Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann
Manufacturing irrelevance

Aug 18th 2011, 14:40 by W.W. | IOWA CITY

WHEN I got to the Ames Straw Poll Saturday, my confidence that Michele Bachmann would win was immediately shaken by the size of the crowds clad in red Ron Paul t-shirts. Mr Paul's tents on the grounds of the Hilton Coliseum seemed more bustling than the others. The remarkably young Ron Paul team seemed especially motivated and efficient in herding fellow Paulites to the polls. And after the polls had closed, well more than half of the remaining participants waiting in the coliseum for the announcement of the results were in Ron-Paul red. I actually found myself mildly worried that Mr Paul would win, thereby establishing in the media's eyes the insignificance of the straw poll and ensuring a larger than normal stream of articles like this one about the insanity of paying so much attention to the preferences of Iowans.

It turned out that I was not wrong to wonder if Ms Bachmann would really pull it off. It was a squeaker. Mr Paul fell short by less than 1% of the vote. But, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Ms Bachmann scored a legitimising media boost from her victory while Mr Paul's near-win scored him bupkis. Even Jon Stewart says so!

But wait! If Jon Stewart is pointedly chastising the media for ignoring Ron Paul, and Jon Stewart is himself part of the media, is the media really ignoring Ron Paul? It is, yes. The subject of Ron Paul remains as willfully overlooked as an American war crime, even as the question of the justice of Ron Paul-neglect has become a white hot topic. Even Mr Stewart's amusing segment, which persuasively makes the case that much of the media has in fact conspired to slight Mr Paul, is not about Mr Paul so much as whether there is too little in the media about Mr Paul. And the generous Mr Stewart is at odds with the prevailing opinion that the media's present pattern of Ron Paul non-coverage gets it just about right. Here's Kevin Drum of Mother Jones. Here's Steve Kornacki at Salon. Here's Eric Zorn at the Chicago Tribune. Here's Dan Amira at New York. They speak with one voice: Mr Paul is a marginal candidate with a proven base of highly-motivated supporters who turn out in droves for mock-electoral trifles, but he lacks the the broader base of support necessary to qualify as a contender worth covering.


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Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann
Manufacturing irrelevance

Aug 18th 2011, 14:40 by W.W. | IOWA CITY

WHEN I got to the Ames Straw Poll Saturday, my confidence that Michele Bachmann would win was immediately shaken by the size of the crowds clad in red Ron Paul t-shirts. Mr Paul's tents on the grounds of the Hilton Coliseum seemed more bustling than the others. The remarkably young Ron Paul team seemed especially motivated and efficient in herding fellow Paulites to the polls. And after the polls had closed, well more than half of the remaining participants waiting in the coliseum for the announcement of the results were in Ron-Paul red. I actually found myself mildly worried that Mr Paul would win, thereby establishing in the media's eyes the insignificance of the straw poll and ensuring a larger than normal stream of articles like this one about the insanity of paying so much attention to the preferences of Iowans.

It turned out that I was not wrong to wonder if Ms Bachmann would really pull it off. It was a squeaker. Mr Paul fell short by less than 1% of the vote. But, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Ms Bachmann scored a legitimising media boost from her victory while Mr Paul's near-win scored him bupkis. Even Jon Stewart says so!

But wait! If Jon Stewart is pointedly chastising the media for ignoring Ron Paul, and Jon Stewart is himself part of the media, is the media really ignoring Ron Paul? It is, yes. The subject of Ron Paul remains as willfully overlooked as an American war crime, even as the question of the justice of Ron Paul-neglect has become a white hot topic. Even Mr Stewart's amusing segment, which persuasively makes the case that much of the media has in fact conspired to slight Mr Paul, is not about Mr Paul so much as whether there is too little in the media about Mr Paul. And the generous Mr Stewart is at odds with the prevailing opinion that the media's present pattern of Ron Paul non-coverage gets it just about right. Here's Kevin Drum of Mother Jones. Here's Steve Kornacki at Salon. Here's Eric Zorn at the Chicago Tribune. Here's Dan Amira at New York. They speak with one voice: Mr Paul is a marginal candidate with a proven base of highly-motivated supporters who turn out in droves for mock-electoral trifles, but he lacks the the broader base of support necessary to qualify as a contender worth covering.