For their first joint television interview, Mitt Romney and Paul D. Ryan have picked the most popular news program on American television: “60 Minutes.â€
The interview will be broadcast on Sunday evening on CBS, just a few hours after it is taped in High Point, N.C., the network said Sunday morning.
At the time of the network's announcement, the interviewer, Bob Schieffer, still had not arrived in North Carolina, underscoring the swiftness of the planned segment.
The same-day turnaround is highly unusual for “60 Minutes,†a newsmagazine that typically spends weeks and months crafting its segments. But it's logical for both the Romney campaign and for CBS. The campaign has an opportunity to reach tens of millions of viewers just one day after announcing the selection of Mr. Ryan as Mr. Romney's running mate, thereby creating another news peg for its rollout of what it has dubbed “America's Comeback Team.†And CBS, with “60 Minutes,†has the shelf space for the interview on its schedule.
The newsmagazine - which has higher ratings than any other news program on a weekly basis - is presently on summer vacation, and thus showing reruns each Sunday night. The interview will be subbed in. It will not take up the whole hour of the broadcast; the exact length of the segment will be determined after the interview is taped, a CBS spokesman said.
The Obama campaign similarly looked to “60 Minutes†as it announced Joe Biden as Mr. Obama's running mate in 2008. Steve Kroft, a correspondent for the newsmagazine, had the first joint interview with the two men, though that interview was conducted six days after the ann ouncement of Mr. Biden's selection.
Notably, it's not Mr. Kroft or another regular “60 Minutes†correspondent doing the interview this time. Instead, it's Mr. Schieffer, who is most closely associated with Sunday morning, not Sunday evening, as the host of “Face the Nation.†Mr. Schieffer, well-respected and affable among TV interviewers, last interviewed Mr. Romney in June.
