SF Chronicle: Our horserace coverage really does suck!

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I hate to admit this, but I get the "dead trees" version of the San Francisco Chronicle. I know, not very eco-friendly, or really bloggy-centric, but what can I do. On occasion, I like to read something on a piece of paper. Don't worry, I'm sure the paper-based Chronicle has an expiration date in the fairly near future. But, while the questions of the Chronicle's form are being answered, there are other questions about just how the Chronicle is reporting on the presidential campaigns yet to complain about.

For example, take the "Today on the Campaign Trail" highlights a national poll on the Democratic primay, and a poll on the Ohio primary. First of all, why does it matter what the people of, say, California or Iowa, think of the Democratic nomination race. It's cute, but not all that relevant to the fight for the nomination. We keep getting berated about what each poll means, but we actually learn nothing of real substance. And, it turns out that John Diaz, of the Chron's editorial board, thinks all the horserace coverage kinda sucks too:

Journalists just can't help themselves, especially those with hours to fill on cable television. Political operatives can't wean themselves from their addiction to poll numbers either. One of Obama's campaign aides had barely finished a profanity-laced, cell-phone diatribe to Zogby on Super Tuesday when he took a breath and asked: What do the numbers look like in the next round of states?

"To be perfectly honest with you, there is artwork involved here," Zogby said of the "science" of polling. "Any of our colleagues who deny that are perfectly delusional."

If this is art, this season's collection looks a lot more like grade-school finger painting than a Monet.

Sure, a lot of the Chron's coverage can be blamed on the AP and other news services, but it's not like it's all that challenging to find some "poll-watching" from the Chronicle's political regulars like Carolyn Lochhead. Say, like in today's blog post:

Republican columnist Robert Novak helpfully suggests today that someone needs to tell Sen. Hillary Clinton to leave the race. Not so fast. Clinton still leads rival Sen. Barack Obama in Ohio polls, and still has a slight edge in Texas. If she wins both states, she can claim she's won the big states that matter.

Now, I'm not saying the Chronicle reporters are any better or worse than any other outlet. In fact, I think they are pretty good. But as Diaz points out, we have been so thoroughly beaten into the idea that polls are the be-all of politics, that it's hard for reporters, or bloggers, to focus elsewhere. But, I hear there are these things called issues, I'll look into that.