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‘We Have Little to No Happiness Here’: Inside the Spin Room at the Seventh Democratic Debate
Even the dramatic moments at the showdown in Des Moines, Iowa, felt predictable
This much was clear: The journalists were tired.
During Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa, I sat, alongside several hundred other journalists, in the event’s spin room: a large, open gymnasium inside Drake University’s athletics arena that was outfitted as a debate media hub. Reporters were squeezed together along rows of tables, surrounded by TV pods where nicely compensated correspondents could sprawl out and record their segments. We were about 1,600 feet from the school’s Sheslow Auditorium, the setting where six politicians — Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Tom Steyer — took to the stage once again to make their case for the Democratic presidential nomination. Whereas the media pit is harsh and utilitarian, the Sheslow Auditorium is beautiful, a 500-seat room that features ornate stained glass windows and TV-ready overhead lighting. It’s a bit strange, the fact that dozens of news outlets spent thousands to send their reporters to a debate that they wind up watching on screen anyhow. But, like any political event, the atmosphere surrounding the debate was at once excitable and chaotic — and if you want to nab a quote from a politician or campaign staffer, it’s a hell of a lot easier when you can bug them in person.
Tuesday marked the seventh debate in the primary, and arguably the most meaningful one, as it was the last one before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3 that will substantially winnow the Democratic presidential field. For many exhausted reporters, the highlight of the night appeared to be spotting (and petting) Griff, Drake’s beloved bulldog mascot. Visiting Griff has practically become a mandatory campaign stop for Democratic hopefuls: Pretty much everyone has posed for a photo op with the seven-year-old dog. Sure enough, as he trotted through the spin room he was greeted by a chorus of coos.
“Why do people love Griff so much?” I, apparently a curmudgeon, mused at one point earlier in the evening.
