Contrary to what many believe, the media can take marching orders. On Thursday, in response to questions about his ongoing search for a running mate, John Kerry told reporters, “If you want to print speculation, that’s your choice.”
So, today, everybody did exactly that.
Do we know anything more now than we did yesterday — or two months ago — about toward whom Kerry is leaning? Nope. Is the media giving the Kerry campaign more ink than it could have dreamed of, filling uncounted columns with such aimless speculation about a choice we will learn of soon enough? Count on it.
The Washington Post’s Jim VandeHei and Lois Romano report at length about the veepstakes in an article best summarized by the headline, “Kerry’s Search: In Depth, In Secret.” Nugget: Gen. Wesley Clark’s stock has “plummeted” after he received “lackluster reviews” from some former colleagues.
The New York Times’ Carl Hulse sets his contender piece in the office of a guy generally considered to be on the short list: Rep. Richard A. Gephardt. Nugget: Hulse lets us all know that he got face-time with the veep-in-waiting shortly before Gephardt sneaked off to a 90-minute private tête-à-tête with Kerry.
In his veepstakes piece, Nick Anderson of the Los Angeles Times recites the plusses and minuses of the Missouri congressman. Nugget: Gephardt tells Anderson he feels “copacetic.”
And at the Associated Press, Ron Fournier reports that Kerry downplayed leaks from within his campaign about his eventual choice, saying they “don’t know what they’re talking about.” Nugget: Kerry’s leaning toward a “safe” candidate versus an unknown or unconventional pick.
Amid all this competition, Campaign Desk nominates as the best veepstakes story of the day, the article by Matthew Moriarty of The Pilot in Southern Pines, N.C. Moriarty checks in with local resident Bobbie Edwards, whose son, John, also is widely rumored to be on Kerry’s short list. Ms. Edwards’ take on the whole thing: “A lot of talk. No facts yet.”
Make that woman an editor.
–Susan Q. Stranahan
Susan Q. Stranahan wrote for CJR.