Was Mario Diaz being courted by McCain when he interviewed Obama?
June 19, 2008 at 2:43 pm by Wayne GarciaI was struck by something in the coverage today about Tampa Bay’s 10 morning anchor Mario Diaz going to be a flack for the McCain for President campaign in the Southeast. From the Trib’s Walt Belcher:
Diaz says the offer from the McCain camp came after he attended a Republican Hispanic political conference in Orlando in May.
Diaz was one of several journalists who participated in a panel discussion on issues that concern Florida’s Latino community.
“I had the blessing of Channel 10 to attend the conference,” he points out. “After the session, people were coming up to me asking if I had ever considered going into politics.”
So, how far along were Mario’s talks with the McCain campaign when he conducted 10’s interview with Barack Obama last month? The Republican Hispanic Conference he references was held on May 10. Obama spoke in Tampa — and was interviewed by Diaz — on May 21.
I asked Tampa Bay’s 10 spokesman Pete Nikiel if the issue came up with Diaz when he let the station know he was leaving. Nikiel said it did not but was fairly certain that Diaz was not in talks with McCain when he did the Obama interview. “I don’t believe he was,” Nikiel told PoHo. “This all came up very quickly. We were all set to sign a contract with him.”
Nikiel said he did not have a way to contact Diaz, whose last day at the station was yesterday. I’m trying to track him down for comment and will update if I can.
UPDATE: I haven’t spoken with Diaz yet, but he did tell Eric Deggans at The Feed that he was offered the McCain gig on June 11, after he conducted the Obama interview:
Diaz said he talked to McCain’s regional campaign manager after interviewing the candidate at his June 5 fundraiser at the Vinoy in St. Petersburg.
“I knew they had needs in the state of Florida, so why not take that opportunity?” he said. “When Barack Obama came to town (in May) I fought hard for those stories…(And) I asked the same questions an anybody else.”
The job offer came less than a week later, on June 11, he said. Diaz’s last day at WTSP was Tuesday, and the former reporter said he filed no more political stories after informing the station’s general manager on June 11 that he was taking the McCain job.
