The good people at Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) are keeping state politicians honest, declaring a statement made by GOP candidate for governor Jeff Johnson as “misleading.”
Johnson was touting the results of two recent
opinion polls showing incumbent Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton below 50 percent and
only single digits ahead of him.
As MPR concedes Johnson correctly quotes the results
of the recent polls. Where he errs, in
MPR’s view, is to draw too optimistic a conclusion about where he stands.
In true Pauline
Kael fashion MPR has not met anyone on their staff or in their audience
that will vote Republican this November.
So, for Johnson to speak optimistically about his chances can only
mislead the general electorate.
Besides, MPR pronounced
the 2014 race over more than a year and a half ago, months before Johnson
even entered the race. In MPR’s view,
for Johnson to keep up his challenge is just wasting everyone’s time.
You would think that local media should root for
just the opposite: a close race means
conflict, and conflict draws subscribers, readers, viewers, and listeners. If you thought that, you thought wrong.
There are two factors at work here. First, local media believe that Democrat
incumbents should not be challenged for re-election. The people have spoken, once, got the answer
correct, and their wishes should be honored as long as the incumbent is willing
to serve the grateful people.
Second, with Democrats in complete control of state
government, political reporters see elections as a distraction from their real
work. Local political reporters would
rather report on the latest progressive initiative awaited by an eager
populace.
In elections, Democrats have to waste their time and
resources making a case for what local media have already accepted as necessary
and urgently needed. They would prefer
to report on the implementation of the progressive vision: Democrats have already closed the sale.
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