VIRGINIA — The butterfly effect has been in effect here this week, as a Democratic state senator’s comments about racism in presidential politics on a Hampton Roads talk radio show led to a storm of condemnation from the right, drawing the attention of Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly, the conservative blog world, and commentators like radio personality Laura Ingraham.

And while non-traditional news sources such as talk radio and the blogosphere are monitored but rarely reported on by most newsrooms, mainstream reporters start to take notice of some sort when a local story takes on national proportions. Here’s a look at the blowup and how some traditional media outlets have handled the controversy.

It started last Friday when Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), a campaign surrogate for President Obama, said that presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney is “speaking to a segment of the population who does not like to see people other than a white man in the White House or any other elected position.”

Lucas was appearing on a program hosted by John Fredericks, a veteran broadcast and print reporter and a conservative whose website says he strives to bring together “diverse views… on the most pressing regional, state and national issues of the day.” Fredericks had recently played host to Romney, and Lucas was on to provide balance, and to speculate about why the Romney campaign was gaining ground on Obama. (She also offered another, less politically charged explanation: people are on vacation for the summer, and so not paying attention to the Obama campaign’s messages.)

The media attention started the following Monday, when conservative websites seized on Lucas’s more controversial remarks—relaying them in sometimes mild-mannered, sometimes angry fashion. (It’s a good bet that O’Reilly, who featured Lucas’s remarks on his show Monday night, got it from a source like these.)

By Tuesday, the episode had broken through to the mainstream press, getting
written up on The Washington Post’s “Virginia Politics” blog (which got the day of Lucas’s radio appearance wrong). The Post relayed a good chunk of Lucas’s comments, plus an outraged response from Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, but didn’t add much besides this bit of flavor:

A liberal firebrand, Lucas has never been one to hold her tongue. She stormed out of a committee meeting one day during this year’s General Assembly session, tossing papers as she left.

A day later, the editorial page of the Richmond Times-Dispatch weighed in, arguing that Lucas’s claim that opposition to Obama is rooted in race is “absurd,” and concluding that “for the vast majority, their opposition stems from their belief that he is of the wrong party—not the wrong color.” Editorials are what they are, but the Times-Dispatch had provided no news coverage of the statements; it’s unfortunate that readers had no previous points of reference from which to draw for this particular bit of opining.

Meanwhile, as time passes, the coverage has become more thoughtful and thorough. The best coverage I’ve seen came from the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, the state’s largest newspaper. The paper’s Wednesday story (an updated version of an article that appeared online Tuesday) was even-handed: reporting on Lucas’s remarks in full, tracking the in-state and national response, noting that in addition to her controversial statements Lucas had called for a dialogue on race relations, and seeking follow-up. (Lucas did not respond to interview requests but did issue a statement saying, “the overwhelming majority of Virginians will make a choice in this election based, not on race or any other factor, but on what they believe is best for their families and their futures.”)

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