Thoughts on '08 and the Media

Today's post: a series of short thoughts on some happenings you may or may not have heard about.

On other 2008 races:

One of the things no one is talking about (in large part because no one knows about it) is how important the Governorship races will be next year. Generally I pay little attention to the color-coded maps of who controls the Executive Mansions in each state. Next year might change that for me. After the 2010 Census some states (all in the Northeast and Midwest, including my home state of Missouri) will lose Representatives--and therefore electoral votes--in the House of Reps, and other states (all in the West and South) will gain them.

That sounds pretty benign in itself, but in most states the legislatures will draw the new district boundary lines. This process is almost entirely politically motivated, as both parties seek to create "safe" districts wherein the Representative never has to truly face the voting public. In these districts the incumbent always wins. In a state like Missouri there are five GOP districts and four Democratic ones. If the Show-Me state loses a seat, will it be 4-4 or 5-3? That will be decided in 2008 when Missouri elects a new Governor (Blunt will be out, whether by his choice or the voters'). If it is a Democratic Governor, he/she can veto any GOP plan to save the five Red districts. If it is a Republican, you can count on the GOP retaining the Representative majority. This same process will play out in several other states, making '08 an increasingly important election cycle.

On the Edwards hubbub:

This week on the Hollywood behind-the-scenes website Variety.com appeared a little blurb about a John Edwards happening that is generating little press, but has the potential for big impact:

The aggressively photogenic John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the "I" word -- Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. As a chill descended on the gathering, the Edwards event was brought to a polite close.

Both the pro-Israel camp and the anti-Edwards camp started running with this story and framing it as "Edwards thinks Israel is more dangerous than Iraq, al Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, or anything else". While that is way too extreme, the Edwards camp is apparently taking it seriously enough to have spoken with the AP and called the report "erroneous". Their denial of it speaks to the fact that if he truly said something like this it could be devastating. The other thing it speaks of is that many people don't put it out of the realm of possibility that Edwards would say such a thing.

On the media:

Liberal bias in the media is so predominant that it is almost not worth talking about. There are times, though, that you step back and look it and it is still both blatant and subtle in such a fashion as to be shocking. Take this example. Here are today's top five headlines from the politics section of Yahoo News:
• Obama attracts celebrities and cash
• Clinton seeks aid for minority students
• S.D. senator moves to rehab facility
• Biden: National security key in 2008
• Dodd: Iowa, N.H. may level 2008 field
Five positive or neutral stories about Democratic politicians. Here are headlines six and seven:
• GOP donor hit with terror charges
• Iraq casts long shadow over Republicans' White House hopes
Two negative stories about the GOP. To find so much as a neutral story about a Republican candidate you have to scroll down to headline twelve: "Bush urges diversity in spy program recruitment"

There you have it. Have a great Wednesday.