http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/Here's the media shaping our elections again!
I knew I shouldn't read this article because I knew I would find WaPo sticking its nose in and censoring candidates again. Chris, you neglected to mention the progressive Dems running in Minnesota and Rhode Island because they are both ANTI-WAR. I thought it was the media's job to report the news, not shape elections and throw its support to certain candidates.
This sucks and I really despise the disservice you are doing to the American people. When you censor candidates, you censor our right to have debate about issues and hear opposing points of view. Media reps like you are destroying our right to representation.
Having boatloads of money may be YOUR litmus test for who is the best candidate but it isn't mine! You failed.
Where's Ford Bell?
6. Minnesota -- OPEN Rep. Mark Kennedy continues to represent Republicans' best chance at a pick-up this cycle, but his road is not an easy one. Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar (D) cleared the primary field with remarkable ease over the past six months and has performed admirably on the fundraising front -- raising more than $3.7 million by the end of March. Klobuchar campaign pollster Anna Greenberg released a survey this week that showed her candidate with a 50 percent to 42 percent lead over Kennedy. More interesting than the head-to-head number, however, was that 66 percent of the sample said the state was on the wrong track and 58 percent voiced disapproval of the job President Bush is doing. Since the numbers were provided by Klobuchar's pollster, we take them with a grain of salt. But if Greenberg's numbers are anywhere close to where public sentiment actually lies, it will be extremely difficult for Kennedy to win.
Where's Carl Sheeler?
2. Rhode Island: For the first time since The Fix started compiling the Senate Line, we seriously contemplated moving this race down a slot or two. Secretary of State Matt Brown's (D) departure from the primary (a bow to the inevitable) should help former state Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse (D) consolidate support and save resources for the general election. And there is a very real possibility that Sen. Lincoln Chafee will lose the Republican primary in September to Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey. But if Chafee wins the primary, his moderate Republican credentials will make it difficult for Democrats to paint him as a tool of President Bush. The race keeps its high spot on the Line pending the results of the Republican primary, but the lack of a competitive primary on the Democratic side makes it easier for Chafee to win his own primary race. Whitehouse vs. Laffey, the Democrat probably wins. But in a Whitehouse-Chafee match-up, the seat is much more likely to remain in GOP hands.