Does the Times have a favorite Democratic candidate?
Reporter Leslie Wayne, in Iowa with the John Edwards campaign, filed the Times' latest strongly [1] positive story [1]on "populist" (not liberal!) John Edwards, who the Times seems determined [1]to make into the next John F. Kennedy or Bobby Kennedy.Wayne's latestis aglowing profile ofEdwards' latest Iowa campaign event, which Wayne saw as pure Americana. The headline: "A Candidate [2]Tends His Field of Dreams [2]."
"Surrounding him were about 100 voters, all seated on outdoor chairs provided by the local Congregational church, in a scene that could not have been more picturesquely American - democracy in action at its most intimate level. Even the music of John Mellencamp - 'Our Country' - helped make that point.
"For Mr. Edwards, Iowa is his field of dreams. He built his campaign strategy on the belief that a victory in the Iowa caucuses next January would propel him to front-runner status and position him well for New Hampshire and the crush of Feb. 5 primaries. Statewide polls that often placed him at the top of the pack here suggested that his hard work in Iowa had paid off."
In its 2004 election coverage,the Times displayed a stark double [3]standard [3]when it came to informal campaign events put on by Republicans and Democrats. George W. Bush "field[ed] softballs from the faithful" that sometimes "aren't even questions at all." By contrast, the Kerry-Edwards ticket got flattering coverage of its own "home-spun" events: "The low-key, invitation-only events, where perhaps 100 people sit around red-checked picnic tables, raising hands with questions rather than waving signs with slogans, mimic the town-hall style campaigning for the Iowa caucuses at which both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards excelled."