Let’s say you’re a busy Dallas-area family, and you tuned into the 10 p.m. news for an update on how the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania turned out. You wouldn’t get the news story until 10:11 p.m.
It is hard to say for sure what ran instead as an earlier story on Channel 11, since I wasn’t in control of the remote (hmm) … but there was that news story on a dentist who was arrested; he was accused of putting his hands into a patient’s pants, and all the other news briefs that TV does so well. Maybe everybody who cared about politics was watching a cable network news show — and everybody who cares about alleged sexual assaults was watching Channel 11.
Posted by Ed Cognoski @ 8:11 AM Wed, Apr 23, 2008
Anyone who turns on the local network affiliates at 10:00 pm isn’t looking for “news”. They haven’t had a “news” show in years. Viewers are either looking for the local weather report or local sports.
Posted by Max Plank @ 11:03 AM Wed, Apr 23, 2008
Why is there news about an election in Pennsylvania on our local stations anyway? The stations should leave that to the networks, and give us the local news. They do such a poor job reporting on the local news, or even figuring out what local news is, that they should not worry about elections elsewhere. And please, stop having the local bobble-heads lip-synch over national news stories, pretending like they know anything about what they are reading.
Posted by Nelson Prater @ 3:19 PM Wed, Apr 23, 2008
I don’t stay up that late anyway, but I guess I’m not missing anything. I read my news at the kitchen table at 5:30 a.m. — I prefer to get the more-complete Dallas Morning News version of news.

dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com

After seven weeks of heavy campaigning, the Pennsylvania primary is finally here. In my suburban Pittsburgh polling place, turn-out was not tremendous by noon, but not bad considering this is a primarily Republican area compared to the Democratic-focused city of Pittsburgh. Five hours into voting, Democrats outvoted Republicans here 7 to 1, demonstrating the competitiveness of the Democrat race versus the anti-climatic Republican race.
Interestingly, it turns out that I’m a registered PA Democrat because of one reason alone — government bureaucracy.
At this point, you’re probably expecting me to start some rant about the Bush administration and the government waste that abounds. While that could prompt me to become a registered PA Democrat, that alone would not get me there. I consider myself a moderate who leans toward the conservative side on social issues, which would make me more apt to become a Republican.
Actually, come to think of it, I did register Republican. So how am I a registered PA Democrat?
Good question. I asked myself the same thing when I went to my local polling place a few years back.
First, back to the beginning … When I first registered to vote, I registered Democrat because that’s what everyone in Pittsburgh does. Most Pittsburghers are a lot like me when it comes to politics — we’re probably more moderate to conservative, but we register as Democrats because that’s the tradition. Our mayoral elections are decided in May instead of November since this is when the PA Democratic primary is held. If you’re not a registered Democrat, then you don’t get much of a say in local politics, so most people just decide to register Democrat, then vote for whoever they want (Democrat or Republican) in the national elections.
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associatedcontent.com

Philadelphia - “That was Bill Clinton, here on the DVE Morning Show,” the breakfast-time DJ was saying as I left Pittsburgh early this morning. “In a few moments, Senator Barack Obama, here on the DVE Morning Show. That’s not a joke.” The candidates and their surrogates are in ceaseless motion, blanketing the state with exhortations to get out and vote, and local radio is crucial; former and potential future presidents certainly aren’t too grand to drop in, albeit by telephone, for conversations with stations like Pittsburgh’s WDVE Rocks, home of Hair Band Idol 2008.
Meanwhile, below the fold, some snippets reaching us here in Philadelphia at Deadline USA’s Pennsylvania Primary Election Central. (It’s like CNN’s Situation Room, except where they have banks of plasma screens and scrolling LED displays, I have a tragic little coffee-maker, and where they have Wolf Blitzer, I have… no Wolf Blitzer! Every cloud has a silver lining.)
*At Politico, some random bits of anecdata from around Pennsylvania suggest a sizeable turnout. The weather’s lovely, which should help.
*The New York Times’s Adam Nagourney ties himself in knots trying to figure out what would constitute a true win for Clinton tonight. He appears to think a margin as small as 5% might still be credible. Clinton’s spokesman Phil Singer, meanwhile, claims that “a win is a win is a win.” I think that’s called “expectations management.”
*Bill Clinton gets seriously tetchy with a reporter in Pittsburgh over his earlier comment that “they”, meaning the Obama campaign, had “played the race card on me.” This morning, he seemed to deny he’d ever made that remark.
*The Philadelphia Daily News notices a weird anti-Obama ad apparently mocking his supporters as befuddled youngsters, paid for by a ‘junk mail mogul’ with sort-of connections to the Drudge Report.
Time to go and pester some voters.

blogs.guardian.co.uk