Nice profile of my friend Kay at chicagotribune.com:
Candidates and their campaigns take pretty seriously the ubiquitous reporter with the black flip hairstyle and the rectangular glasses.
“She’s the voice of Iowa,” says Tommy Vietor, the local spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. “If you want to deliver a message and you’re not talking to Kay, you’re not doing it effectively.”
Kevin Madden, spokesman for Republican Mitt Romney, says he was “star-struck” when he met Henderson last summer at the Ames Straw Poll. Along with other national political junkies who cyclically train their focus on Iowa, he’d been reading her blog religiously for months.
As David Yepsen, the Register’s political veteran, puts it, “Kay’s a double-barreled reporter. She instinctively understands how something will play with average Iowans,” he says.
“An estimated 2,000 rental cars will be returned those days (January 4 and 5) and approximately 50% more people will be departing from the Airport than on a typical day. Many national and international media personnel will be attempting to leave Central Iowa. It will take the cooperation of everyone to ensure this happens efficiently and that the nation gets a good picture of the capability of Central Iowans.”
Kay Henderson was back in the digital Green Room following ABC News’ debate this morning in Des Moines. The “other guys” in the headline were: Actor Ron Livingston; the LA Times’ Mark Barabak; ABC News Political Director David Chalian and ABC News senior political reporter and author of “The Note” Rick Klein.”