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What it's like covering the midterm debates
Nominees in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin faced off last week.
Video by Jessie DiMartino
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Afterward, I followed Ryan back to his campaign bus and, along the way, asked him questions about providing additional resources to those recovering from opioid addiction. When Ryan left, I returned inside to continue my conversations with the family members, asking for more information about the work that they're doing to memorialize their loved ones. Several advocates gave me brochures and photos of those they'd lost. I now carry them with me in my gear bag as a reminder of one goal of reporting: listening to and sharing people's stories.
Back in Cleveland for the night, I prepared to do it all again the next day with Barnes, Wisconsin's Democratic nominee for Senate.
After sneaking in a few hours of sleep, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday to catch an early morning flight to Milwaukee. The weather had taken a turn and the sky cracked open -- pouring rain -- with tornado sirens wailing when I arrived at the Barnes event, which was a stop on his \"Ron Against Roe\" tour, where he speaks to voters about Sen. Johnson's opposition to abortion access.
At the event, at a restaurant in West Allis, I ran into one Wisconsin resident whom I met previously at another event in downtown Milwaukee.
When I was introduced to Mandi Miller of Wauwatosa, in August, she was pregnant with her second child. When I saw her in the room on Wednesday, Miller had dressed her beautiful new child in a shirt with the words \"Mandela Barnes\" on it.
Like with Ryan, I asked Barnes questions -- but this time in a press gaggle, sharing my time with the other reporters on site.
That wasn't all I had to work on: Correspondent Rachel Scott and team were doing a package on the state of the race in Ohio, so I was assisting them on gathering information as well as location-scouting for them to film. (As an ABC News embed, you service all the platforms so when one -- or a multiple -- comes knocking, you answer.)
Neither the Republican Senate nominees in Ohio nor Wisconsin had events on Tuesday and Wednesday. While I hoped to spend more time with them on the trail during the week, I knew that with Election Day looming it was only a matter of time before I caught up with them again.
I was finally in the final stretch of debate week -- though there are a couple more later in the month. (Who's counting?)
Thursday saw an embed team-up because I had two simultaneous debates to cover, so my colleague Hannah Demissie, who usually covers the South, watched and reported on the gubernatorial event in Michigan.
I started my Thursday morning by covering a virtual news conference between Barnes and retired U.S Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served in the Trump administration and was a key witness at the former president's first impeachment trial. Barnes and Vindman were pushing back on GOP criticism of Barnes' statements about police by highlighting Johnson's ties to Jan. 6, which Barnes underscored with a new campaign ad that day.
A House Jan. 6 committee hearing earlier this year revealed text messages from Jan. 6 in which Johnson's chief of state wrote to an aide to then-Vice President Mike Pence that \"Johnson needs to hand ... alternate slate of electors for MI and WI\" to Pence as part of the effort to derail the certification of Joe Biden's victory over Trump.
Johnson insisted to the ABC affiliate WISN in August that the Jan. 6 committee was making a \"grotesque distortion\" and that he had \"nothing to do\" with the fake electors and \"virtually no involvement\" in the efforts to send anything to Pence, adding that his participation \"spanned the course of a couple seconds.\"
After writing a note recapping Barnes' news conference -- plus an article for ABC News' website -- I continued prepping for the second and final Senate debate in Milwaukee.
I arrived at the venue nearly two hours before the start of the showdown expecting Barnes supporters to be outside -- and sure enough, like the first Wisconsin Senate debate a week earlier, there they were, waving signs and chanting.
I interviewed a couple of attendees and it was in the middle of filming when I realized my fingers were getting numb. Wisconsin's fall and winter are no joke! I made a mental note to order some gloves and hand warmers online.
MILWAUKEE, WI— We're outside the site of the second and final senate debate in Wisconsin.
— Paulina Tam (@TamPaulina) October 13, 2022
Like first debate last Friday, supporters of Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes are out chanting and waving signs of support, this time around holding cut out letters that read \"Defend Democracy.\" pic.twitter.com/gyaNG0Ksbi
Inside, the hour-long debate got underway and it flew by.
Interestingly, no one from the Barnes campaign came to the spin room so I asked a member of his team afterwards for their take. They said, \"His debate performance speaks for itself!\"
I ran (drove) back to my hotel where I spent the rest of the evening writing notes about the debate and prepping for the Wisconsin gubernatorial debate on Friday.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/ohio-house-representatives-election-debate-tim-ryan-jd-vance-01-gty-llr-221010_1665444557725_hpMain_2_4x3t_384.jpg\")
After a few hours of sleep, I woke up to grab some coffee, put on some \"war paint\" (aka some makeup) and joined an Instagram Live with \"Nightline\" co-anchor Juju Chang to promote this week's \"Power Trip\" episode and give viewers a glimpse at my wild week.
It warmed my heart to see Juju again. Did you know she used to be a presidential embed? She has seriously done it all!
After a quick meeting with my fellow embeds, I spent the rest of the afternoon prepping for the gubernatorial debate before heading to Madison where I grabbed some MOS -- jargon for \"man on the street\" interviews -- with several supporters of Gov. Evers.
I also saw the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party in the crowd so I chatted with him about the state of the gubernatorial race as well as asked questions about whether any big-name surrogates were coming to campaign on behalf of the ticket. The chairman respectfully declined to confirm any names but shortly after said off-camera that former President Barack Obama was planning to travel to Milwaukee later this month.
MADISON, WI— We're less than two hours away from the first and ONLY gubernatorial debate here in Wisconsin and a couple dozen supporters of Democratic incumbent Governor Tony Evers are out here braving the cold to voice their choice.
— Paulina Tam (@TamPaulina) October 14, 2022
Feeling like 36 degrees here on the ground🥶 pic.twitter.com/hIEnvW5QsI
I immediately alerted my team about the development and shortly after sending that email, it was debate time. News of Obama's visit would dominate the spin room later in the evening, with a surrogate for Michels, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, contending the Democrats were \"in trouble\" because they're \"bringing out the big guns.\"
With the debate wrapped, I sent one last note off to my colleagues, packed my gear and headed back to my home for the night in Milwaukee. There I read up on what happened in the gubernatorial debate in Michigan and finished my half-eaten breakfast sandwich -- cold but still delicious, especially after a grueling week.
\"Power Trip\" releases new episodes on Sundays on Hulu.
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