Here's Why Hillary Released Her Tax Returns On a Friday

Ok. Say you are a Presidential candidate, always looking to connect with "the common voter," like the ones who may be facing foreclosure or job loss, and you want to release your recent tax returns.

But in a week when the Chair of the Federal Reserve is already making headlines by using the word "recession," announcing that you and your husband pulled in more than $100 million this past decade might need to be done with some discretion.

The solution? The "Friday Press Release," a D.C. phenomenon best described last year during the perjury trial of former Vice President Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. When asked about the Bush administration's unofficial policy on releasing bad or sensitive news, former Cheney communications director Cathie Martin had an easy answer. "Fewer people pay attention to it on late Friday," she testified. "Fewer people pay attention when it's reported on Saturday."

Does this D.C. trick work on MainStreet, too? We spoke with some communications experts. “The Friday document dump was perfected by the Clinton administration with the Monica Lewinsky case, Travelgate, Whitewater and other scandals that took place,” says Michael Robinson, senior vice president at Levick Strategic Communications, in Washington, D.C. “The bottom line is that releasing information on Friday does make a difference and here’s why. When it is released late Friday afternoon it will be reported in the Saturday news and the Sunday news is largely pre-written. Then, come Monday morning there will already have been other events that took place that will get covered.”