How Edwards' Announcement is Playing in the Press

Even though we all knew it was coming, John Edwards has "officially" announced his candidacy for President in 2008.  How has his announcement played in the "Mainstream" Media?  I think surprisingly well, at least so far.  You can get the full transcript from the Washington Post.

It's been fairly good press on the wires, CBS, and Washington Post.  It looks like announcing in New Orleans is being accepted as pure genius in the Conventional wisdom.  Even his website gaffaw of least night has essentially been fluffed off by the press.

First let's see the wire services.
The Reutersdidn't do what the media normally does which is regurgitate what the candidate said.  The first half mentioned New Orleans and what Edwards has done.

Edwards, who has opened an anti-poverty center in North Carolina and promised during his first presidential bid to be "a champion for regular people" campaigned with Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts in 2004 on closing the economic gap between the "two Americas" -- one for the comfortable and another for the struggling.

He has proposed a series of work, housing and school measures aimed at lifting millions of Americans out of poverty in the next 10 years, and called for a goal of ending poverty within 30 years.

In his letter, Edwards listed an agenda that included "providing moral leadership in the world, starting with Iraq where we should begin drawing down troops, not escalating the war," leading the fight against global warming, breaking the U.S. "addiction" to oil and ending the "shame of poverty."

Then the rest of the article was process about process.  Who else is in, and regurgitates the conventional wisdom that somehow Clinton and Obama are the front runners to beat.

With Clinton and Obama threatening to soak up much of the political oxygen in the 2008 campaign, several Democrats have ruled out a run. Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) pulled out of the race just weeks after forming a committee to explore his options.

The AP did the typical lazy media thing and half the article is just regurgitating what Edwards said.  This definitely works in his favor.  Just look at all the quote marks.

"We want people in this campaign to actually take action now, not later, not after the next election," the former North Carolina senator said, sounding as much like a recruiter as a presidential campaigner.

"Instead of staying home and complaining, we're asking Americans to help," Edwards said. "Most of the good that has been done in New Orleans has been done by faith-based groups, charitable groups and volunteers."

Edwards — who is calling for cuts in poverty, global warming and troops in
Iraq — chose the site to highlight his signature concern of the economic disparity that divides America.

"I'm here to announce I'm a candidate for president of the United States," Edwards told NBC's "Today Show" earlier Thursday, one of three back-to-back interviews by the candidate on morning news shows. "I've reached my own conclusion this is the best way to serve my country."

Edwards, 53, said the difference between his message to voters in 2004 and his 2008 presidential bid is that, "I've learned since the last campaign that it's great to identify a problem ... but the way you change things is by taking action."

And Iraq is one of the biggest issues facing the country.

"It would be a huge mistake to put a surge of troops into Iraq," Edwards said on ABC's "Good Morning America. "It sends exactly the wrong signal. We can maximize our chances for success by making clear we are going to leave Iraq and not stay there forever."

And the next president must restore America's leadership in the world, he said.

"It's absolutely crucial that America re-establish its moral authority and leadership role in the world," Edward said on CBS "Early Show."

It also gave him a very favorable biography.

The son of a textile mill worker, Edwards has been on a fast track most of his life despite his up-by-the-bootstraps roots.

A standout law student who became a stunningly successful trial lawyer and millionaire, Edwards vaulted from nowhere politically into the U.S. Senate and then onto the 2004 Democratic presidential ticket — all in less than six years.

In 1998, in his first bid for public office, Edwards defeated incumbent Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., a leading advocate for impeachment of
President Clinton.

Edwards began building support for his first presidential bid shortly after arriving in the Senate. He quickly made a name for himself in Congress, using his legal background to help Democratic colleagues navigate the impeachment hearings.

Edwards launched a bid for the Democratic nomination in 2003 and quickly caught the eye of Democratic strategists. Although he won only the South Carolina primary, his skills on the trail, his cheerful demeanor, and his message of "two Americas" — one composed of the wealthy and privileged, and the other of the hardworking common man — excited voters, especially independents and moderate-leaning Democrats.

Edwards' handsome, youthful appearance also gave him a measure of star quality, one of the reasons Kerry selected Edwards as his running mate

The rest is process about his debts from the last campaing and  Clinton\Obama - again.  Again, this was a very favorable article.  Unlike Reuters, it did mention his website gaffaw last night but was fluffed off.

The AFPwas short and sweet(and by 'sweet' I mean positive for Edwards), I suggest just going to the article, it's very shot.

The Washington Post was almost entirely about process.  They just couldn't help talking about his website screw up for 8 paragraphs!  Then his bad timing because of Gerald Ford's Death took up 4.
 

He also picked the week between Christmas and New Year's Day to announce his candidacy in large part because he and his advisers thought it would attract more attention during what is traditionally a slow news period. But the death of former president Gerald R. Ford was by far the dominant news on Wednesday and probably will continue to be for several more days.

Clinton\Obama make their obligatory mention, but they put a positive spin on it.  An Unnecessary positive spin which was surprising, but welcomed.

He joins two other declared Democratic candidates -- Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio) -- while several others, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), are expected to announce their candidacies in January.

Although Clinton and Obama have attracted the most attention, Edwards begins his campaign well positioned to challenge for the nomination. He has maintained considerable strength in Iowa, building on his success there in 2004, retains a base of support in South Carolina, and has developed relationships with organized labor in Nevada, which is scheduled to hold the second set of presidential caucuses in 2008.

I'd say the Washington Post spent way too much time on process and not enough on actually defining the candidate for people.  This is a huge complaint of mine when it comes to the "MainStream" Media.

One more piece of proof that Edwards is seriously benefiting from the lazy media is the CBS report.  They basically took the AP story and added some stuff to make it their own.

Edwards — who is calling for cuts in poverty, global warming and troops in Iraq — chose the site to highlight his signature concern of the economic disparity that divides America.

"This is the best way to serve my country," Edwards said on CBS' The Early Show.

Edwards, 53, said the difference between his message to voters in 2004 and his 2008 presidential bid is that, "I've learned since the last campaign that it's great to identify a problem ... but the way you change things is by taking action."

Now I like Edwards.  I also like the fact that a Democrat is figuring out how to benefit from lazy, conventional wisdom rehashing, corporate media.  So I am very happy to see him get such great press.  I really would compare his good coverage with the positive coverage of Obama.  The difference being that Obama seems to be getting more of it.

Now for a counter-example of what story the media could really be repeating if they didn't like Edwards.  This Times-Picayune piece could've provided some really bad coverage if it had been picked up by the media.  It really seems to give the idea that this is calculated, photo-op to benefit Edwards and is hurting New Orleans residents.

What Orelia Tyler asked for was a team of volunteers to come spread a load of dirt in the back yard of her nearly restored eastern New Orleans home.

What she got Wednesday was the crush of a national political photo op for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who brought two dozen reporters and photographers to watch him shovel dirt in jeans and a work shirt, a choreographed background for his effective announcement of his 2008 presidential candidacy.

"No!" said an astonished Tyler, who said she had no idea her home on Stemway Drive near Lakefront Airport had become a political stage.

Edwards' campaign team scheduled the work party as a photo session, but made clear that the formal declaration of candidacy would come today.

...

Edwards did speak briefly to the recovery, faulting the White House for providing too little help.

Wow, Edwards and his supporters must be hoping that this isn't the narrative.  Luckily, so far, it isn't.  Not a single other article mentioned or even implied that Edwards was unwelcome by the home's resident.  I don't mention this to diss Edwards, but only to point out that:

1.  Media is mostly lazy and didn't bother to interview anyone.

2.  The Media must like Edwards to not pick up on this story.

My point here is that John Edwards, Like him or not, appears to have lulled the Media into loving him.  The only bad article was from a local paper that the national media didn't latch onto.  I wonder if they would've been as nice to Al Gore, John Kerry, or Hillary Clinton.