Newspaper Endorsements - Worthless

There was a time in this country when getting the endorsement of a major (or even a small-town) newspaper was a necessary element of a political campaign.   Newspapers were the major way that voters learned about the candidates, and an endorsement by a newspaper could mean thousands of votes that a candidate would not have had otherwise.   In many races it was the difference between winning and losing an election.

But we live in a different world these days.   In this age of television and computers, there is mounting evidence that the political endorsement of one or more newspapers doesn't carry much weight -- maybe no weight at all.   A prime example of this is the 2010 race for Texas governor between incumbent Republican Rick Perry and Democrat Bill White.

Rick Perry is a far right-winger who has aligned himself with the teabaggers.   I think he knew that he would not be able to adequately answer the tough questions about his teabagger views to the satisfaction of newspaper editorial committees (who are known to throw tough questions at all candidates).   So he made a political decision.   He decided to not put himself in any position where he would have to answer any tough questions.

Part of this was to refuse to debate or appear with his opponent.   But another part was to refuse to meet with any newspaper editorial boards or answer any questions posed by them.   He had a ton of money and pinned his hopes on flooding the state with advertisements, while making appearances only before groups he knew were friendly to him.

The result was that Perry did not get a single newspaper endorsement.   Even right-wing friendly and traditionally Republican newspapers such as the Dallas Morning News and my own hometown paper, the Amarillo Globe News, endorsed Perry's opponent Bill White.   What else could they do?   White was the only one who would talk to them.

What did this landslide of endorsement support from state newspapers accomplish for Bill White?   He lost by nearly 13 points -- an even larger deficit than any of the polls had predicted.   It turns out that the newspaper endorsements accomplished nothing for the Democratic candidate (except maybe to give some Democrats false hope before election day).

Now Perry did have a couple of advantages.   He had a lot of money, and every Texan already knew who he was.   It is debatable whether he could have gotten away with ignoring the media had he been less well-known.   Sharron Angle (Nevada) and Christine O'Donnell (Delaware) tried the same tactic and lost.

But it is still obvious that all of the state's newspapers endorsing Bill White did him no good at all.   A case can easily be made that while newspaper endorsements were once a valuable commodity to a campaign, they no longer are.   They are now just an anachronism -- of interest only to us political junkies.

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News (Right-Wing Version)

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

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Late, Late Night FDL: Nobody Told Me

John Lennon - Nobody Told Me[...]

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Does "Waiting for Superman" Avoid Some
Inconvenient Truths

Perhaps you, already impressed with "An Inconvenient Truth", eagerly awaited the release of "Waiting for Superman" this fall.  Despite the merits of "An Inconvenient Truth", this writer was of the firm opinion that it glossed over some critical[...]

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The Nightowl Newswrap

• You did it! Keith will be back Tuesday! Here is the statement from Phil Griffin that was released late Sunday evening: "After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night." What isn't mentioned in that brief statement is the fact that they had been inundated with calls, tweets and emails, and over 300,000 of us had signed a petition. We like to think that Mr. Griffin listened to us, specifically, because what they did in the end was pretty much what we suggested. (This late addition to the roundup kinda makes the next one outdated, but what the hell? We're leaving it, because it makes us look really prescient, reasonable and diplomatic.)

• Keith says "Hey" At about 4:00 p.m. eastern he sent the following message out via Twitter: "Greetings From Exile! A quick, overwhelmed, stunned THANK YOU for support that feels like a global hug & obviously left me tweetless XO"  We hope he is back soon - we figure three donations of $2400 each ought to bring a three day suspension, tops. That sounds fair to us. If he is back by midweek, we will assume they took our tempered, sage and reasoned advice.

• File this under "even a stopped clock is right twice a day" "Senator-elect Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday he believes government spending cuts shouldn't exclude the military. ... On ABC's "This Week," Paul said: "Republicans traditionally say, oh, we'll cut domestic spending, but we won't touch the military. The liberals -- the ones who are good -- will say, oh, we'll cut the military, but we won't cut domestic spending." ... "Bottom line is, you have to look at everything across the board." ... Although Paul would not be drawn on specific cuts, he argued for a bipartisan approach: "I don't see things in terms of political party, so I think this can be something where I can work across the aisle -- but the second thing you need is a compromise on where the spending cuts come from.""

• Just a reminder that America doesn't have the market cornered on bigotry, hatred or intollerance - nor on the violence they breed. "A 38-year-old man has been taken into custody on suspicion of being behind a series of possibly racially motivated shootings in southern Sweden, police said on Sunday. ... Police said the man is being held on suspicion of murder and seven other shootings over the past year in the city of Malmo, which has a large immigrant population. ... Sweden prides itself on tolerance, but September's general election gave the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrat party its first seats in parliament, reigniting debate on the generous policies toward foreigners who want to settle in the Nordic country."

• Remember this when they sing Reagan's praises: Today's GOP would run him out of the party on a rail and his surviving staffers know it, too. That is why they are speaking up about some of the more ridiculous things the republicans are proposing. Reagan's former Budget Director, David Stockman, has added his voice to the chorus, blasting the notion of extending the Bush tax cuts budget busters for the top two percent of earners: "Two years after the crisis on Wall Street, it has been announced that bonuses this year will be $144 billion - the highest in history. That's who's gonna get this tax cut on the top, you know, 2 percent of the population. They don't need a tax cut. They don't deserve it. And therefore, what we have to do is focus on Main Street."

• We have said it before and we will say it again...Sarah Palin is too fucking stupid to Tweet After favoriting a Tweet by Ann Coulter that linked to a photo of a sign outside a wingnut fundamentalist church that implored the blood of Ja-he-zus was responsible for the GOPs electoral success because Barack Obama is a "Taliban Muslim" - and retweeted it with the endorsement "My New Church!" - she came under fire for it from the press and from Democrats. Now she has no favorite tweets and she is saying it was favorited accidentally. So how about the retweet that disappeared? Was that an "accident" too, Dumbass?

• A rational response to an irrational decision. "Activists in northern Germany have been fighting running battles with police, trying to halt a train carrying nuclear waste from France. Officers used batons, pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon to disperse at least 1,000 protesters who were trying to sabotage railway tracks. The protesters hurled fireworks and set a police car on fire near Dannenberg. Earlier, the train was halted after activists lowered themselves on ropes from a bridge over the tracks. Sunday's clashes took place near Dannenberg - the final destination for the train before the waste is loaded onto lorries and taken to a storage facility."

• One of us has been there and stood in awe before this magnificent demonstration of architectural genius. His Popey-Rapeyness just desecrated it. "Pope Benedict XVI has consecrated Antoni Gaudi's unfinished church, the Sagrada Familia, as a basilica in the Spanish city of Barcelona. The Pope sprinkled holy water on the altar before a congregation of more than 6,500 people. Gaudi's greatest work has been under construction for more than a century, and will not be finished before 2026. The current chief architect said he hoped the Pope's visit would provide the boost needed to finish the work."

• We bet there were unicorns - and why not, since no one from outside could observe it. "The people of Burma have voted in the country's first national elections for 20 years. Ruling generals say the polls mark a transition to democratic civilian rule but critics say they are a sham. The National League for Democracy, the main opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, boycotted the vote. Observers say voting proceeded calmly while opposition parties say it was manipulated. "The authorities of various levels forced the people to cast advance votes," said Sai Ai Pa O - president of Shan National Democratic Party, which is fielding the fourth largest number of candidates."

• The world's greatest marathoner knows when to retire. "Marathon world-record holder Haile Gebrselassie has announced his retirement from athletics. The 37-year-old from Ethiopia made the announcement after dropping out of his first New York Marathon after 16 miles with a knee injury. "I never thought about retirement. But for the first time, this is the day," said the two-time Olympic champion. Gebrselassie set the world record of two hours three minutes and 59 seconds in Berlin in 2008. It was one of 27 world bests he set over his career, which also yielded eight world titles since 1993, ranging in distance from the 1,500m up to the marathon. "Let me do another job," he added. "Let me give a chance to the youngsters. I did very hard work to win this race, it didn't work." "

• Sounds to us like voters realize if the Socialists won't save them from austerity-driven catastrophe, no one will. "Greece's ruling Socialists have an early lead in crucial regional elections, partial results show. With 10% of the vote counted, the Pasok party of PM George Papandreou is ahead in eight out of 13 regions. The polls are seen as a referendum on the government's austerity plan aimed at tackling a deep economic crisis. Speaking after the vote, Mr Papandreou vowed to continue the reforms, ending speculation that he may call a snap general election."

• The problem isn't Pakistan's slowness in fighting terrorists; it's Pakistan's efficiency in supporting terrorists. "US President Barack Obama has criticised the pace of Pakistan's fight against militants within its borders. "Progress is not as quick as we'd like," said Mr Obama. He was speaking in the Indian city of Mumbai on the second day of a 10-day Asian tour designed to boost US exports and create jobs. Mr Obama called for dialogue between India and Pakistan, adding that India was the country with the biggest stake in Pakistan's success. US support for Pakistan is one of the most sensitive issues Mr Obama faces during his visit, says the BBC's Mark Dummett in Delhi. Many Indians think the US cannot be trusted as long as it continues to supply weapons to Pakistan's army, this country's "enemy number one", adds our correspondent."

• Here's the thing about active volcanos: the eruptions can continue for months. "Malaysia has moved to airlift hundreds of its nationals from Indonesia as Mount Merapi volcano continues its massive eruption. It sent three C-130 transport aircraft to Solo airport to collect 664 stranded Malaysians, many of them students. Some airlines have stopped flying to Jakarta over fears of ash damage. On a visit to refugees from the eruption, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said there was no sign of the eruption abating. Speaking at a stadium in Yogyakarta province, he said 283,000 people had now been forced to flee. More than 130 people have died since Merapi began erupting two weeks ago, its greatest activity in a century."

• Another big voter turnout in Africa.  Are you paying attention, Democrats? "There has been a big turnout in Guinea's presidential run-off election. It had been hailed as the West African country's first democratic election since independence from France in 1958. The candidates - former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo and the opposition leader, Alpha Conde - come from Guinea's two largest ethnic groups. Their supporters have clashed many times since the first round in June, and the run-off had been delayed twice. ... In Conakry voters streamed into voting stations from dawn, waiting patiently to cast their ballot. "Everybody is in a hurry to finish with the old system, money being stolen to benefit a few, the waste," retired doctor Saidou Cisse, 67, told AFP news agency at a voting station at a seaside school."

• Phelps Phuckheads Phoiled "People in Weston, Missouri banded together on Saturday. They wanted to protect loved ones who were saying goodbye to a fallen soldier. They stood up to members of the Wetboro Baptist Church who planned to protest at Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell's funeral. ... Sadell died October 24 from injuries he suffered in a surprise attack in Afghanistan. On Saturday, there was quite a turnout of people who wanted to keep the protesters away from the funeral. ... "I'd say probably half the people in Weston are here," said Eric Moser, Marine Corp veteran. ... "We got everybody here early so we could take up all the parking spots," Rooney said. ."We did that so Mr. Phelps wouldn't have a contingency that was really close." ... Supporters came armed with patriotic music and American flags. ... Protesters didn't stick around long once they saw the supporters. ... "I'm glad they left, but I'm sad they came," Rooney said."

• Setting the stage for a government shutdown Eric Cantor, one of the more conspicuously unintelligent and intellectually dishonest members of the republican caucus, was one of the Sunday Morning Bobbleheads this morning, and he got busy setting the stage for a government shutdown. They will shut it down, he said - reluctantly, of course - but it will be Obama's fault because they will only take the step if Obama fails to de everything they want him to do. "The president's got a responsibility as much or more so than Congress to make sure that we are continuing to function in a way that the people want," Cantor told Chris Wallace of Fox  News Sunday this morning. (Does he mean like the republicans honored the will of the people after the 2008 elections? Because if so, we're totally down with that...)

• Gates wants DADT repeal in the lame duck session "U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress should act quickly, before new members take their seats, to repeal the military's ban on gays serving openly in the military. ... He, however, did not sound optimistic that the current Congress would use a brief postelection session to get rid of the law known as "don't ask, don't tell." ... "I would like to see the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" but I'm not sure what the prospects for that are," Gates said Saturday, as he traveled to defense and diplomatic meetings in Australia. ... Unless the lame-duck Congress acts, the repeal effort is considered dead for now. ... The current, Democratic-controlled Congress has not acted to lift the ban, which President Barack Obama promised to eliminate. In his postelection news conference Wednesday, Obama said there would be time to repeal the ban in December or early January, after the military completes a study of the effects of repeal on the front lines and at home. ... With Republicans taking control of the House in January, and with larger margins in the Senate, supporters of lifting the ban predict it will be much more difficult."

• We'll take that chance Dan Coates, once and future Senator from Indiana, is calling for filibuster reform, but not because he thinks the Democrats have gotten a raw shake the last two years. He thinks the republicans are going to retake the Senate in 2012 because 23 Democratic Senators are up for reelection, and he thinks they will have the Presidency then too, and filibuster reform now will allow them to roll back everything that Democrats have achieved since the election of FDR.

• Religion kills. A family that followed the Raelian faith slowly starved to death in their apartment over approximately two months. The wife was apparently the first to die, followed by her adult daughter and then finally the man of the house. He had lost his job, and while the neighbors offered them help through churches and social agencies, and had family they could have turned to, they begged "Elohim" for help in long rambling letters, and as the days passed, the pleas became more desperate, although beseeching Elohim for direct help doesn't fit in with Raelian doctrine.

• We're convinced our cats would roast marshmallows (if they had thumbs, anyway) but these kitties saved the day "A Baldwin City family can thanks its cats for escaping a house fire. ... Investigators said the cats alerted the family that the fire had broken out in the house this morning in the 200 block of Dearborn Street just before 2 a.m. The house was already in flames when the family woke up. ... Everyone was able to get out of the house safely. "

• That was a farce of an election and we would have protested it, too "Polling places appeared nearly empty around Yangon on Sunday as the rest of the city went about its business during the first election in 20 years in this closed and tightly controlled nation. ... The process was expected to cement military rule behind a civilian facade but also to open the door slightly to possible shifts in the dynamics of power. ... "It was an empty room," said one voter who emerged from a polling place where he said he had spoiled his ballot in protest. ... Though the new Constitution guarantees the military a leading role in the state apparatus, this will be the first civilian government in the country, formerly called Burma, since a military coup in 1962. With votes being tabulated locally, it was not known how soon the results would be announced. ... In the last election, in 1990, the party headed by the pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won a decisive victory, but the generals annulled the result."

• Tweet of the Day "2 years ago I bought Walmart out of guns and ammo and have been hunkered down since. When is Obama coming to take them? Can I come out yet?" @RagingTeabagger

And finally...

• Mass cetacean-cide. Environmentalists are trying to establish how 33 whales beached and died off the coast of County Donegal. They were found on Rutland Island near Burtonport on Saturday. It's thought they were the same group spotted in the Inner Hebrides at the end of October. Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history. He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a role. "Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Inner Hebrides at South Uist last week," he said. "It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again." "

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Open thread for night owls: The Perriello way

At The Nation, Christopher Hayes writes, The Perriello Way:

One thing you learn early in Washington is that the incentives there—the way fundraising works, the culture of Capitol Hill—are set up to push legislators away from a progressive vision. Which is why it turns out to matter a shocking amount whether a politician actually cares about making the country more just. The path of least resistance, particularly in a district like [Tom] Perriello's, is to triangulate, distance yourself from the national party and get a seat on the Financial Services Committee so you can raise millions from the banks.

Perriello pretty much took the path of most resistance. On domestic issues he embraced progressive politics instead of shrinking from them. Of the forty-nine Democrats who represented districts that McCain won in 2008, Perriello was one of only five who voted for the Recovery Act, cap and trade, and healthcare reform. (On the wars, Perriello was a disappointment, voting two times to continue funding the war in Afghanistan.)...

In the wake of Perriello's loss, it's tempting to conclude that conviction politics simply doesn't work. But the fate of Perriello's fellow Virginia freshman Democrat Glenn Nye suggests it's not so simple. Nye also beat a Republican incumbent in 2008, though in a district Obama won—rather than lost—by a narrow margin. But he took the opposite tack from Perriello, distancing himself from the national party and the president almost immediately, voting against cap and trade, healthcare reform, patient protection and extending unemployment. Fat lot of good it did him. He lost his race by seven more points than Perriello did.

Strange as it is to say, the lesson of election night, in Virginia and nationally, may be that Congress members' voting records don't matter all that much.

If that's the case, you might as well vote for what you think is right. The point of being in Congress isn't to get re-elected; it's to make the country better while you're there—something that seems to have been lost on so many Democrats who took the easy way out. On election night, Perriello told his supporters that his father had told him when he got into politics, "Judgment Day is more important than election day. It's more important to do what's right than what's easy.... I'm proud of what we've done and what we've accomplished."

Everything from the tenor of his voice to his wistful smile communicated that he meant it.

• • • • •

At Daily Kos on this date in 2008:

Late last night Franken face[d] a 236-vote deficit against incumbent Norm Coleman. As county registrars review their math (all of this pre-recount), adjustments continue to be made.

As of this post, the gap is now 221 votes.

According to Minnesota law, the ballots will be examined for voter intent. CW is that most spoiled ballots (not properly marked per instructions) come from inexperienced and first-time voters, or Democratic-leaning voters. We'll know in a few weeks if that's really the case. But the closer the final certified pre-recount tally, the better for Franken's chances of taking this thing.

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-owls:-The-Perriello-way

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2010: An Aligning Election

The 2010 elections were remarkable for their orderliness, tending to reinforce existing political coalitions.

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