Long-shot Democratic presidential candidates Chris Dodd, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson have recently been blessed with prominent profiles in the Times.
Connecticut senator Dodd got a highly flattering front-page profile [1] [1]September 24 outlining his quest to vindicate his father, the late Sen. Thomas Dodd, censured by the Senate for diverting campaign funds to personal use.
This Tuesday, second-tier Democrat Biden made the front page with Michael Cooper's "A Senate [2]Star Sparkles Less On the Stump [2]." And on Thursday, the flattering spotlight turned to former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in Leslie Wayne's "Candidate Has an Eye On Edging Up to No. 3 [3]."
That makes three favorable profile stories on Democratic long-shots in less than three weeks, two on the front page, and none carrying a genuine news hook.
How are the GOP also-rans faring in soft profile coverage?
Checking the coverage of four second-tier mainstream Republican candidates (Sen. Sam Brownback, Rep. Tom Tancredo, Rep. Duncan Hunter, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee), Times Watch found a total ofone profilein the last three months, a front-page story on Mike Huckabee, but only after he made news by coming in a surprise second in the Iowa straw poll. (Tancredo got a less-than-favorable news piece in the August 21 Metro section by attacking Newark, N.J.'s sanctuary policy for illegal immigrants. In both cases there was a news hook.)