Keller @ Large: With Trump, Fun-And-Games Period Over
BOSTON (CBS) -- Most of the political reporters I've ever met take their work very seriously. In a business where tremendous attention and resources are devoted to manipulating the media, most of us try very hard to make sure that doesn't work.
But our handling of the latest episode of "Star Trek: The Voyage of the Spaceship Trump" is verging on an epic fail.
Here's the backstory: Donald Trump has successfully filled the vacuum of pre-voting campaign coverage with a handful of controversial positions on hot-button issues, a string of buzz-creating insults, and a mesmerizing shtick familiar to anyone who's watched the guys playing shell games on the street corners in Times Square.
But now the strictly-fun-and-games period of the campaign is ending, and decision time is at hand for caucus and primary voters.
And in Iowa, where the GOP caucus is dominated by strict social conservatives, Trump's past support for abortion rights, conveniently discarded just in time for this campaign, is a major liability.
Evangelicals and others have been buzzing about that out there, and when the topic came up at Trump's press conference the other day he admitted: "I don't want to talk about that."
And he knows darn well he was going to be forced to discuss it at length in tonight's final pre-caucus debate.
So he cooked up a pretext for bailing on the debate, and now hopes to manipulate the media into playing along.
Watch closely tonight.
If he does skip the debate and they don't press him on that and other issues that will come up, Trump wins.
And the notion of a press corps with a clue takes yet another damaging blow.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
