John King, above tracking primaries for CNN with a touch-sensitive map, got his start in journalism in R.I.

The New York Times

The conventions are coming. The Democrats begin in Denver tomorrow. The Republicans follow in St. Paul next week.

You’ll see Barack Obama and John McCain, of course. But there’s a good chance you’ll also see John King. He’s an independent: a journalist, the chief national correspondent for CNN. While ABC, CBS and NBC plan to show just one hour of convention coverage each night, King will be on the air for CNN beginning at 6 p.m. and going late into the night every night of the conventions.

King cut his political news teeth in Rhode Island.“I didn’t know much about the state when I got there, but I loved it,” said King by phone last week. “It was a great experience.”

King, 44, is now working his sixth presidential election, and he predicts that interest among the public this time around is high.

“I think there is a lot of drama,” King said. “I do not remember as many important story lines heading into both conventions.”

Achieving party unity will be the story of both conventions, says King, whose own story is one of hard work and good timing. It began in the fall of 1981. King, a native of Boston, matriculated into the University of Rhode Island. An older brother went to Boston College, an older sister to Boston University. King wanted to blaze a new trail.

“My rebellion brought me all the way to Rhode Island. It wasn’t much of a rebellion.”

But it was a solid career foundation. After interning for nearly three years with the Associated Press in Providence, King was hired as a full-time reporter in the spring of 1985, a month before graduating from URI with a degree in journalism.

“This was the time of Buddy Cianci, Arlene Violet and Chief Justice Bevilacqua. It was a great time to learn the business. My Rhode Island experience was cops and robbers and political scandal.”

Among other topics, King covered the Rhode Island State House, amidst a pack of Providence reporters.

“I joke about this all the time that I worked in the shadow of a guy wearing suspenders, Charlie Bakst. Now I have Larry King in suspenders, so I feel very comfortable.”

After two years in Providence, King took a job at the Associated Press in Boston, and covered Governor Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign.

“The person covering the State House didn’t want to get on a plane and schlep to Iowa. So I got the great gift of being asked if I wanted to do it.”

King, of course, said yes; then two years later yes to an Associated Press post in Washington, D.C., where he was the bureau’s chief political writer; and five years later, he said yes to CNN, which had to ask him twice.

“I was a print journalist and an AP wire guy. I was trained to do the basics, nothing flashy.”

Switching from print to broadcast, King said “was a big challenge. I was petrified.”

While the presentation of information differs between the medium, King decided the essence of each is the same: reliable reporting.

King covered presidential campaigns for print in 1988, 1992 and 1996, and for broadcast in 2000, 2004 and again this year. Last Wednesday, CNN presented King’s 90-minute special profile of John McCain.

King will be covering both conventions; he sees the challenges of each and how those will intrigue viewers enough to keep them watching.

Obama, King says, must unify the Democratic Party by reconciling the rift caused by Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.

“The Democratic Party is a dysfunctional family and he has to repair that issue.”

The Democratic Party, which is presenting the first African-American presidential nominee, after nearly selecting the first female candidate, is about change, according to King. Change is what Americans want, he said, and, apparently what they don’t want.

The economy is in decline. The housing and credit markets are a mess. The war in Iraq is costly and not supported by most Americans. And President Bush has one of the lowest approval ratings in history.

Yet polls show McCain and Obama are even.

“For the Republican to be in a dead heat with the Democrat is remarkable. As much as Americans want change, Americans are generally cautious people. George W. Bush was not president for two terms for no reason. And Bill Clinton did not run as a different Democrat for no reason. This is a right-of-center country. The country is a lot more conservative than people living in Providence, R.I., may think.”

The Republican Party, in King’s view, has been damaged by the economy and the degree to which it will identify itself as conservative.

“There is a moral crisis in the Republican party. McCain has created his own brand because the Republican brand is in the tank.”

Obama seems an appealing candidate to many Americans, who, according to King, don’t seem quite ready to commit to him.

“Obama: Is he ready? That’s a legitimate question to ask any candidate. The second question is: Are we ready? That’s a legitimate question. Many people, especially in more conservative parts of the country have said, I’ve never done this (voted for a black candidate) for city council or mayor and now I’m thinking of doing it for president? It has given people pause.”

For all of those reasons, King expects coverage of the two conventions to be well watched.

“People are interested and are paying much closer attention than in the past elections.”

One advantage a television broadcast of the conventions offers over a newspaper article about them, King said, is the ability to not just learn about the candidates, but to learn by listening to them.

“When you’re trying to get to know someone better, whether it’s a date or a business relation, it’s better to sit across a table than to exchange letters. It’s easier to get to know them by watching them.”

But print has its place, according to King, who hopes that people who watch CNN convention coverage will seek supplemental information from the network’s Web site.

In the midst of this past year’s political campaign coverage, King, who has two children from a previous marriage, married again, May 25 on Cape Cod to Dana Bash, a CNN reporter.

“We managed to get married in a presidential election year. I give us both points. And I give credit to our boss to help work things out.”

Managing their demanding jobs with their married lives, King said “adds complication. We know what we do. No one makes us do this. We both love our work.”

The brunt of this year’s work will subside after the first week of November. After that, King said, “I think there is a beach somewhere on our horizon.”