NYT's Jeff Zeleny: Campaigns Woo 3 Iowans for Paper's Endorsement

[flpoljunkie]

Joshua Lott for The New York Times
Laura Hollingsworth, left, Carolyn Washburn and Carol Hunter lead the editorial board of The Des Moines Register.

December 15, 2007

Campaigns Woo 3 Iowans for Paper’s Endorsement
By JEFF ZELENY

DES MOINES — The other day, as his sport utility vehicle idled outside, former President Bill Clinton held forth on a sofa in the publisher’s suite at The Des Moines Register, explaining why he believed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton should win the newspaper’s coveted endorsement.

Only nine days earlier, the Clintons had played host to a few top editors for drinks and appetizers at one of Des Moines’s fashionable new restaurants. But on this visit, Mr. Clinton was the closer in the exhaustive campaign of persuasion. Even after an hour he had not made his full case to Laura Hollingsworth, the new publisher, so he called back later in the day.

“Hi, it’s Bill Clinton,” he said, speaking slowly after reaching only voice mail. “I’m just calling to thank Laura for the meeting today. There was one more point I wanted to make, but I’ll keep trying to find her. Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I appreciate the time. Thanks.”

Two days after the former president dropped by, Ms. Hollingsworth smiled as she played the recorded message for a reporter during an interview in her office.

“It was humbling and I was honored to meet with him, but I wouldn’t say it sways me at all,” she said. “In this whole process, star-struck is the least of it.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/us/politics/15register.html?hp

[jefferson_dem]

1. Well...this could be a clue regarding who the paper will NOT be endorsing...

...

The first get-to-know-you invitation from a candidate came several months ago: Mr. Obama invited Ms. Washburn and Ms. Hunter to chat over drinks in a private dining room above Centro, a downtown restaurant here. (They all drank water.)

Not long afterward, Mrs. Clinton scheduled a Sunday breakfast meeting with the editorial board at her West Des Moines hotel.

It did not go so well.

“I think they thought it was going to be a more chatty meet-and-greet kind of event than it was,” Ms. Washburn said. “Her staff called and said: ‘That was a pretty intense conversation. Maybe you didn’t get to see her lighter side. Would you like to do that again?’ ”