It's Not a F***ing Horse Race!!! 

It's Not a F***ing Horse Race!!!

It's discouraging to see weblogs fall into the time honored and corruptly lazy press habit of covering an election as if it's a horse race. The weblog of The American Prospect Online again ventures into this territory with its account today of which presidential campaigns are growing, as measured by the number of people signed up for their meet-ups. The problem with even caring about such things, as well as poll numbers and how much money the candidates have raised, is it detracts from discussing things like issues and the character of the candidates. It is largely because of this kind of focus, and the apparent inability of the press (and now the weblogs) to focus on or even understand issues, much less present them to the public in a coherent or accurate manner, that presented us with a choice between Bush and Gore, as opposed to say a choice between Bradley and McCain. The reason we get this kind of coverage, however, is obvious. It's easy. You can look at this month's poll and last month's poll and report that Clark has slipped and Dean is holding steady. The significance of this is debatable, but it's easy to look at the numbers and say it is so. And by doing that, as opposed to looking at a candidates position on something and reporting that the number don't say what he says they say, you don't run the risk of being accused of being partisan or biased. And we know that's the last thing anybody wants to have to face up to.