National Media Shadow Mccain, Reflect Grind

It was easy to tell the national press corps from the rest of the folks at John McCain’s Spokane rally. They were the ones who looked tired and slightly bored.

After filing late stories Tuesday about McCain’s wins in Arizona and Michigan, the reporters were back aboard the campaign bus early Wednesday, before it picked up the candidate at his Arizona home.

Reporters from the New York Times, USA Today, the Boston Globe, several television networks and other media flew with McCain to Spokane. It’s not unusual for 60 or 70 reporters, photographers and support staff to board the plane, said Robert Pipkin, a member of McCain’s staff. Their employers, not the campaign, pay the journalists’ way.

During McCain’s speech at Gonzaga University, a few reporters took copious notes while others scribbled just a few brief descriptions. Some talked on cell phones.

“I hope he doesn’t tell `Washing Machine Charlie,”’ a Chicago Tribune reporter said, referring to a favorite McCain tale.

Instead, McCain told a campaign story about the late Morris Udall, a fellow Arizonan who ran in the 1976 Democratic presidential primary.

“He’s been telling that one since New Hampshire,” the Tribune reporter said.