Hillary Clinton to do first national TV interview with CNN's Brianna Keilar

[MrMickeysMom]

9. I just stopped off here (NPR link) and wouldn't agree with that...

Here: http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/13/406250488/the-13-questions-hillary-clinton-has-answered-from-the-press

12.-13. Criticism of a staged campaign

And then a reporter from WMUR asked her to respond to criticism that the campaign is too staged.

"This is exactly what I want to do. I want to hear from people in New Hampshire about what's on their minds," she said.

And the follow-up:

"Are you planning to answer reporter questions about some of the things that are coming up regarding the play-for-pay allegations in the latest book, emails back in 2012?" the reporter asked.

"Those issues are in my view distractions from what this campaign should be about. What I'm going to make this campaign about," Clinton responded.

But does avoiding questions or not answering them directly hurt her with voters?

"The premise of your question presupposes that the way that Hillary Clinton needs to reach voters is through the national media, and that's simply not the case anymore," said Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist who was a senior adviser on John McCain's Straight Talk Express campaign back in 2000.

He argues a campaign as sophisticated Clinton's can bypass the media filter and target voters directly.

"The notion that real voters worried about real issues care one whit about how often a presidential candidate talks to their traveling press corps or answers questions from them is just ludicrous. It's not the case," he said.

You can argue other candidates have to answer reporter questions. They need the free media. Clinton doesn't. And with minimal primary competition, she'd be happy to have much less media attention.