Fear and Bloating on the Vineyard

Part 6

by Jason Gay

Just before the Commander in Chief arrives, a wave of desperation washes over the media corps. A couple days back, Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry told reporters in Washington that anyone expecting hard news during the vacation would be disappointed. "You should plan for recreation, swimming, nice lobster dinners," McCurry said, "-- all those things that I know your organizations will be happy to expense."

On Saturday, a reporter for a Providence TV news station is spotted doing an on-camera interview with life-size cardboard cutouts of Bill and Hillary on Main Street, in Edgartown.

"People think, `Oh, what a great assignment,' " says the Herald's Fee. "But really, you're sitting in traffic, sitting at the golf course, sitting at the end of dusty dirt roads."

There are actually reporters who do this sort of blanket coverage for a living, wire-service types on "protective duty" -- that is, shadowing the president in case something horrific, such as an assassination attempt, occurs. These reporters don't come to the Vineyard because there's the potential that the president might go horseback riding with Mary Steenburgen; they come here because he does.

But for anyone who's not used to the dreary waltz of the White House press pool, covering a presidential vacation can become a frustratingly long chase for little details. And these details often end up being items that correspondents are slightly embarrassed to report. It's one thing to be assigned to cover a possible assassination. It's another thing to be assigned to cover a possible dessert tray.

"In past years, we've been sitting around the office at 10 p.m., on deadline, calling up the copy desk to tell them Clinton had the clam chowder, not the tomato bisque," says Mark Merchant, a Cape Cod Times reporter. "I can still remember that three years ago, when Clinton ate with Dershowitz, he had the carpaccio and Dershowitz had the gorgonzola salad. And I think, Why do I remember this?"

Part 7

Jason Gay can be reached at jgay[a]phx.com.