Edwards, with banjo soundtrack: What about me?: The Swamp
 
The Swamp
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Posted January 18, 2008 12:24 PM
The Swamp

By Jim Tankersley

A months-long frustration in John Edwards' presidential campaign has crested this week - with a sense of humor attached.

"Dear Friend," deputy campaign manager Jonathan Prince just wrote in an e-mail to supporters of the Democratic former senator from North Carolina. "Where is John? If you're depending on the mainstream media to help you answer that question, then you might have to wait a long, long time.

"The traditional media outlets have their blinders on, narrowly focusing on the two $100 million celebrity candidates" -- those would be Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- "and trying as hard as they can to keep John Edwards out of the picture.

"Of course, we're not going to allow them to get away with ignoring the candidate who has led the field with the boldest agenda for change. You and I both know that John Edwards is the only candidate with the strength and courage to stand up to special interests while fighting for middle class families."

The e-mail goes on to direct supporters to a Web site and video contrasting Edwards' media attention with Obama and Clinton's -- and ending with a focus group of Nevada voters that judged Edwards the winner of the last Democratic debate.

Edwards is locked in a close race in Nevada with Clinton and Obama, polls suggest, but is lagging in national polls. Another e-mail from the Edwards campaign, sent to reporters earlier this week and titled "coincidence?" explored the relation between those national polls and national media coverage. Read on to see for yourself.

NATONAL MEDIA EXPOSURE

Clinton - 37%

Obama - 32%

Edwards - 7%

http://www.journalism.org/node/9266

ABC/WASH POST POLL

Clinton - 42%

Obama - 37%

Edwards - 11%

http://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1057a1The08Race.pdf

WASHINGTON POST OMBUDSMAN:

“Democratic readers have rightly complained that John Edwards didn't get the coverage he deserved.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/09/AR2007110901791.html

NEW YORK TIMES PUBLIC EDITOR:

“I’ll cite just one case where I don’t think The Times is paying enough attention… Clinton and Obama have been profiled twice each on the front page since Labor Day, but Edwards not at all this year. Throughout the paper, The Times has published 47 articles about Clinton since Labor Day, only 18 about Edwards.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/opinion/18pubed.html?scp=7&sq=CLARK+HOYT+

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Comments

Ha ha, angry Edwards can't get any media love. Boohoo. Maybe he should start attacking corporations more while getting $200 haircuts?


What does he expect?
He lost badly in New Hampshire, and is about 30 points behind the leader in Nevada and South Carolina according to the latest polls. Sounds like he's just playing the "poor white guy" card.


Learn the facts JACK! Edwards came in 2nd behind Obama in Iowa and 3rd in NH. He's only a few percentage points behind in Nevada. Nevada is a caucus, similar to that of Iowa, John stands a good chance of surprising a lot of people tomorrow. He wins in Nevada, he stands to do well in his home state. Think for yourself, not what the media tells you too. Look beyond the 'rockstar' status of Clinton and Obama. Change? Yeah, my a**.


We hope that you are our next President, You will be the finest our Country has ever had.


Having lived in Las Vegas for over a year I know there is a large population of illegal foreign nationals, employed by the casino'a and the entertainment industry. Hopefully there is enough supervision to detect at the Nevada caucases illegal voting. The culinary union which I belonged to has thousands of workers, who are not legally in this nation and will without hesitation break any law to gain an advantage. According to the 2006 U.S. census, it is estimated there are 610,000 Latino's in Nevada. Voting is a citizens right, a privilege given to us by the U.S. Constitution. Looks like advocate judges are interpreting the law, as they see fit. Example allowing Caucases to be acceptable in a gambling Casino, where illegal aliens voting would be a travesty of our Democratic process. Does the law of Perjury apply in a Caucase environment, when it come to voting for a presidential nominee?


It's a 3 way race, anyway you stack it. The media can't handle the fact that despite their machinations, it remains so. They don't want to get regulated to create a TRUE free market approach to media--so important in a self-governing democracy.
Bill O Blowhard and all of them pay that much and more. It's about getting a decent haircut you can count on. Grow up.


"According to the 2006 U.S. census, it is estimated there are 610,000 Latino's in Nevada. Voting is a citizens right, a privilege given to us by the U.S. Constitution."

Brittanicus, you are aware that the great majority of those 610,00 latino's noted in the census are citizens of the United States, aren't you? They're citizenship is no different than yours because they are latino. Are you aware that there were Latinos in Nevada before there even was a United States?

Latino is not a synonym for "illegal"


Can we sue the media for their own political engineering? They have loved playing Hill against Obama. Why does the MSM hate Edwards? Ratings I think. They didn't know what to make of Edwards and the truth. The truth is boring--it is always the same thing--over and over. That is the definition of truth.


While the MSM is intent on turning the Democratic race into a two person affair, Democrats themselves should be more concerned about winning in November! We can't take four more years, much less eight. This year, the Democratic primaries and caucuses have to be about ELECTABILITY, which is why John Edwards will get mine. It's icing on the cake that he is also the best and most progressive candidate we have.


Many voters don't pay any attention to anything except what they see on TV. If the networks show Clinton and Obama because they think they have the best shot at winning, they're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy!


Jeff,

The $200 haircut meme is old and retarded. FDR fought corporations and fought for the lower-middle class. FDR was super duper mega rich. Kennedys -- ditto.

And unlike those two, Edwards is earned, not old money. I am sorry that money disqualifies you from having compassion.


And unlike those two, Edwards is earned, not old money. I am sorry that money disqualifies you from having compassion.

Posted by: sk | January 18, 2008 10:56 PM


No Jeff, just wants candidates to get their wealth the honorable way, marrying a rich second wife after cheating on their first wife, like his hero John McCain.


Actually, I think Senator Edwards has a point - the media has cornated Hillary and Obama as the two that should slug it out with a lot more news coverage that he got. At what point does the media report news or try to shape the news?

You could say the same for Richardson, Kusenich, Gravel, etc.... Also, some of the Republican canidtaes have a similar complaints - Thompson, Hunter, Tancredo,....


I think the caucus system stinks, to much room for intimidation. And we talk about voting machines?
It is true that Edwards has been excluded from the media, volunteering for him in NH, I researched this and it was a noble idea wrong time, and unforunately the message needed to be re-tooled. Final analysis the message still needed to get out and I got scolded for seeming anti-Edwards, point being we have nobody to blame except ourselves. We needed to keep our candidate on talking points and he needed to actually have different speeches regarding other issues and pointing out differences. His advisors were nowhere to be seen in the media, no one running interference or running the show, just picking his pocket, for sure. Combined with this new we must have a candidate now, DNC motivated rush to pick a leader syndrome and the general apathy of the public, the media being afraid of UNions and an anti-corp. campaign and you have a failing campaign. So the least of the politicians loses, and so do we...In NH, as I tried to speak out about, poverty is DOA and maybe this is true in America. So let the veterans stay under the bridges and the poor take care of the poor, as we elect two fake liberals.


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