Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has finally held a press conference, after more than 275 days without one.
Well, it was sort of a press conference. I think I answer more random questions from my coworkers on any given day than she answered in the entirety of her little event, but close enough, I guess.
She kind of broke the anti-press conference streak on Tuesday, when she took a few questions on board a plane from reporters. The problem with that “press conference” was that it wasn’t advertised in advance and Clinton was able to control the event by leaving in a coughing fit after someone asked about a bad poll number. Some in the media didn’t think it counted as a press conference at all.
So it looks like Clinton tried again Thursday morning. There was a lectern, it had the backdrop of her campaign plane and certainly looked like a press conference. Except, it was barely a press conference.
Clinton took six – six – questions. National Review’s Jim Geraghty has a good breakdown of questions she was asked. NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell asked a seventh question as Clinton was trying to wrap things up. Five of the questions were invitations for Clinton to trash GOP nominee Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee or Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson.
One question was about the recent polls showing Trump in the lead and Clinton being just as disliked as the Republican candidate. The final question was about ground forces in Iraq.
Comparatively, at one of Trump’s last press conferences, the GOP candidate took some 85 questions, depending on how you count. Sometimes Trump would interrupt the questioner or would answer with only a few words. But even if you discount all of those instances, Trump still took many, many more questions than Clinton’s seven.
Clinton’s going to use this selective little question-and-answer session to claim she’s taken a press conference, that she’s not hiding from the press. This could barely be considered a press conference. Clinton probably gets asked more questions by coffee baristas.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
