Viewers across the country got to tune in tonight to the story of a
soldier's mom challenging an entrenched Republican incumbent in the 31st Congressional District of Texas by watching the PBS documentary/news program
NOW; but not in the military heart of the district itself. Harrell has two sons on active duty in the Army, the oldest of whom is serving in Iraq.
The program aired in most of Texas at 7:30 PM CST, but not on station KNCT serving the community surrounding Ft. Hood. The decision seems to have been made at the last minute as the station's home page was still at 10:30 PM CST listing the program as airing tonight at 7:30.
KNCT serves Ft. Hood, referred to on the program as the largest military post in the free world, and several Central Texas cities north of Austin. It is operated by Central Texas College. The station pulled the NOW program supposedly because the program didn't feature all three candidates on the ballot, but only the Republican incumbent, John Carter, and his Democratic challenger, attorney
Mary Beth Harrell. When Harrell's campaign called the station to ask why, a spokeswoman said that since the program did not give equal time to the Libertarian candidate, the station had been advised by attorneys that it could be sued if it aired the program.
A picture of the Libertarian candidate, Matt McAdoo, was shown briefly during the broadcast, but the focus of the program was the contrast between Carter's staunch support of the war and the fact that Harrell has enjoyed much acceptance in the Ft. Hood community despite questioning the war's premise and execution. The program posed the question, if this is happening in one of the country's reddest districts, what impact is the issue of the Iraq War going to have more broadly throughout the country.
Was pressure brought to bear on the PBS station from the outside or did it just chicken out? Either way, the voters of the district were denied seeing election coverage that was seen by the rest of the country and that affects them. The program can be viewed here.
Reached by phone at her ranch in Coryell County, north of Ft. Hood, Harrell commented sadly, "My Frank Capra moment may be over." Harrell and her supporters had been looking forward to having some national coverage beamed into a district in which voters were denied a head-to-head comparison because of Carter's refusal to debate (ironically, on a PBS affiliate).
According to Carter, Harrell hadn't "earn[ed] the right" to debate him because she lacks "credibility." On Friday, Harrell displayed plenty of credibility to a national audience, but not, alas, to the part of her district she has called home for nearly two decades.
Harrell's Capra reference brought another irony to mind. In the classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Senator Jefferson Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart, tries to bring out the truth about a corrupt political machine but is thwarted when a political boss shuts down media coverage of his courageous filibuster. In the movie, the Boy Rangers save the day by working round-the-clock to get the truth out through their hand-printed newspaper. Sixty-seven years later, can bloggers re-enact the fictional feat of the idealistic kids?