November 2, 2010 – Tonight is election night. This is not a political blog, so I’ll not waste time posting my own views. I will, however, comment on the coverage by the national news versus local blogs.
I understand that national news outlets are in a difficult situation when it comes to calling elections or pushing too far in predicting outcomes. However, it seems that once a narrative gets set in the national media all the voices end up saying the same thing.
This year’s election night story is all about how Republicans will likely take the House by a few seats and make gains in the Senate without coming up with the requisite 10 seats. Everyone but the most hopeful of Democrats are saying that. I’m afraid even NPR is parroting this narrative. Just check out Ken Rudin’s comments on the Political Junkie Blog. To his credit, he doesn’t just make numbers predictions, but calls out specific races and backs up his numbers with named outcomes.
If that were all we needed to hear, we could have mailed this in weeks ago, but clearly there is more to this election. Lots of people are very fired up and states like Arkansas are looking at historic changes in the political makeup of their legislatures. I was in Texas from 1975-2002 and witnessed a similar transformation. What happened there changed all manner of political fortunes in that state and the country. I don’t know if this is going be a blowout election for Republicans, but the issues that are making it possible are the story, not the outcomes on this night. In other words, why this is happening is more important than who wins.
That’s why I love local news blogs. Truth be told, they probably call the election the same way the national voices do, but they have the insight to understand why. I tend to check out two of them here in Arkansas. They represent the two sides of the political spectrum.
On the left there is Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times. He’s often pretty cranky but a terrific writer and he definitely keeps an ear to the ground on all things newsworthy. Decide for yourself if you believe his spin, which he will definitely offer. (I’ve met him a couple times and as is typically the case, the guy is much nicer in person.)
On the right is The Tolbert Report. Jason Tolbert is not as strident in his views as Max Brantley. He works with firms that do business on both sides of politics, so while he calls his blog conservative, it is not a local version of Rush Limbaugh. That’s refreshing given the tone of too many in the Republican party in this state.
I won’t be covering news on this election night. I have to be at a recording session for Tales From The South beginning at 7 PM. And I won’t be glued to a TV set afterward. Actually I don’t have a TV, but that’s another story for another blog.