Northwest Herald Promises “Analysis” of Joe Walsh-Melissa Bean Contest

On Saturday Northwest Herald Editor Dan McCaleb promoted a political “analysis” story being run on Sunday about the Melissa Bean – Joe Walsh race.

Early on, the Daily Herald wrote a story entitled,

“How Walsh beat Bean, National climate, slow-to-react campaign cost the incumbent, experts say”

The Daily Herald posted this article the day after the election.

McCaleb promises a precinct by precinct comparison for 2008 and 2010. That should be interesting.

It will also be interesting to see what someone who presumably has never been involved in a political campaign comes up with to explain how the paper gave readers no clue that the race would be a close one.

Seeing how editors at the Northwest Herald

  • gave Joe Walsh no chance,
  • were actively promoting Bean while refusing to note her arrogance in refusing to appear at free public events to talk about the issues of the campaign (the bailouts, cap and trade, Obama Care) and
  • ignored polling data that showed Walsh had a real chance,

I wonder if the article will touch on the failure of the NWH and the Daily Herald to carry their favorite daughter.

Certainly that should be part of any honest analysis of the race.

As should how the NWH missed the polling date from the end of September that had the two candidates in a dead heat.

I feel certain that the NWH got the same email notification of the poll results from the Walsh campaign I got.

It was an enormous poll for a congressional campaign. 1,267 people polled.

Yet, the NWH ignored it.

Nothing close about the Walsh-Bean race that was worthy of telling McHenry County readers.

Yet, even the New York Times’ prognosticating blog 538 noticed.

It lowered the odds of Bean’s winning from 96.5% to 81%.

The articles and opinions the NWH offered missed the significance of the pledge of allegiance event.

The NWH didn’t mention the possibility of the events reaching national news coverage, which it did on the Glenn Beck show on Fox and on Fox news broadcasts.

I couldn’t find this national publicity mentioned in any NWH news coverage. (You will note that one role McHenry County Blog tries to play is informing readers when outside media pick up on something related to McHenry County.)

Maybe the NWH’s “analysis” of the Bean – Walsh race will have asked Bean how much money she had left over in her campaign fund on election day.

The big question I have is, “Did Bean bother to spend it all?”

While the Northwest and Daily Heralds were writing nothing about Joe Walsh’s having a serious chance of winning, I was telling people I wouldn’t be surprised if he won.

Walsh had a great message and he was a great messenger.

Apparently local newspaper editors dismiss credible, articulate candidates, if they have a conservative message.

Joe Walsh listening and making person-to-person contact at McHenry's Fiesta Days Parade.

Maybe it’s just that mainstream media are biased toward the establishment figures with which they are comfortable.

And, don’t forget that Joe Walsh made the Energizer Bunny look like it needed a recharge.

What newspaper editors fail to appreciate is a distinctively winning message delivered on a person-to-person basis.

Just as they pretty much ignore opponents to bond issues and tax rate hikes because they are hard to find. It’s tough for reporters to figure out what’s really going on in a campaign beyond the press releases of the tax district, which must be important because the reports have been assigned it as part of their beat.

My guess is that newspaper editors blew Joe Walsh off,

  • first, because of their bias,
  • second, because all the other media types were writing off Walsh’s chances, but,
  • just as importantly, they have no experience ever running a serious campaign.

In other words, newspapers were writing about something for which their employees have had no first-hand experience.  None have ever defeated an incumbent.

I have.

I knew Joe Walsh could win in spite of many establishment politicians not giving him the time of day.

Been there.  Done that.

Pretty much every time I ran for office.

The two Heralds’ editors missed the story of the biggest political upset in the country.

I have cited almost-sure-victory-Bean-would-achieve prediction by the New York Times’ Five Thirty Eight blog.

The Friday before the election there was a second poll made public by the same WeAskAmerica automated phone call polling firm.

It showed Walsh winning. 49% to 46%.

Having factored in all the negative TV ads Bean ran, the blog 538 upped the odds of Bean’s winning to 89.8% on Saturday, October 31st.

On election day, presumably after seeing the poll results, it lowered its odds of a Bean victory to 88.2%.

Obviously, author Nate Silver didn’t believe the poll released on Saturday.

No mention of the Saturday poll in the Northwest Herald before the election, although it should be included in tomorrow’s Sunday “analysis,” if it is to bear that label.

There was one hell of a story occurring right under the noses of the two Heralds.

But, no one noticed.

Predictions were universal that Bean would win again.  No one in the mainstream media gave him a chance.

Look at how the New York Times categorized these Illinois races:

Click to enlarge.

Its take on the 8th probably was pretty much the same as the two Heralds, so maybe I should cut them some slack.

But at least the New York Times didn’t have feet on the ground in Bean’s district.  The two Heralds did.

Even though Bean was acting just like Phil Crane when Bean beat him in 2004, no one seemed to pay that off-putting behavior much attention.

When I was interviewed by the Daily Herald reporter, I stressed the arrogance of Bean’s refusing to appear at public events.  She never held a Town Hall Meeting on health care reform where people could ask questions in person.

As you might guess I also pointed out how the Daily Herald had done its best to beat Walsh on its front page and, then, hadn’t noticed that the repeated “hits” had not put Walsh in the tank.

Bean did attend a number of events with a price tag attached.

She refused to attend all but one joint appearance and had her allies in the Lake County League of Women Voters set rules unlike any I have ever seen in 44 years of attending such forums.

And, the two Heralds didn’t think that was a big deal.

Bean’s behavior comes no where close to reflecting what I thought the role of a state representative was in my sixteen years in that role.

No wonder she lost.

She no more lived up to her job title of “United States Representative” than did Phil Crane in the year he lost.

She was apparently into the exalted “Congresswoman” title.

Above talking to the common folk who sent her to Washington, part of the official job title, it would seem to me…even if they are hostile.

At least it took Crane decades to reach that stage of unresponsiveness to his constituency.

One could observe that Crane was Bean’ mentor and that Bean was a “fast learner.”

Even when it came to informational basics, editors didn’t give Joe Walsh a fair shake.

Try finding in the newspapers how Walsh has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, a university with a national reputation, while Bean has a Bachelor’s Degree in political science from a regional university.

Didn’t one editor call Walsh “unqualified?”

He most certainly is qualified by education and employment history.

Editors are by profession “observers.”

Their most important role is “gatekeeper.”

If they decide it’s not important, you won’t read about it on their newsprint.

But, they have no experience in running a campaign.

That’s probably why they missed the reporting boat ahead of the election and will be playing catch-up Sunday.


Comments

Northwest Herald Promises “Analysis” of Joe Walsh-Melissa Bean Contest — 3 Comments

  1. It was a very disappointing article, simply rehashing everything that has already been written in the media and on blogs. As far as a side-by-side comparison “analysis” the article only compared a couple precincts, again showing the Herald’s lack of doing any real homework and just wasting valuable newsprint space. They could have at least admitted that they, too, missed the Walsh groundswell that was happening right before their (Bean blinders) eyes.

    Link to article:
    http://www.nwherald.com/2010/11/11/breaking-down-how-joe-walsh-turned-tide-vs-melissa-bean/ajpn8fv/?__xsl=/text.xsl

  2. Catman: The NWH article could have been titled Bean Blinders and the Bean Bunker.

    How appropriate that Bean didn’t want to be quoted directly for the article.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *