News-Record.com

Do we write too much about minorities? Do we publish too many photos of minorities? Some readers tell me we do.

I asked members of our reader advisory panel what they thought. I got 105 responses.

* 58 said our coverage was fair; it was balanced and reflects the makeup of the city.
* 25 said we do write about minorities too much.
* The remainder were ambivalent or off topic.

It's an interesting concept, this notion that we publish too many stories and/or photos of minorities. Most of the photos we publish actually illustrate stories that are not race-centered at all; they are simply photos of people who happen to be black, which is really the minority people are talking about.

I've never heard a good explanation of why photos of African Americans in a daily paper that serves a city whose population was 37 percent black in the 2000 Census is bothersome or objectionable. And every time I've run a check on the front pages of each of our sections, I find that we publish many more photos of white people than any other race or nationality.

A selection of the comments:

Now that Gov. Sarah Palin is coming to Greensboro, maybe she will grant us the same face time she gave Charlie, Sean and Katie. (Some say the current media strategy ain't workin'. You know how I feel about it.)

May be moot. Past fundraisers at the DeJoys' have been private affairs, although it's hard to imagine the party bringing the vice presidential candidate in without some sort of public campaigning.

Anyway, I'm taking questions to ask her if we get the opportunity.

This is the front page of our Life section today. Every week, Thursday's Life front is a photo page, sometimes based on the news, most times using feature photos.

We had many more good photos of the Obama rally on Saturday than we could run in Sunday's paper.

We decided to focus the photo page on scenes from rally, whether it is shots of security eyeing the crowd, people dancing or people praying. One photo shows the backs of the candidates and the size of the crowd. The smallest photo is of a grinning Obama.

A few people called today to suggest that this page was too much like a campaign ad. We did discuss that point yesterday. I decided to run with it for these reasons:
* The presidential election is arguably the biggest news event going these days (arguably because the economy is competing strongly with it).
* 18,000 people -- most probably from our readership area -- turned out for the rally.
* We had compelling people-oriented photos.
* We hope to do the same if McCain comes to town, or Palin schedules a public event when she's here on Oct. 16.

Some pretty sharp journalists here objected, saying it could communicate a bias. Thoughts? (I expect political partisans to weigh in, but also encourage those with more neutral political stands to voice an opinion.)

I watched the debate last night. I know that Gwen Ifill is getting props for her performance as moderator. Won't hear that from me.

Some questions I wished she had asked:

For Biden:
Would you cite the sources you used to defend your pro-abortion stance despite being Catholic?

After being in Congress for so many years, what past political mistakes or miscalculations have changed the way you go about your decision-making process today?

Are you prepared to be second fiddle to a man with little experience compared to yours? Are you able to deal with Obama's potentially successful bid for Presidency while your own never succeeded? How will the dynamics work between what you bring to the ticket (experience) versus Obama's strengths (vision and personality)?

For Palin:
Why did you fire the public safety commissioner in Alaska?

What was the last book you read that significantly impacted your perspective on political office/public service? How did it influence you?

Why do you feel you deserve to be Vice President? Why do you want this job? For love of country or for party ideology? What leadership can you provide that more seasoned politicians (Mitt Romney, for example) can't?

Specific, direct. Might have provided some insight. These aren't my questions. They came from citizens on our Voterspeak panel.

After all that, an Obsession DVD came in the mail today, addressed to my wife. That darned Redbook must have sold its list!

As I said, it's hardly a free speech issue.

More here.

On our daily TV page this week, we eliminated the listings for the premium channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.). By dropping them, we were able to expand the space in the grids, making the other 60+ listings easier to read and follow.

Some readers objected and asked for their return. When we explained why we did it, some understood. Others disagreed.

I've suggested to some that their complaint is with the cable company. Can you imagine providing a service, without providing a guide to the service? That's what the cable company does -- as do individual television stations, for that matter. And when you pay extra for premium service -- buying HBO, for instance -- wouldn't you expect to get a guide to what is coming on? My understanding is that the cable company will provide one, for a fee. (I don't know. I have cable, but don't buy HBO.) My suggestion was usually greeted with laughter.

It's true that over the years we have trained readers that they can find listings in the paper. But in recent years, we haven't been able to keep up with the explosion of different channels. As a result, I am pretty sure that we haven't provided complete listings of what's on television for several years.

I have also suggested people can get the listings online or by using their remotes, if they have expanded cable. But, really, if I wanted to know what is coming on HBO at 8 p.m. tonight, I would call the cable company, rather than the newspaper.

Edward R. Murrow is one of Guilford County's most famous sons. He wasn't here long -- he moved away to Washington state as a boy -- but we're proud to claim him.

At least, I think we are.

Jeri Rowe writes about the Murrow home place.

Wade through a Southern jungle, and you'll find the five dilapidated houses within a few dozen steps of one another.

It looks like a homeless camp. But it's not. It's one of Guilford County's most historic sites. It's the birthplace of Edward R. Murrow, the father of broadcast journalism. And it's downright embarrassing.

Indeed.

The video shot by Michael McQueen and narrated by Jeri is even better.

UNCG and the Greensboro Historical Museum are hosting events this month to celebrate Murrow and the 100th anniversary of his birth. It's the least we can do.

Between the nasty political campaign and the even nastier economic meltdown, the front page is overrun with, well, dreadful news these days.

We search for some bright spots, but they have a hard time muscling themselves into A1 prominence when confronted with 500 point Dow drops, candidate debates, disintegrating 401-Ks and, oh yeah, the $700 billion bailout revitalization.

Am I so desperate that I would shove some cute animal story onto the front page to break the depression? I am. Although I guess this satisfies all the people who write me to say, "Stop putting all that light stuff on the front page. The front page is for serious news like the war, the sinking economy, the election and the madness in Washington."

I didn't have much of a digital footprint back in 2001. 36 results. Lot of broken links, too.

Today? Same search brings back 8,260 results.

Ah, working under the radar...those were the days.

After listening to friends and acquaintances talk about their weariness and impatience with the presidential attack campaign, I used Twitter to ask: Are people really sick of the campaign, as I often hear? And does that mean they don't want to read/watch it anymore?

Responses came quickly:

dsilverman: Some are, some aren't. You're most apt to hear from those who are sick of it. doesn't mean they're the majority.

gabrieli: How can people not want to watch the debates, it's like watching a train wreck. Though the current tv version is more fun.

Natallini: Although I am weary of the campaign, this election is the most important I've faced and have to keep up with all media.

JennySeeley: I'm getting sick of the campaign. I can't watch the debates or read about it anymore. It's become too trivial.

I can't find any recent poll showing how many undecided voters are out there, but in early Sept. an AP-Yahoo poll indicated there were 18%. It's surely less now. (Indecision 2008 on the Daily Show says the undecided is 8%. Worth a look. But anyway...)

What's your political temperature? Are you ready for Nov. 4 now?

Update: Greg Mitchell at E&P picks up this post and improves it with video from the FoxNews morning show. (Although the Fox crew isn't nearly as incisive as this post.)

This is either proof that men run the AP or that Gov. Palin comes by her aversion of the media elite honestly.

Supporters watch as Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, legs visible in foreground, participate in a rally in Allentown, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008

For some reason, AP photographer Gerald Herbert snapped this shot, and for, I guess, the same reason, AP sent it out.

He wasn't the only photographer interested in Palin's gams. So was Carlos Barria of Reuters.

But maybe it wasn't her legs as much as it was the young male supporter in the pink shirt!

Guess not.

It will be interesting to see if any newspapers run the photos. Incidentally, the AP didn't move any snaps of Joe Biden's legs. Thank goodness for small favors.

Update: Brian Cubbison says it's the shoes, not the legs.

The New York Times reports today that North Carolina is one of six states that has removed eligible voters from election rolls or blocked them from registering "in ways that appear to violate federal law."

Mark Binker reports that state election officials, who apparently weren't contacted by the Times, say "nuh-uh."

No one is denied registration if their Social Security number does not match said Bartlett and local elections officials.

"The worse case scenario is they show ID at the polls when they show up," said Charlie Collicutt, deputy elections director in Guilford County.

The Times story isn't sourced very well, and no one from North Carolina is quoted. To me, it seems as if the Times is speaking in technical legal terms while the state is speaking in practical voting terms.

But the Times didn't follow up with anyone from N.C., or so it seems. (Oh, have I said that before?) On the other hand, on a previous page, they published photos of both Kay Hagan and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, and they are both from North Carolina.

Meanwhile, the AP version of the story is currently No. 1 on Yahoo's "most e-mailed" list.

Update: Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, didn't much care for the story, either.

The harder problem continues to be cynical rumors and false information from ill-informed, sometimes well-intended, sources, now including the New York Times (and local re-printers who failed to check the story with state election officials). Certainly, there have been serious problems with lost ballots and election manipulation. The public should remain vigilant, and individuals with any doubts should confirm their registration status through websites like 2008ElectionConnection.com or by calling their local board of elections. What we don’t need are inflammatory stories about stolen elections or cheated voters that have no basis in fact.

Do headlines such as "World markets tumble" and "No end in sight as losses rise" and "'We're in a hell of a mess'" fuel the panic over the financial collapse?

Some members of our readers advisory panel think so.

I think the media is helping to drag down the economy. All we hear is gloom and doom. People are afraid and you contribute to it. Don't be a Pollyanna, but could you not be so totally negative. How about a story about media negativity?

I'm tired or reading about gloom and doom. We need some uplifting stories. All we hear on the news every night is more of the same. At least give me something worthwhile to read.

This illustrates one of the balancing acts that some request of the news media: Report the bad news in its full glory while still providing a sense of hope. With some news stories -- particularly these scary ones -- there's no way to put lipstick on the pig.

Do we fuel the panic? If so, what should we do with stories like these that affect every single person negatively?

Many newspapers all over the country played "Troopergate" findings out of Alaska prominently. Some examples, and sorry for the pixillation:

The home paper:

The big West Coast paper:

A more conservative paper:

I just like the rest of the Chicago front page

Next door

Raleigh and Greensboro treated the story similarly

We thought it was front-page news, but, given the findings, didn't think it was such a huge deal that it needed to dominate the news cycle, particularly given the other things on people's minds.

How would you have played the story? Other front pages here.

Welcome to goTriadU, the beginnings of a network among the students of eight of the colleges and universities around here.

The link is to the blog, which is the first part of a wider network that will include news, entertainment, discussion and fun stuff. Sixteen student reporters are building it, and the site is forming relationships with media at the schools.

From the About page: goTriadU is about connecting college students throughout the Triad area of North Carolina to each other and your community. Get out of the single-campus silo and link to other students, groups and campuses. Make connections on events, help each other network for internships, find part-time jobs, sell your stuff, form new cross-campus groups, find a ride home, rate your classes, get involved in an important cause. We’re here to help you connect; it’s up to you to make the effort.

On the blog you'll find what you need to know about Aggie Fan Fest, Dollarmania, sports, the second prez debate, and that Yum Yum's is one of the five most important things to know about UNCG. (Has anyone told the new chancellor?)

It's new. It'll get less institutional and more compelling as the year progresses. As the bloggers get experience, they'll also get their voices. I'm looking forward to it.

It's an offshoot of the News & Record, although not really "of" us, as you may think of the paper. It is being developed by the company's new ventures group.

Advice for the McCain campaign:

Provide total media accessibility on their campaign planes and buses. Kick most of the aides off and send them out to swing states to work for the state coordinators on getting voters to the polls. Keep just a minimal staff to help organize the press conferences McCain and Palin should have at every stop and the TV interviews they should do at every location. Do town halls, do the Sunday TV shows, do talk radio -- and invite Obama and Biden to join them in some of these venues, on the ground that more joint appearances might restore civility and substance to the contest.

Ain't me talking but William Kristol in today's New York Times.

Maybe the well-known conservative has a loug enough voice that Gov. Palin will talk with us when she's in town Thursday. Here's hoping.

Meanwhile, reporter Mark Binker is in Wilmington with the McCain campaign.

Update: His initial blog entryt and news report.

Do political polls have any news value? I mean, they are sort of interesting, in that here's-what-1,000-people-are-thinking-at-this-precise-moment-in-time way. Actually, I probably should have said here's what they say they are thinking, given that we know that some people lie to pollsters. And don't forget the usual 3% margin of error.

Here are four recent ones. ABC-Washington Post, Zogby, Gallup, and Rasmussen. All have different, yet similar results.

In the end, are the results important to the common citizen? Do they tell us anything of particular use? Do they affect the way that people vote, with voters either casting their ballots for the "winner" or voters becoming non-voters, thinking their vote won't count?

The only benefit of polls I can think of is that good reporters use them to inform their stories about campaign strategy. Unfortunately, too often polls are merely used to track the political horse race. And to me, that has little value to the common voter.

Of course, I may change my mind the next time I'm asked.

Editor & Publisher is collecting newspaper presidential endorsements.

So far, the Obama-Biden ticket leads with 28 editorial endorsements, with the McCain-Palin lagging far behind with 11. It's too early to project, but in 2004, John Kerry barely edged George W. Bush in endorsements, by about 220 to 205.

In another important measure: Obama has so far won the backing from five papers that endorsed the GOP candidate in 2004, while McCain has earned no flip-flops.

The only N.C. paper that has made the list so far: Asheville Citizen-Times for Obama. (The News & Record won't be on either list.) If you know of others tell E&P.

My friend and former boss Van King has been named the dean of the School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte.

The news release doesn't say whether he'll teach, but the new dean will be missing a bet if he doesn't let Van loose in the classroom. When he talks about journalism, the man could light water on fire.

Southern High School student Scotty Wayne died in an automobile accident last week.

Last Friday's football game was an emotional heart-wrencher. The story conveys it.

The multi-media show opens the flood gates. Go ahead and cry.

OK, this is a personal note but I can't resist.

The talented Robinson son lives in New York. Here's a review in Art in America of one of his shows.

My favorite line: For this show, Robinson -- artist, journalist, ubiquitous social fixture and, lately, editor of Artnet -- dusted off a body of work that still conveys the feverish touch of a younger self, one who sensed a change in the cultural wind and wanted a piece of the action.

"Ubiquitous social fixture?" Those of us family members still in N.C., which is all of us, had a good laugh at that.

We're interviewing Hunter Bacot, the director of the Elon Poll, tomorrow. Want to suggest some questions?

(Want a hint? See this post.

If you're planning to vote early -- it starts tomorrow -- here's some information that might help.

Newspapers publish a lot of public records: crime reports, court dispositions, home purchases, births, marriages, divorces, gun permits among others.

So, how about the names of people who didn't vote?

A Tennessee paper does it it as a way to encourage people to vote. (Via E&P.)

"Sometimes when you embarrass people they do the right thing," the president and publisher the Tennessee Tribune said.

Interesting concept and perfectly legal. Seems wrong, but that's what some people tell us about every list we publish, including marriages and births.

Don't expect us to follow suit. If you have to shame people into voting, I'm not sure I want them to vote.

In an otherwise irreverent online chat, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post refers to reports that a heckler at a Palin rally shouted out "Kill him!" (The Secret Service has since described the report as unfounded.)

"I wasn't at the Scranton event, but I have to say the Secret Service is in dangerous territory here. In cooperation with the Palin campaign, they've started preventing reporters from leaving the press section to interview people in the crowd. This is a serious violation of their duty --protecting the protectee -- and gets into assisting with the political aspirations of the candidate. It also often makes it impossible for reporters to get into the crowd to question the people who say vulgar things. So they prevent reporters from getting near the people doing the shouting, then claim it's unfounded because the reporters can't get close enough to identify the person."

I don't know what that heckler may or may not have said. But it must be noted that this isn't just a Palin campaign issue. Reporters at the Obama rally here in September were prevented from leaving the press area. Well, sort of.

From reporter Joe Killian's Twitter feed that day:

9:29 a.m. Secret service and staff can't agree if press are allowed to mix in with crowd

9:40 a.m. Secret service says yes to mixing with crowd. If escorted by staff.

9:46 a.m. Obama staffer says press not allowed on ground, not allowed to talk to crowd even through fence.

9:52 Am removing press badge and getting out of press area to talk with people.

Reporter Gerald Witt didn't even go into the press area. He mingled with the crowd for his story. Good old fashioned reporting.

Friday update: Visitors here may be more interested in this.

It wasn't entirely a beautiful day in the neighborhood yesterday at the Palin rally.

One of our reporters, Joe Killian, is kicked by a rally-goer.

Classy.

Joe's take.

Joe's fine, by the way, and is ready to move to the next day's story.

Update: A report on the arrest of an Elon University student here. Meanwhile, Sara comments at Binker's place about other incidents.

Update: Palin rally video.

By the way, I've complained suggested that Gov. Palin make herself more available to the news media.

On her visit here, she did. Just not to us.

From reporter Mark Binker's post at Capital Beat:

I'm not real happy with the McCain campaign today. After the Elon event Palin did a fundraiser and I was told the local pool would be able to cover that. It's a major reason I took the pool assignment. I was told mid-way through my day that the fundraiser would be closed. And I just found out that the campaign tossed a one-on-one to an out-of-town competitor rather than to the paper that staffed their pool today.

Who knows why campaigns do what they do. Rob's interview.

Marse Grant died yesterday in Raleigh.

As editor of The Biblical Recorder from 1959 to 1982, Marse was a friend of every religion reporter in the state. I had the privilege and pleasure of working with him for a few years when I covered religion at the N&O. Marse was an excellent source on all matters relating to the Baptists, speaking his mind openly and directly. As the editor of the journal of the Baptist State Convention during tumultuous times, his voice was a model of editorial independence, often differing from the official line.

Not surprisingly, he was also a good friend.

Bryan Murley at Innovation in College Media thinks about GoTriadU, our sister site that we hope will eventually link together the area's colleges and universities.

As usual, he asks good questions.

If you voted Sunday, we're looking for you.

Andy Bechtel at The Editor's Desk compiles a list of the top 10 complaints about a newspaper's redesign.

As a veteran of several newspaper redesigns, I have heard them all. But he missed a couple:

* What have you done to my newspaper? It was fine the way it was.

* The Jumble? The heck with that; I can't find anything!

* Why did you get rid of (insert a feature or comic dropped from the paper years ago)?

Actually, reader complaints about redesigns aren't bad. They care enough to call and write.

Two different looks at newspapers that have endorsed a candidate for president:

Words
Pictures

Jayme Elrod, one of our talented page designers, has signed on with Education and Training Systems International in Chapel Hill. Bummer. In her new job, Jayme will make sure that the pharmaceutical educational products the company makes fit presentation and editing guidelines, style and client criteria. Kinda like an editor.

I'm sure it'll be fun, but, as her boss, Ben Villarreal, said: "We will miss Jayme's eye for strong design and her attention to detail, which showed in her sharp, clean work in the paper."

Jim gets a new assignment. In New Delhi.

Earlier this month, we published a photo package of Sen. Obama's visit to Greensboro. Several people thought that that showed our bias, given that the package came several days after Obama's appearance. I said that we would do the same if and when Sen. McCain came to town.

McCain hasn't made it back to Greensboro, but Gov. Palin came to Elon last Thursday. That's close enough.

Tomorrow -- on our regular Thursday Life photo page -- we are publishing some of the snaps from the Palin rally.

The cover story of this week's Newsweek reflects on "how a President Obama might govern a center-right nation."

It begins with an anecdote of a December 1985 New York dinner celebrating the "Age of Reagan." Then the story travels to Greensboro:

A month before, in November 1985, Al From, the former staff director of the House Democratic Caucus, had been in North Carolina, flying from Raleigh to Greensboro, on a trip to talk wavering Democrats into staying in the fold after Mondale. "The common charge we heard from voters was that 'we didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left us'," says From, whose organization, the Democratic Leadership Council, was trying to move the party rightward toward the center. Dick Gephardt, Joe Biden, Sam Nunn and Lawton Chiles were among those flying with From, and things were not going well. "It was a miserable day, and our trip was about to be aborted," From says. There was congressional business in Washington, and From had already canceled the last leg of the journey, an event in Charlotte. Landing in Greensboro in the rain, the group made its gloomy way to an airport hotel for a fundraiser. "We were sure no one would show up," From says. "But when we got there we saw people lined up out the door." As he recalls it, the message of the occasion was straightforward: "We were trying to reconnect the Democratic Party with mainstream America."

In these two moments from a now distant year -- the dinner at the Plaza and the gathering in Greensboro—lie the roots of our politics.

Actually, it was October 1985. Oct. 21 to be exact. 335 tickets were sold to the luncheon at the Sheraton that day.

Here's how reporter Chuck Alston began his story of that meeting.

Remember "Mondale-liberal," the political label that Republican Sen. Jesse Helms sewed on former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt during the 1984 campaign?

The Democratic Leadership Council, a group of moderate and conservative Democrats out to reshape the party in its image, remembers the label all too well. To the GOP's advantage, the liberal image of Walter Mondale, the Democratic presidential candidate, wore like a lead weight on Hunt and other Southern Democrats.

In a two-day visit to North Carolina that ended Monday in Greensboro, council members made it clear that the National Democratic Party must tailor a new label for Democrats to wear into 1988.

"We are trying to make it safe for state and local officials to identify themselves with the national party and survive," Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Georgia, told a Greensboro luncheon in explaining the council's mission.

Organized last March, the council counts 17 senators, 61 representatives and 10 governors, mostly from the South and West, in its membership. Operating outside the national Democratic Party, the council is seeking changes in structure and platform that will broaden the party's appeal, especially in the South.

Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., the DLC chairman, said its task is to preseve the party's "old values," but deliver them with "new ideas."

Council members delivered this message over cocktails, supper and breakfast in Raleigh, at lunch in Greensboro and in press conferences in both cities. The tough-talking messengers were Sens. Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., Joe Biden, D-Del., and Nunn, and Gephardt and Rep. Steve Neal, D-N.C.

Speaking bluntly about the party's recent past, the described a dim future unless change in forthcoming. The party, DLC members said, must pitch for "mainstream America" and shed its image as a captive of liberal interest groups.

"The perception, whether we like it or not...is that (the Democratic Party) has gone to the left, while the country has gone to right," Chiles said.

Despite From's memory about things in Raleigh not going well, Alston reports that "In general, the DLC and its message were greeted eagerly during the two days."

Alston didn't mention From in his story. Biden, of course, is running for vice president. Chiles is the uncle of Kay Hagan, who is running for U.S. Senate. And Chuck Alston ended up working as executive director of the DLC for several years.

Giles Lambertson was an editorial columnist for the newspaper at the time. He also attended and wrote a column about the luncheon. Some excerpts:

When Biden said his was a party of opportunity and optimism, he tried to illustrate it by remembering how his favorite president, John Kennedy, had set America's sights on the moon -- a bold initiative. "He had no notion how that would be done," he said. For some reason, the Strategic Defense Initiative of Ronald Reagan popped into my mind.

As it turned out Nunn himself showed true leadership and courage in this comment: "Black leadership also is going to have to move to the mainstream" as the party pursues what is in "the best interest of the majority as well as the minority." That's saying something.

And Biden, finally, indicated a basic misunderstanding of what leadership means, saying: "The American people rejected our stagnation, not what we stood for." The truth is, senator, the party stood for stagnation, and that's exactly what the American people rejected.

Neill McNeil reminds me why I'm glad I have a face for radio.

I wear mascara and lipstick! Okay, I’ve admitted it for the first time in this format.

Only when he's on the air, though.

He was inspired to come out from behind the makeup table because of the news about Gov. Palin's new wardrobe.

I like Neill and think he's pretty good on TV. I don't think I could do the makeup/looks thing. My wife, however, would like someone to advise me on clothes and hair. (She does the best she can with what she has to work with.)

We got a few calls today that our front page was "too Democratic," although the callers used more colorful language. A Jamestown woman told me that the Biden story, followed by the early voting story and the African American voters story were "Democrat, Democrat and Democrat."

I asked her how she would have played the Biden visit to Winston. She said she would have ignored it. "He's a nothing," she said.

Another told me that he didn't care who was voting early and that we ought to "just let the election take place without meddling."

I have also gotten two e-mails saying that we are guilty as charged in Scott Card's column, which is just another strident political opinion piece in a conservative paper. By the way, we don't have reporters in Washington, or with the Obama campaign, or assigned to the national housing industry. Makes it difficult to investigate.

Meanwhile, this week I was sent these three emails by different people. They asked me why we hadn't reported the "news," when we were going to report it, or whether we knew if it was true. To each, I sent the appropriate Snopes link back to them, saying that there was more information they should consider.

Days like these make me oh-so-ready for the election to be over.

I know people want to affirm and validate their core beliefs. I hope they will challenge those beliefs, just to keep themselves honest. And Snopes is a wonderful thing.

We've released Tim Rickard's inner cynic.

Well, hardly. It was on the loose long ago. But our award-winning staff artist has added editorial cartoonist to his ever-lengthening list of job duties.

I can't speak for Tim, but my guess is that he considers himself ... a conservative!

I have written often about my disdain for political polls. It's not shared by the decision makers at all the big-time media organizations, which now have daily tracking polls.

OK, can't beat 'em so...

Who will win the presidential election and by what margin?

Governor?

Senate?

We're off the market.

Thinking that's a good thing, right now.

In all the bustle about this announcement today, I neglected to promote my colleague Michael Fuch's new enterprise: a weekly newsletter for bargain hunters.

Sign up.

In a way, been there, done that.

The Fox News take: ...the newspaper is on firm journalistic ground in refusing to make the tape public..

Christy Seals, one of our crack copy editors, will soon become an editor at Education and Training Systems International in Chapel Hill. Sound familiar?

In making the announcement, her boss, Cathy Frail, said, "Christy is an excellent editor, a stickler for style, and a clever and creative headline writer (she even cracks herself up sometimes with the really good headlines)."

Christy won a first place Landmark Award in 2005 and a second place in 2004. She won an N.C. Press Association award last year.

She was also one of the panelists at the first ConvergeSouth in 2005 when it centered on blogging, interactivity and creativity.

Happy for her, not happy with this.

Mark Binker is one of the best political reporters in the state. So I had to laugh when I read this comment from one of our Reader Advisory Network members: Mark Binker is far too conservative. He has given short shrift to the Hagan and Bratton campaigns and to Obama. I was disgusted by the Life on October 21 with full color pictures of the Palin visit. Where were the photos of the huge Obama rally?

Of course, we published photos of the Obama rally, too.

Anyway, I asked the Network this question: Evaluate, in this the last week before the election, the N&R's election coverage in terms of completeness and fairness.

Most of the 102 respondents said they thought the coverage had been fair. That is affirming because our editors and reporters have been tenacious about being evenhanded. We weren't perfect by any means, but over the course of the loooong political season, the coverage should have been straight up.

What surprised me about the answers to my question was the number of people who said that because they had voted early, they had stopped following the campaigning. Here are two:

Just so tired of election coverage -- can't take it anymore, so I probably haven't looked very closely at any election stuff!

I've been hearing far too much for far too long about the election and I just want it to be over with.

The panel is made up of smart, passionate and opinionated readers. Sometimes their thinking converged; sometimes diverged. Normally, I hear from many people who think we and the rest of the media are too liberal. The eye of the beholder is pretty strong on this question.

This is N&R's banner year. The coverage this year is unsurpassed in your history for both completeness and fairness. The reportage and articles have been excellent for all levels of the campaigns..local, state, and national. Give yourselves an "A."

No, my mother didn't write that one...or the following one.

There is nothing fair about N&R's coverage. As with most newspapers there is a very deliberate liberal slant. There is no reporting of the news when it comes to politics and your paper. It has almost become an entirely editorial newspaper.

But maybe we should get that person together with the one below to see if we could weave together some common ground.

You lean toward McCain, and I do not. You hide his and Palin's lies, and tend to play up Obama's. McCain/Palin ticket is a nightmare, who could possibly want them to run our country.

Finally, although some respondents wanted less of the campaign frivolity and more depth on the issues, there is this:

I would like to see more about the clothes, hair, makeup that Sarah Palin has received. She has a bad track record and it is like the media won't touch her. Why is that?

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The Doonesbury strip for Wednesday is set in Iraq with his military characters sitting around a television as Obama is declared the next President of the United States.

Risky? Reckless?

Not for a cartoonist, but there's some discussion on the journalism listservs that suggests that this assumed outcome of Tuesday's election is a limb too far for newspapers.

I don't understand that concern, given Trudeau's cartooning history. I'm thinking that if McCain wins, the embarrassment is Trudeau's, not ours. Isn't there anyone who doesn't think he's liberal? Besides, if McCain does win, just imagine how much fun it will be to watch how Trudeau handles the turnabout.

The syndicate is offering a replacement strip -- reruns from August -- which would be even stranger to run next week, seems to me.

Thoughts?

Update: Trudeau responds at washingtonpost.com: If I didn't call the election, I'd have no premise for the week and be forced to write about something else. I didn't want to write about something else. This is history.

If Obama wins, I'm in the flow and commenting on a phenomenon. If he loses, it'll be a massive upset, and the goofy misprediction of a comic strip will be pretty much lost in the uproar. I figure I can survive a little egg on my face.

I agree with him.