1. Newspaper Coverage in the Internet Era
It seems to me that the best papers stopped complaining about the web and started to use it to their advantage. The web allows for real-time presentation of information and gives newspapers the opportunity to highlight the work and the voice of its best writers. While the Washington Post is the largest paper covering Virginia, it proved to be the most nimble and innovative also. It dedicated real resources to the race, published a set of must-read web updates on a daily basis, and established Roz Helderman as an important new voice in Virginia.
Kudos also should be given the Daily Press and Kimball Payne and the Northern Virginia Daily and Garren Shipley. Both papers featured these reporters in ways that enabled them to demonstrate the range of their knowledge and their insights into what was really happening during the campaign.
2. Free Mike Sluss!
There are a number of Virginia papers whose web presence in the political arena has not taken full advantage of their reportorial talent. The RTD, for example, could utilize the skills of Tyler Whitely and Jeff Schapiro, two of Virginia’s most experienced journalists far more effectively. Schapiro, who was blogging before the term was invented, should be given more frequent opportunities to bring his distinctive voice to bear on current events. The Virginian-Pilot made it burdensome to find Julian Walker and his daily updates of the political scene.
But the award for the worst political web presence goes hands-down to the Roanoke Times. Mike Sluss is generally acknowledged to be one of the smartest, dedicated, and wittiest members of the capitol press corps. But his work was essentially buried by his own paper. It was difficult to find his byline; his work was never really highlighted; and the front page of the website rarely even bothers to update its political news. Featuring Mike Sluss might be a good way to enhance the visibility of the paper’s political coverage.
3. Was Amy Gardner’s Thesis Article Fair?
The answer is yes. Gardner was led to the thesis by a comment by Bob McDonnell himself, legitimately highlighted assertions that were controversial and provided McDonnell with an opportunity to respond. It seems to me that any concern about media fairness would have to focus on the aftermath and what happened in the wake of the article and not on Gardner’s original work. Interestingly, in the final tally, the thesis article prompted Deeds to overplay his hand and gave McDonnell the opportunity to show the public how he might react to adversity as Governor.
The Deeds campaign obviously viewed the article as manna from heaven, largely because it fit perfectly with its belief that Bob McDonnell was highly vulnerable to negative attacks. But it turned out to be a terrible miscalculation. The attacks on McDonnell ultimately did not resonate with voters. Virginians have shown little inclination to punish candidates for what they wrote 20 years ago ( recall Jim Webb’s comments about women in the military). McDonnell’s record as Attorney General did not provide any evidence that he was motivated today by the more distasteful views expressed in the work. By the end of the campaign, much of the public felt that Deeds was “too negative” and that McDonnell was by far the more “gubernatorial” candidate.
4. Deeds and the WAPO Editorial Page
In the Democratic primary, its timing was impeccable. The WAPO editorial board endorsed Deeds just at the moment that the Moran-McAuliffe murder-suicide was going down and was generally acknowledged as the kingmaker in Deeds’ nomination. It continued to support Deeds in the general, even praising as courageous his electorally suicidal stance of endorsing a tax increase for transportation improvements as the first major act of his governorship.
Editorial pages are, of course, expected to endorse candidates and support them strongly. But I was struck by how little attention WAPO’s editorial page paid to candidate skills and administrative potential in its commentary throughout the entire race. I never quite understood how it saw Deeds as either a better candidate or more qualified to be Governor than the 3 M’s-Moran, McAuliffe, and McDonnell.
5. Anita Kumar and the Travelin’ Governor
Anita Kumar and the The Washington Post were in the forefront of the effort to compel Governor Tim Kaine to release his DNC travel records. A high ranking official in the Kaine administration told me that the only people who care about this issue are “Anita Kumar and her editors at the Post.” But Kumar’s persistence eventually compelled the administration to develop a schedule for releasing them. More importantly, the travel issue was the first indication that Kaine’s acceptance of the DNC position wasn’t playing well in Virginia and that his linkage to the national party could pose a problem for Deeds.
6. The VITA Mess
During the last three months, the big state government story was the continuing mess at VITA. Olympia Meola, David Rees and Jeff Schapiro have been all over the story from the outset and their reporting has been simply outstanding. While it never obtained the status of a central issue in the campaign, it is a matter that Governor-Elect McDonnell will have to attend to quickly. The last thing McDonnell needs in these challenging times is for VITA to become his mess.
7. Debate Contrasts
I saw Jay Warren of WSLS in Roanoke moderate a three way debate between Ken Cuccineli, John Brownlee and Dave Foster during the AG nominating contest. He did a very good job, asking tough questions of each candidate. I wasn’t surprised when he did the same in a fall gubernatorial debate. The contrast with the initial gubernatorial debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters, WCVE and WTVR was striking. The sponsors of the initial debate put PBS moderator Judy Woodruff (who does not cover Virginia politics on a daily basis) in a terrible position when they allowed her to read “so-called ”citizen” questions that came from individuals affiliated with advocacy groups. The nadir of the evening came when a citizen question was posed to Bob McDonnell that came from the Executive Director of an advocacy organization that had endorsed Deeds.
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