ABC News hammering out Palin interview plans

Republican vice-presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin speaks at a campaign rally with Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in Albuquerque, New Mexico September 6, 2008.

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC News is spending more time trying to assemble the logistics of its exclusive interview with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin than it did negotiating with the McCain campaign itself.

The Alaska governor, a virtual unknown two weeks ago, has electrified the election campaign since Sen. John McCain stunned the political establishment by announcing her as his running mate on August 29.

But the GOP campaign refused to make the relative newcomer available for interviews. Until Friday afternoon, when senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt offered an exclusive to ABC News.

The network quickly locked down most of the details with the campaign. But the challenges of traveling to Alaska -- and, more importantly, bringing along a network-news infrastructure for the interview and two nights of "World News" -- has taken into the early part of the week to arrange.

Even as late as midday Monday, Gibson's schedule was up in the air. It's likely he'll leave Wednesday, and will interview Palin several times Thursday and Friday. The interviews will take place in two unidentified cities in Alaska.

The first parts of the interview could air as early as Thursday's "World News." But it will be a rush, "World News" executive producer Jon Banner said Monday.

"The time change is a challenge, to say the least," Banner said. "We're on at 2:30 in the afternoon (Alaska time)."

The network said it couldn't yet commit to a primetime hour for the Palin interview, though it's likely that a special edition of "20/20" or "Primetime" with Palin would likely be a ratings winner given how well last Wednesday's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention did in the ratings.

It's fair to say that every network, broadcast and cable, was clamoring for the first interview with Palin. NBC was believed to have no shot because the McCain campaign is extremely upset with the network for MSNBC's treatment of the governor. But ABC News execs said it had less to do with that and more to do with Gibson's reputation as a straight shooter.

"Charlie is very tough but very fair (as an interviewer), and that's probably the reason," Banner said. "But you'd have to ask the campaign." Gibson last week did a hard-hitting but also fair interview with McCain last week, the candidate's only interview during the Republican National Convention.

Gibson wasn't available for comment Monday, but Banner said there were no preconditions to the Palin interview.

"There are no restrictions. All questions are on the table," he said Monday. "But we haven't had those discussions" about possible questions yet.

ABC News president David Westin added that Gibson has an advantage over other journalists.

"He has covered politics for essentially his entire life," Westin said. "He knows politics. He loves politics. It's in his blood."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter