National media setting up camp around SC for presidential primaries

TV anchor Craig Melvin has traveled the world, but this week and next he’s back in familiar territory.

“I’ve spent many a Friday and Saturday night here,” Melvin said earlier this week while sitting in Liberty Tap Room. “(Attorney General) Alan Wilson and I have been friends for a long time — we came here the night of his wedding. There are a lot of memories.”

Tuesday, Melvin and Wilson were in the Vista bar and grill again — this time as the South Carolina attorney was making an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Place for Politics” show.

Melvin, a Columbia native who works as an MSNBC anchor and NBC News correspondent, is one of nearly 100 employees from his network in town this week and next for coverage of the state’s primaries.

In fact, with Saturday’s Republican primary and next week’s Feb. 27 Democratic primary, national media are setting up shop around the state — in restaurants, on college campuses and elsewhere — to track candidates and results.

“We started out in Manchester, Iowa, with a couple of shows on the road and we decided we wanted to extend that model out here in South Carolina since South Carolina is such a pivotal and important part of the 2016 process that we wanted to be here and be here early,” said MSNBC senior vice president Yvette Miley, who also was on hand at Liberty this week.

Taking the shows on the road is a “massive undertaking,” Miley said, but one that is worth it for the network. In addition to airing from Liberty Tap Room in Columbia, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” will air live from the Market Pavilion Hotel in Charleston this weekend, and correspondents are in place for live hits from Greenville, Myrtle Beach and elsewhere across the state. Lester Holt will anchor Friday’s broadcast from Columbia.

Another major network, CNN, hosted a Presidential Town Hall on Thursday at the University of South Carolina’s law school, just a day after hosting the same event in Greenville. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper led the live event that included over two days presidential hopefuls Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump.

CNN set up a studio at the law school Thursday and will continue to shoot there Friday. Former S.C. Rep. Bakari Sellers, a CNN political correpondent, offered on-air commentary prior to the Thursday Town Hall and will offer post-event commentary from the law school again Friday.

C-SPAN does not have a set studio in the state, but it does have studio uplinks and crews positioned in Columbia and Charleston, according to political editor Steve Scully, adding the network already is looking ahead to coverage beyond South Carolina.

“Our objective is to cover as many of the candidate events in the Palmetto State, while also deploying staff and resources to Nevada and the other states leading up to the March 1 ‘SEC’ primary,” Scully said. “So, while our South Carolina coverage will remain extensive this week and next, we are also focusing on the other states where this presidential race is taking shape.”

Efforts to reach officials with FOX News about the cable network’s plans were unsuccessful.

Being selected as the site for a studio set is a plus for business, said Liberty Tap Room manager Beth Hooks.

“A lot of people are excited about it. They see the truck out back and they come in and are excited to watch and see what’s going on,” Hooks said.

It was perhaps the bar and grill’s themes about America and liberty throughout — including a small Statue of Liberty replica — that caught the eye of an MSNBC producer who frequented the establishment when he was in town in October to cover news of the area’s flooding, Hooks and Miley said.

“We have a lot of folks who are familiar with South Carolina, so we immediately had like seven different suggestions of where to set up, but we did have a producer familiar with Liberty and we all agreed it would be perfect because of its size and because it allows us to have a live broadcast and still not interfere with their ability to run their business,” Miley said.

Shows were shot live from the location each day this week as well as from Charleston and Lexington, where Thursday, Melvin was “the man on the street.”

“We can always get the talking heads to show up — the state reps or the elected officials,” Melvin said. “Our challenge continues to be going out and finding the real people — primary voters — and asking them if we’re bold enough, ‘Who are you voting for?’ Or at least, ‘What’s motivating your vote and how has that changed in four years or eight years?’

“South Carolina’s interesting for a lot of reasons ... and the state has done a remarkable job of picking winners,” Melvin added. “That’s why we have so many resources here. The Peacock has done a lot to stimulate the economy here in Columbia.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 2:34 PM with the headline "National media setting up camp around SC for presidential primaries."