Also "Wannabe" Governor

Today's N&O once again ran a front page story featuring the two democratic candidates for governor. The headline told the thrust of the story: "2 Strong Democrats: Will they slug it out?" The inside page, continuing the story by Rob Christensen featured a comprehensive analysis of the democratic primary for governor with large photos of Perdue and Moore. This followed the most recent front page story of several months ago featuring the prodigious fundraising success of the two democrats.

Down at the bottom of the continuation page 10A, about half the size of an accompanying ad for Duke Medicine and a new member of a North Raleigh Internal medicine group, was a small box with the caption "THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES". There were three small pictures of us - mine was an old file photo back when I was on the Supreme Court, leaning back in my chair in front of the requisite law books.

The three sentence coverage began with the words: "Oh, yeah, there are three Republicans who also want to be governor." Next came the description of the three of us as being neither as well known nor as well-financed as the democrats. Finally, the reader was promised that, "They will get plenty of coverage in The News & Observer as the campaign unfolds." Hmmm, and I actually thought that the campaign had unfolded. I know if you asked any of us or our families or campaign staffs there wouldn't be any question that we have been relentlessly campaigning all over the state for months in my case and longer for Fred and Bill.

But my real question is not whether we'll "get plenty of coverage" but what kind of coverage we'll get from the media (print and electronic)? Will it be about substantive issues like education and corporate subsidies or on trivial issues that don't really address the problems facing our state? Will the coverage focus on our public records and the evaluation by a range of knowledgeable observers of how well we've done in the past or will it only be a fragmentary slice of our body of work (say, selected court opinions) that is most likely to stir up controversy? Will the press care to examine who we are in the context of our community involvement and service to others or merely ignore those elements of our record?

I have learned over my years as a public official and a candidate that while everyone likes to talk about the need for an informed electorate and the desire for candidates to be available and open to the press, it doesn't necessarily translate into thorough coverage of candidates and issues in a campaign. While no one likes negative or critical coverage we understand that it comes with the territory. But benign coverage by the press, the trivialization of a campaign effort, or the ignoring of positive information in contrast to the more titillating use of negative stories can be just as devastating to a campaign and to the public's ability to make informed choices on election day.

I've tried in the first eight months of this campaign to interest the press in what I'm doing and my position on the issues. My first formal press conference to address the Goodyear subsidy legislation drew a small group. WUNC-TV (no other television news reporters showed up), the NC News Network, the AP and the N&O's domed-blogger-in-residence all made the effort. My regular Tuesday morning breakfast with the press has drawn small responses with last Tuesday's only attendee being a photo/journalist for the Daily Tar Heel. At least the conversation with the DTH's representative was enjoyable as we talked about my race, UNC football, and her interest in law school. (Hopefully, the pictures she took don't show me with any egg on my face).

The point is that it's great that the N&O is promising lots of coverage of the Republican candidates for governor and without speaking for my fellow candidates in the primary all I can say is that we're waiting - on the N&O and all the other news outlets around the state, whether large urban papers, local small town papers, radio and TV. We may not be happy with everything ultimately reported but we'd all like our message, experience, and positions on significant issues presented to the public on the same basis as the democratic candidates.