Tales from the Trail: Behind the Scenes on the Campaign Trail

A minute 20. Maybe a minute 30. Occasionally, two minutes. That is how long my story usually runs. That is what you see. And it takes about nine hours to get there. Sometimes even longer.

It is what you don’t see that likely would surprise you. The phone calls to get an interviews. The emails, the texts. The “you call too much.” The “you should have called earlier”. Then, the interview finally happens.

After, I realize, "Wow, there were some really interesting moments that did not make it to television." Well, now I can show them to you.

NBCDFW.com managing editor Frank Heinz works with political reporter Julie Fine to set up her Tales from the Trail blog.

This is the great Frank Heinz, managing editor of digital here at NBC 5. Today, we have set up my blog! Now great moments won’t be forgotten.

Here is an example: I once interviewed a candidate who had to jump up and take a call from his son. He had just finished his first basketball game. (I am not telling you the year. Or the candidate. I can just assure you I am 29 and it is not this election cycle) There was not enough time in my story, but it would have been an interesting part of it. With Tales from the Trail, that won’t happen again.

This is one of the most interesting elections in a very long time and Texas will be playing a huge role in it. Because we are now part of Super Tuesday, there will likely be a higher turnout. That could affect the many local and state races as well. I am so excited to be the political reporter covering this for NBC 5.