Meet Your White House Correspondents' Association Wannabes

FishbowlDC has gotten our hands on the candidate statements for the 2008 elections for president and three seats on the executive board of the White House Correspondents' Association. We've also written them to get their take on Pool Report-Gate and will let you know their stances on the issue. Join us after the jump... USA Today's David Jackson: "Managing the transition to a new administration is the top priority in the next year, and I have the experience to meet that challenge. ... Keeping down travel costs and improving access to senior administration officials are my two main issues." Washington Times' Jon Ward: "If elected, I would focus my efforts on minimizing travel costs, maximizing access to White House events and personnel, and on being responsive to questions, concerns, requests and ideas from each member of the association. Issue number one for next year's board will be establishing good relations with the next administration. ... I'll also try to bring whatever quickly dissipating hipness I still may have to the planning of the annual dinner." C-SPAN's Steve Scully: "The White House Correspondents' Association works because each board member brings to the table his or her own strengths & experiences. This allows us to collectively carry out our primary mission: Insuring our interests are heard and addressed by the administration. The transition from a Bush to an Obama or McCain administration will present itself with a number of new challenges, and I've had a little bit of experience dealing with these matters." ABC News' Stephanie Smith: "I will work hard with the new administration to make sure we set a precedent to allow normally closed events open. ... One of my pet peeves is press conferences with the president and foreign leaders where only two to three questions are allowed per side. At the risk of alienating my friends (and losing votes) from the wire services, it is also unfair that those few questions go to the same group of reporters every time. ... [M]y other primary concern is the rising cost of foreign and domestic travel while news budgets continue to go in the other direction. ... [W]e also need to have more access on foreign survey trips where we can be part of the decision-making process." NYT's Doug Mills: "I will work closely with Board President Jennifer Loven to make sure that access and coverage concerns are heard and that the needs and interests of the photographers and videographers who cover the White House are fairly represented."

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Meet Your White House Correspondents' Association Wannabes

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