Couric's Prime Time

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CBS's Couric Reports Live at DNC

On night two of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CBS anchor Katie Couric reports live.

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The blur of a day seems divided among those who want something from Couric, those she is chasing and chance encounters with friends and colleagues. Barkley, the former basketball star, tells Couric that he just got a colonoscopy -- which might sound odd, except that she has persuaded him to join a cancer telethon next week that she is spearheading with the other network anchors.

Shortly before 4:30 Mountain time, she is back on the floor for the "CBS Evening News." Even with a headset that includes dual earpieces, it is an act of supreme anchor concentration to conduct a broadcast during the roar of a convention so loud that Couric can't be heard five feet away. Two minutes before airtime, she previews a question with correspondent Jeff Greenfield, telling him, "You can take it in any direction you want."

Two hours later, having changed from a gray jacket and skirt to a navy one, Couric is going over scripts for the 60 minutes of prime time -- minus commercials -- that CBS and the other broadcast networks are allotting to each night of the conventions. She looks at an introduction on head writer Jerry Cipriano's laptop screen: "I'm up here with Bob Schieffer, a veteran of 20 conventions, not counting the Shriners . . ."

"That's funny, Shecky," she says.

They turn to the setup for the Dukakis interview. Couric wants a lighter tone, noting that the hand-held camera footage they shot is "very raw and YouTubey." She dictates the new wording:

"For me, a funny thing happened on the way to the Pepsi Center today. When I was at a security checkpoint -- does that sound like I'm in Iraq? -- I ran into someone who used to be famous. Just kidding."

Couric slips behind a curtain for some last-minute makeup and blow-drying, but the floor director warns that they need to get moving because "it's a zoo out there."

Indeed, the floor is so gridlocked that aides have to form a protective cordon around Couric, moving inches at a time as onlookers shout greetings, try to touch her and snap pictures. Couric goes on the air at 10 p.m. Eastern time as a band begins blaring to welcome the next speaker, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.

"This is Hillary Clinton's night at the convention, though not the night she had planned on," Couric begins amid the cacophony. Things go smoothly as she and her correspondents run through a series of interviews. When Clinton takes the stage to thunderous applause, Couric turns her head and smiles wistfully, watching another woman who tried to break through a glass ceiling. She slips on her glasses and makes notes on the prepared text.

Clinton's speech doesn't end until after 11, leaving Couric only two minutes to wrap up the show. But after a brief break, she launches into a Webcast, done with Cnet.com, that seems as much about giving the CBS team a sense of staying in the game as about reaching a small audience online.

Freed from the usual time constraints, Couric seems to come unplugged. She warns former White House aide Dan Bartlett that she's about to blow him off for an actress who has just sat down on the set, combing her tousled blond mane.

"Listen, Dan," Couric says, "you really are a total hunk of burning love, but I've got somebody much better-looking here. Morgan Fairchild never ages. What is that about?"