access to the media, so you’re going to let somebody down on one of those two fronts or you know, kind of split the difference on both sides, and we’ll see how it has to go. But, you know, today is a preview of what’s to come for sure.
