Talk Shows Pursue White House Contenders

Aug. 30, 2007 — -- Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., joked with David Letterman Thursday night her ex-president husband wouldn't be her pick for vice-president should she win the Democratic nomination -- because he can't.

"He looked into that," Clinton told Letterman, in her seventh appearance on "The Late Show." The leading Democratic candidate also read her "Top Ten List," of campaign promises, including number three: "We will finally have a president who doesn't mind pulling over and asking directions."

The high drama of the 2008 presidential race has many producers of daytime chat shows and late-night talk programs in hot pursuit of interviews with the White House contenders. Booking an interview with a leading presidential candidate can be as much of a score as booking a Hollywood star — and the presidential candidates are more than happy to oblige.

Clinton will joke it up on Friday with another talk show host, taping an appearance for the season premiere of the Ellen DeGeneres' show that will air Sept. 4.

The Clinton campaign got into the act this week, sending an email to supporters asking them to submit questions they would like Clinto to ask Ellen.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a frequent late-night guest, joked about his 71st birthday Tuesday on the "Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

"We're doing so poorly, I thought I would announce on this show that I'm running for president of the United States," McCain said jokingly during a wide-ranging chat about Iraq, his campaign and his birthday.

Clinton and McCain are just two of the many 2008 presidential candidates who are appearing regularly on daytime and late-night talk shows in an attempt to charm undecided voters, many of whom are female.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who first burst onto the daytime talk show circuit in a 2006 appearance on "Oprah" about his book "The Audacity of Hope" is taping an appearance on the "Tyra Banks" show next month.

While the "Oprah" show hasn't booked any of the presidential candidates for the fall season, the rainmaker talk show queen is hosting a celebrity-packed fundraising party for Obama at her $64 million Southern California estate Sept. 8.

Producers admit they want the presidential candidates on their shows because they can be huge ratings draws for their audiences.

"It is important to both Ellen and Tyra that their audiences get to the know the candidates firsthand in a way that humanizes them and we want to be a part of the political process in a nonpartisan way," said Hillary Estey McLoughlin, president of Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., which syndicates both shows.