by Audrey Busta-Peck & Jinwei Wang
Observer staff

BEDFORD, N.H. – “Hey, Dotty, John McCain is here early. Can you and your students go over and talk to him while I get ready for the broadcast?

This is how CBS’ News Bob Schieffer became the newest “faculty member” in AU’s 2008 Election class. Our professor Dotty Lynch who was CBS News political editor before coming to AU brought us to the set of Face the Nation, CBS’ Sunday morning news show. Their guest was John McCain, the new leader in the New Hampshire Republican primary.

OBSERVER PHOTO by Dotty Lynch
Audrey Busta-Peck, left, and fellow student Jinwei Wang meet Bob Schieffer on the set of the CBS program Face the Nation.

McCain arrived forty-five minutes early for the live broadcast without the fanfare and entourage one might expect of a presidential candidate. He chatted with us and CBS correspondents Kelly Cobeilla and Jim Axelrod while being made-up and then casually got himself a cup of coffee and exchanged candid views about political events occurring in the 70s with Schieffer.

The CBS staff seemed just as at ease with McCain as they gathered over local papers and computer screens sharing funny stories without paying too much attention to his presence. The only tension occurred in the last three minutes leading up to the live feed, when kinks in the new system (there was no desk just tall director’s chairs on the set) were being worked out. Bob Schieffer, whose face was soft and welcoming all morning suddenly lost its smile and shifted into the professional gaze of a serious journalist. Senator McCain sat straighter in his chair which was so high than neither he nor Schieffer could actually touch their feet to the floor.

During the broadcast Senator McCain once again demonstrated his ‘old hat’ ease with the entire CBS crew and setup. During a short break from the live feed when host Bob Schieffer asked the control room how much time they had left, Senator McCain replied, “one minute” bringing chuckles from the crew.

Despite their elevated statuses, both literally and professionally, both McCain and Schieffer were surprisingly accessible and ever so normal. After his interview Senator McCain did two interviews with CBS affiliates before leaving and paused for a few photos with us. Once the show wrapped Bob Schieffer invited us onto the set so that we could all share the legendary waterfall background at the Wayfarer Hotel where CBS has based in New Hampshire coverage since 1964.

As we were leaving Professor Lynch told stories of the Wayfarer Hotel which was the “center of the New Hampshire primary journalistic universe” for decades. She told us about several generations of reporters huddled at the bar exchanging information and the bragging rights garnered from simply staying at the Inn, something she earned by sharing a room with two other staffer during her work as Gary Hart’s pollster in the 1984 campaign. Her stories illustrated the grand history of the Inn and well as the New Hampshire primary and fueled our excitement at being there to watch the live broadcast of Face the Nation.