politics

AP Brings Out the Leftovers

June 8, 2004

It’s a slow political news day, which perhaps explains why the Associated Press has just offered up one of the least essential stories to come across the wire in quite a while: “Kerry Seeks Columns From Iowa Governor.” Turns out — brace yourself — that veep contender Tom Vilsack wrote hundreds of newspaper columns between 1987 and 1992. And the Kerry campaign has asked to look at them!

The AP might argue that this story deserves play because it sheds light on Vilsack’s chances of becoming vice president. We’d grudgingly accept that argument, but for one thing: The Chicago Tribune‘s Jeff Zelany reported more than a week ago that the Kerry team was looking at Vilsack’s columns. And Zelany’s piece at least offered some insight into the machinations of the veep vetting process. The AP’s warmed-over snoozer, by contrast, isn’t much more than a banal examination of the columns themselves.

Leftovers can be enjoyable, but you’ve got to be more creative than this to justify putting them on the table. Particularly when the meal wasn’t all that satisfying the first time around.

–Brian Montopoli

Brian Montopoli is a writer at CJR Daily.