Tony Snow Knows How to Work More Than One Room

After the president's televised speech on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Axelrod pressed Snow on why what was billed as a nonpolitical speech had become a vigorous defense of the Iraq war. Snow shot back that if Bush hadn't discussed Iraq, "it would have been seen as dereliction, and you guys would have been out here just clubbing me like a baby seal." Some viewers called Axelrod to say that he had been disrespectful.

Snow, says Axelrod, "has got a talk show host's knack of taking whatever question is asked and steering it into a two- or three-minute response that is a fairly strong defense of the administration's policies. He's probably dealt with angry callers before, and maybe we're nothing more than angry callers to him."

Sometimes the exchanges get heated. When NBC's David Gregory asked why Bush had not acknowledged more shortcomings in an assessment of the battle against terrorism, Snow accused him of expressing "the Democratic point of view." Gregory vigorously objected.

"Let's not let you get away with being rude," Snow said.

"Excuse me, don't point your finger at me," Gregory said. "I'm not being rude."

"Yes, you are," Snow insisted.

Snow says he "felt bad" about what happened and later called Gregory, saying he could ask as many follow-up questions as he wanted if he let Snow finish the answers. "I wanted to make sure we didn't have any more of those exchanges, because I think he's a good reporter," Snow says.

Sometimes Snow's freewheeling style produces a pratfall. In July, he inflamed the issue of stem cell research by saying that Bush believes the federal government should not "finance something that many people consider murder. He's one of them." Snow had to back off during the ensuing controversy, saying he had "overstated the president's position."

Reporters cut Snow some slack during his shakedown period, when he would sometimes plead ignorance on various issues. "Tony's made some statements he regrets, and he gets a pass on some days because he's new," Raddatz says. "But I think that little honeymoon is over."

Like every press secretary, Snow also must function as a reporter, ferreting out information from within the administration. When Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial" charged that Bush and his team were not being honest about the mess in Iraq, Snow spoke to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Henry Kissinger, among others, which helped him challenge various points in the book. But it was his glib sound bite -- "The book is sort of like cotton candy; it kind of melts on contact" -- that was widely picked up.

Away from the cameras, journalists give Snow mixed grades for providing information. They say he often delegates detailed questions to his deputy, Dana Perino, and other assistants. Snow says he can answer questions "to a certain depth" but that it makes more sense for reporters to deal with staff members who specialize in the subjects.

Others praise Snow for his accessibility. "I have e-mailed him at 6:30 in the morning on a weekend, and I have a response within a half-hour," Axelrod says.