The Press is Killing American Elections

Sunday, January 13, 2008

It was always my impression that the press was supposed to report on the news, not unduly influence it - especially when it comes to presidential elections. Judging by the election coverage for the first 3 primaries (2 if you actually listen to these media outlets), I couldn't possibly have been more wrong.

What we have been served to date, in terms of election coverage, has been deplorable. Long before the first ballots were cast in any state, candidates were already being written off. "Expert commentators" from each of the major political news outlets were touting the inevitability of Rudy Giuliani's candidacy and declaring Huckabee, Paul, Romney and others as inconsequential also-rans.

As if it weren't bad enough to provide inadequate coverage of these "marginal" candidates initially, the press has greatly compounded the severity of their sins by oversimplifying the primary process, and in doing-so, prematurely predicting the demise of viable campaigns.

Primaries with multiple legitimate candidates are all about delegate accumulation - NOT about "winning" states by a small percentage.

The press has failed to make this distinction in the Republican primaries and caucuses to date. After the Iowa caucuses, the headlines read that Huckabee's win could spell doom for Romney. This was despite the fact that Romney scored a quarter of the republican vote, nearly twice that of his next closest competitors.

In fact, through three Republican primaries, Romney has been the only candidate to manage at least 20 percent support in each contest. He presently leads the delegate count for the Republican primaries and handily beat his competitors in the Wyoming caucuses (which for some reason, the mainstream press completely ignores).

In fairness, Romney presently faces a major challenge - as do all Republican candidates - from John McCain... but the magnitude of that challenge is greatly amplified by the inappropriately influential press coverage that is being pushed at the American public.

McCain's New Hampshire "victory" (which earned him 7 delegates to Romney's 4 and Hucabee's 1) has given him substantial momentum leading into Michigan, South Carolina, and Nevada. In these 3 states, people are being influenced by the media statements that McCain is now the front-runner, that Huckabee is a strong possible candidate, and that Romney's campaign is on life support... but these are, in some part self-fulfilling prophecies. If you repeat the same conjecture long enough and loud enough, it will be taken as fact. It unfortunately forces still-viable candidates to fight an increasingly uphill battle to save their candidacies.

So my plea to the press is simple: Report the facts, supply analysis if you feel you must, but DON'T tell us who will win the general election and whose candidacy is finished before 1 percent of America has made its voice heard.

Tagged: 2008 presidential election, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republican Primaries, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani

Comments

Be the first to comment on this story!