--John Edwards, speaking to supporters in Manchester, NH last night
Two small, predominantly White states have voted and they've decided that they are undecided, having chosen four different winners: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and Mike Huckabee.
A rational person might conclude that neither party is close to deciding who its nominee will be, but you wouldn't know that from what the media is saying, as FAIR points out in "Media to Voters - It's Over: Pundits rushing to end primaries and preempt voter choices."
David Broder of the Washington Post, Jonathan Alter of Newsweek and Tim Russert of NBC are all guilty of suggesting the race in both parties is practically over. As are David Brooks and Adam Nagourney of the New York Times and David Gergen, former advisor to Presidents Clinton, Reagan, Ford and Nixon. (FAIR gives props to Keith Olbermann of MSNBC for asking questions about "what passes for conventional wisdom in election coverage.")
If the mainstream media were doing its job -- spending less time handicapping the horses and more on reporting their positions and proposals -- American voters might realize this simple fact: the primaries are far from over. As FAIR points out.
In 1992, Bill Clinton lost the first five contests, but somehow managed to win the White House nonetheless. This very recent history would suggest that, at a very minimum, campaign reporters refrain from handicapping the outcome of the nominating process in early January. After all, it's voters, not the news media, who are supposed to elect the next president.
