For Bloomberg's With All Due Respect on Thursday, co-host Mark Halperin was granted exclusive access to Hillary Clinton’s national campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. At the top of the show he proclaimed: “This is history folks. We’re finally here at the top of the political world. Welcome to Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters here in Brooklyn Heights. The first ever TV show done from the Clinton-land HQ.”
Halperin joked: “The campaign let us in to show off their humble central nervous system, which makes us a little nervous because it means they’re watching extra closely this evening.” Perhaps that’s why the political journalist proceeded to offer a 30-minute Clinton campaign infomercial.
In an interview with top campaign officials, Halperin gushed: “Everybody seems to be in a pretty good mood and seems, even though it’s a young campaign and there a lot of people here just working together for the first time, the spirit seems pretty good....how would you characterize kind of the ethos of this particular campaign?”
National political director Amanda Renteria predictably replied: “You know, I think you can feel it as you go around, it's interesting, it’s creative....I think what you see is really a creative energy. But also, we’re working for a candidate who has worked for a long time on fighting for issues that a lot of folks here have cared about.”
Director of states Marlon Marshall chimed in: “And we’re very deliberate about culture. You’ve probably seen as you’ve walked around there’s a document that lists down some of the culture and principles that this campaign lives by and that comes from her [Clinton].”
Minutes later, Halperin took viewers on a tour of the office: “We want to show you around a little bit more now and introduce you to some additional citizens of Hillary-land.”
Campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod touted: “As you can see, our volunteers really worked hard to make this space look like a real campaign and exciting.” She showed off a poster of a cartoon campaign bus on the wall and declared: “This is everybody on our team who’s taken the bus to and from D.C. You may have read about that.”
Halperin enthused: “I’ve heard about this, I’ve heard about this. So I see John Podesta, Robby [Mook], both relatively senior officials here have ridden the bus....Charlie Baker, senior official. Amanda [Renteria], all senior officials have all ridden the bus. Very impressive.”
Wrapping up the tour, Halperin asked various staffers: “What’s the kind of spirit and culture of this office?” Deputy politics director Brynne Craig replied: “Just I think we’re all here to work hard, have fun. Openness, collaboration.” Social media strategist John Bysse insisted: “This office is the most collaborative and most sort of open to an idea than anywhere I've ever worked or been.” Surrogate coordinator Michelle Kwan cheered: “It's like a family. We are away from our family, I’m away from my husband, but to me, it’s driving to get Hillary Clinton elected because she will be the most amazing president.”
Before the show aired, Halperin told TVNewser: “We have been looking for a chance to do something both original and fun with the Clinton campaign and this fits the bill.”
Here is a portion of the July 17 program:
(...)
5:09 PM ET
HALPERIN: Welcome back to Brooklyn. We’re here at Hillary Clinton's headquarters. Now gonna talk to two of her senior advisers about the campaign and about this headquarters and the culture thereof. Joining us now Amanda Renteria is the national political director, Marlon Marshall is the director of states. We’re going to have to figure out what that means in the course of this interview.
MARLON MARSHALL: We’ll try.
HALPERIN: That sounds like an awesome title that someone who worked for Napoleon would have.
[LAUGHTER]
(...)
HALPERIN: So one of the reasons we’re excited to be here today is this headquarters has not been up and running very long, it hasn’t been open to the press very much, but we were allowed to walk around, talk to some of your colleagues all day. Everybody seems to be in a pretty good mood and seems, even though it’s a young campaign and there a lot of people here just working together for the first time, the spirit seems pretty good. I’m just wondering, you all have done politics before, how would you characterize kind of the ethos of this particular campaign?
AMANDA RENTERIA: You know, I think you can feel it as you go around, it's interesting, it’s creative. It’s – we really are trying to push the envelope of, “Give us your ideas and let’s try it out.” I think what you see is really a creative energy. But also, we’re working for a candidate who has worked for a long time on fighting for issues that a lot of folks here have cared about. And you can feel that. You can feel that in the fight every day when people are waking up saying, “How do I help? What do we do differently? How do we make it work?” And really across the different organizations, we all work together, not just in silos, but across the various organizations, and that's fun.
MARSHALL: And we’re very deliberate about culture. You’ve probably seen as you’ve walked around there’s a document that lists down some of the culture and principles that this campaign lives by and that comes from her. Being very deliberate, making sure we have a good time, that we’re working for the right reasons, and that we all are working together. And so we’re very deliberate about that and you can feel it as you walk around.
HALPERIN: There’s a crazy emphasis on health food here. I see lots of signs with fresh fruits and vegetables. Who’s had pizza?
[LAUGHTER]
RENTERIA: It's because we have pizza so much that seeing some of that healthy stuff makes you feel at least like you’re learning something, even if you aren't eating it.
MARSHALL: If you walk over by our section, you’ll see grapes, bananas. But if you walk into my office you don't see that.
RENTERIA: We might have had cupcakes today. Like little – twelve different ones.
MARSHALL: Little small ones, right.
TALEV: Well, I was going to say, I ducked into Jen Palmeri’s office for the jalapeno chips, I knew where to find them.
MARSHALL: Right, they’re good though.
(...)
