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Caban
Maybe the old saying, “timing is everthing” is true. Pardon the skepticism, but I tend not believe such corny sayings until I’m literally living them.
Well, I’m eating those words late on a Tuesday night as I put the final touches on this week’s newspaper.
Although I have a habit of working late on Tuesdays, this week is different. You see, by the time you read this column, I’ll be flying across the country in the direction of Washington, D.C.
With the country beginning the third-ever impeachment trial in its nearly 300-year history, one of the two men currently representing Oklahoma in the United States Senate offered gallery tickets lottery-style to media outlets across the state.
Like anyone with an appreciation for history, I put in for a ticket last week and thought nothing of it.
I got the news late last week that I’d been selected and would be covering the trial on behalf of our parent company, Wesner Publications.
While I am grateful for the opportunity to cover this, I wanted to share some thoughts ahead of my flight.
First, my goal is to give you, the readers, a sense of the atmosphere and a sense of what it’s like to be in the U.S. Senate chamber. I want you to know what it feels like to be in the room.
Multiple reports have indicated the Senate is enforcing strict rules not only for members of the media but also anyone in the public gallery.
As such, I’ve been pregaming to set up interviews with both Senator James Lankford and Senator James Inhofe. Both men as senators are serving as jurors in the impeachment trial of President Trump. Staff members from both of their offices have been very helpful in coordinating our coverage of the trial.
Additionally, I’ve been working closely with Brett Wesner, the owner and president of Wesner Publications, and Brian Blansett, the publisher and editor of The Lincoln County News, The Herald and the Stroud American. Brian is the former publisher of The Shawnee News-Star and was my boss when I was sports editor there.
I mention both of them because like me, we want to report on the process of the trial. We want to see that it is done fairly on the Senate side and not focus on the spot news that other outlets will focus on.
We want the next few days to shine a light on the workings of Washington and educate folks about the impeachment process.
As a result, the next few days will probably be hectic. My stories will come online first either through www.madillrecord.net, our Facebook page or even my Twitter handle, @mrmattcaban.
I’ll be looking at things such as how other senators react to our senators. For example, I want to see if other senators defer to Senator Inhofe due to his seniority.
Additionally, if there is time, I’ll look to visit with the senators for Texas and New Mexico as Wesner Publications has newspapers in those states, too.
But all that said, I don’t know what the next few days have in store. See you on the other side.