campaign desk

The Best Political Team On TV…

...Is in the "spin room" before debate even starts
December 12, 2007

Here’s CNN’s Candy Crowley, moments before this afternoon’s Republican presidential debate, struggling to explain why, after debates, she and her campaign press cohorts flock to a room expressly devoted to “spin.”

CNN’s Kira Phillips: “Let’s talk about where you are. You’re in the spin room…explain to our viewers what the spin room is…Who are those people behind you. Why is this called the spin room?”

Candy Crowley: “Well it’s the spin room because here is where we expect people to tell us how well their guy did. Sometimes… the lower-tier candidates, they’ll come back here themselves. Generally, those who are in the top three don’t and they send their surrogates out here. So, you know, sometimes it’s useful to see what candidates’ surrogates think their best moment was. In general, I’ve never had somebody come back here and say, we, we didn’t really do all that well.

Sounds like the place to be, no?

Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.