You know we’re in for it this election year when the local paper quotes someone as having decided to vote for a candidate because the opponent’s television ad voice-over is whiny. “The nasal quality of the lady he had doing them is what finally got to me. ‘Now come on, Mark Dayton….’ That whiny, nasal thing. That’s what did it, what put me over the edge.” That’s the exact quote from today’s Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
It’s not just that this is “news” (and maybe a good argument in another era for a voter-intelligence test). It’s that this was the front page, below-the-fold, lead. If Gore hadn’t been in town pan-handling for votes and spare change and if the Minnesota pro basketball team hadn’t gotten caught cheating this would have likely been the paper’s headline. Right next to the alleged rapes in one of the city’s high schools. What’s especially sad is that the Dayton-Grams race is one of the few—locally or nationally—that offers even the appearance of a choice. (Dayton brags about being on Nixon’s enemy list and Grams figures Dayton is a subversive and should be ashamed.)
It’s sad, but what’s truly disgusting is that the same paper (and every other mainstream media outlet in the region) has managed to miss what looks to me to be two enormously important stories.
In Minnesota, we elect our judges. This would be good, except that party endorsements somehow got tied into the deal. So the Republican party makes its first judicial endorsement in a state supreme court election. Their candidate is actually campaigning for the court seat full-time and went so far as to get approval from the Secretary of State to use his wife’s maiden name on the ballot. His wife’s name is obviously Scandinavian and that’s thought to be important (or at least politically prudent) here around Lake Wobegone.
That’s not the story that hasn’t been told, though. While the candidate may have been endorsed by the Republican party, the State Bar Association and an impressive collection of broad-spectrum, cross-party politicians have run ads for the incumbent judge running against the Republican endorsee. The question to be asked is why the Republican party would endorse a judicial candidate that has been shunned by major politicians from end-to-end of the political spectrum.
Instead of real coverage of the issues, we’re insulted with scripted professional wrestling commentary. We get the candidates we deserve, I suppose, and the journalism too.
An even bigger political story that’s been missed by the mainstream media: Imagine what would happen if the citizenry managed to take the sophistication of political elections to a level the pundits would have us believe impossible. Take a look at these and consider participating:
Maybe there’s hope for us after all, and maybe—just maybe—this Internet thing is good for something after all.
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