Chuck Todd from NBC responded to my Edwards letter...

I cut and pasted the Edwards letter that is on the DU front page in asdjrocky's journal.

Here was his one sentence response:
"No network has given more airtime to Edwards than NBC"

And yes, he left out the period.

But at least he read the letter, and that is important, because in sending these off, people are reading them.

I'm a DK voter, and almost assuredly would vote for him again, but I don't believe the media should frame a contest in a certain way. Edwards is still competitive, and there is no excuse to continue to frame this race as only between the two celebrity candidates. As compelling as that narrative is, and I like both Obama and HRC, it's not their job to decided who the race is between like that. I support a fair, just and equitable race, not just for the person I vote for, but for all the candidates.

Mr. Todd,
Thanks for the response. I do think that other than airtime it is important to not frame the race a certain way too. It's easy to pit the two celebrity candidates against each other and compare and contrast them, but in reality, it's a three person race. I'm actually not an Edwards voter, my chosen candidate is out of contention; I simply believe that electing a president is so important that the coverage and framing of the debate should be as fair, just and equitable as possible.

His response:

i hear ya... but we did cover this as a 3-person race for Iowa and New hampshire and it's getting harder to justify this as a 3-person race if he doesn't win something

My response to that:

Yes that's definitely true, but we're only a short way into the process. 2nd and 3rd is still in the hunt. Nor would I count out a guy like Romney for the GOP, he hasn't won anything yet either, but this year, being the first time that no sitting president or VP has been in a presidential race since General Dwight Eisenhower and Governor Adlai Stevenson ran against each other in 1952, is fairly wide open. The numbers of actual delegates are very close, so I see the waters being muddied until Super Tuesday. Then it may clear up some, but being so wide open, nobody can predict anything yet. Like NH, how off was everybody on that one? The narrative had Obama as an almost certain big winner, but it didn't roll that way. But just so you know, I sent that out to several different news departments and agencies, I just wasn't singling out NBC. I watch your guy Russert every Sunday, and I keep tabs on clips from Brian Williams, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann all the time, so I do respect NBC and MSNBC greatly. Thanks again for your time. -Bill

I've done some reporting too. Mainly as a columnist, not a beat reporter or anything like that. I respect that he replied.

I think a great ad for Edwards would be a tiny clip with the corresponding date, of every commentator saying he is all washed up and should quit for almost a year now. Even when McCain was broke, no one said he should quit. The "quit" meme has been around a long time, ever since Edwards made clear he was going to go a different road from the average corrupt Senator (yes, I'm alluding to Obama and Hillary)If you look at their voting records, they aren't much different than the Republicans on the BIG issues. When people say Hillary has done so much for children I think it's silly. Which children do they mean? The Iraqi children that are now being sold by their parents? Hillary is a warmonger. All the American children who don't have food or a roof over their heads? If she has done so much, why are things so bad for children so long? She keeps saying she has been around for 35 years. Having her around has not helped children. The truth is that NOTHING has been done to help anyone in need for a long time. Alot of Bill Clinton's policies have been WRONG and we are paying for them now. They didn't just start with Bush. They started with Reagan and have gone forward since then, with the cooperative Clintons(and Obama is no different).

"look, we still have a correspondent on him and aren't ignoring him; he needs a win though"

:rofl:

The GC networks have given Edwards more coverage, starting the day before NH - not before and after Iowa, when it really could have made a difference. Ignoring his 2nd place finish in Iowa was a crushing blow.

He took second and it was like they acted as if it was his funeral. He would get coverage, but a lot of the time it would be in the context of him playing second fiddle to the HRC vs Obama show. He beat HRC and it was like that never mattered at all. I found that odd. I think the framing of it all is more egregious than anything.

It's obvious what team he's on.

;-)

I only watch MSNBC, and I see Edwards talked about a lot.

in 2007, but for the first part of the year, significantly less. He would have been in the third tier of coverage, with DK and Gravel, were it not for his wife getting cancer which then gave him some extra coverage. He was being covered in only about 4% of campaign stories at a time when he was leading the polls in Iowa and was polling high in National surveys.

Nominated, and I thank you for both writing to him, and posting the response here.

Yeah, I just took the generic letter from Rocky's thread and touched it up a bit, then sent it off. But the other stuff I made directly to his responses. I am surprised he messaged me back. Not once but three times. Kudos to him.

Nice to know, thank you so much.

He's the first network person who I ever had respond to me, after years of sending stuff off, haha.

in regards to Ghouliani

If you don't mind filling me in.

He said Ghouliani owned 911.

His reply to my e-mail challenging such a ridiculous statement:

Thanks for the note. My analysis was political in nature, not policy
oriented. I understand your beefs with the statement and Giuliani but
this is about Giuliani's ability to harness the popularity he attained
post 9/11 to woo conservative Republican voters.

I used to send an occasionaly e-mail to those guys, but after many non-responses I decided it was futile.

Good you you and, I guess, Todd deserves some credit for at least responding (even if he is wrong).

Despite what Todd says, there were innumerable news reports I saw in the week before NH that totally focused on Obama and Clinton often without even a mention of Edwards....And on the occasions he was mentioned, it was in dismissive tones as the pre-determined also-ran.

Dunno how Edwards would have fared if the coverage had more balanced. But I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the blackout and marginalization had more than a little something to do with his showing in NH.

but Rocky's post on the homepage had a letter and everything all written out, so I just cut and pasted it etc, and sent it off. I never have gotten responses before, so I didn't expect one, and none of the other organizations sent any reply at all. So good for him anyway.

Yes, "pre-determined also-ran" is a good way to put it, I found the coverage dismissive like that too. That and they are dismissive in his railing against the status-quo.