This doesn’t suprise me at all.

•The average length of a single story devoted primarily to elections was roughly
76 seconds. By contrast, a similar national study conducted by the UW
NewsLab during the 2002 mid-term election found the average story ran 89
seconds.

• 41 percent of the election stories were aired in the final week before Election
Day.

• There was a political ad “echo effect:” Over one in ten election stories
mentioned, pictured, or focused on a specific campaign ad.  Read more 

Lordy I’m tired. A couple of thoughts while I soak my feet. Today, I ran around with one of the grrls from Blondesense working for Webb and against the hate amendment in VA. It was fun, informative, and tiring.

First off, let me say that campaigns need to come out of the 1950s. A relative told me today (from a different state) that she would be burning all campaign literature delivered to her doorstep between now and election day. Not that she’s apolitical, simply- she’s been showered with it and the paper trail will supply kindling for her fires for months to come. It’s a simple question to me: who really thinks a flyer or doorknob reminder will change any voter’s mind? Or even get a ’low information’ voter to come out to vote, over sitting around and watching Oprah on Tuesday? I smelled a lot of BBQ today, heard a lot of hooting over football; I’m not sure leaving a flyer in the door will convince those folks to do their Democratic duty.  Read more