Charlie Baker in Springfield Yesterday - photo Springfield Republican
Yesterday, Republican candidate for Governor, Charlie Baker, kicked off his statewide “Had Enough?” campaign tour, with a stops in Framingham and Chicopee. The tour highlights Bakers plans to reduce spending on Beacon Hill, and putting a halt to the corruption rampant in Massachusetts government.
Local news coverage on the stop resulted in one article by the Springfield Republican Headlined ”Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick urges opponent Charlie Baker to stop Republican Governors Association ads” . In the article, Patrick, who was aided by negative attack ads in 2006, complains that Baker should stop the ads run by the Republican Governors Association which depict both Patrick and Democrat turned Independent third candidate, Tim Cahill in a truthful, but less than flattering light. Patrick held a press conference yesterday in Boston, to coincide with Bakers camping tour. The Republican, the only daily paper in the Springfield/Chicopee/Holyoke area, decided to go with the Patrick press conference as “news”.
In paragraph six of the article, the fact that Baker made a stop in Western Massachusetts is brought into play:
During a campaign stop in Western Massachusetts, Baker, former chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc., said that candidates are barred by federal election law from coordinating with independent advocacy groups like the Republican Governors Association.
“I can only control my own message,” Baker said following a rally at The Munich Haus in Chicopee. “I’d rather that all of these independent groups stay out of Massachusetts.”
Baker noted that independent advocacy groups ran ads on Patrick’s behalf during the 2006 election.
The only other indication that Baker was present in Western Mass is the AP photo that accompanies the article. It is precisely this type of reporting that has seen daily newspaper subscriptions drop 9% over last year. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the Springfield Republican has an average of 67,181 subscribers. The current population of Chicopee is 54,941, Springfield,150,640 and Holyoke, 39,947 (based on 2008 estimates) or a total of 245,000.
It is one thing to preach to the choir, but when the choir has left the church, the smart move would be to balance the reporting, one story about Baker’s visit and one about Duval Patrick’s press conference about Baker. Over at the three leading television stations (websites), one AP article can be found at Channel 40 news, under Global news, headlined: “Even in liberal-leaning Mass., GOP eyes US House”, otherwise, no mention of Baker’s visit to the neighborhood.
Regardless to which political party one subscribes, a visit by a major candidate is news - the fact that this receives no mention other than to prop up the sitting Governor, who’s current approval, according to the latest Rasmussen survey shows Patrick with 11% viewing the Governor very favorably with 26% viewing him very unfavorably. The balance of respondents are somewhere in the middle. In this particular poll, Patrick’s performance has increased to 48% approval with 12% strongly approving, again the balance being somewhat. It is the very low favorable versus the unfavorable that paint the picture that larger dailies like the Globe and the Republican fail to see (or refuse to see).
Ned Bristol, of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle, on the other hand “Get’s it” – Worth reading his editorial ”Ross win good for Republicans, Mass.”. The article outlines the state of Massachusetts politics today and is right on the money.
As Charlie Baker goes from city to town to district delivering his message, the fact that the media continues to ignore him (not unlike they initially ignored one Scott Brown), will do little to effect the outcome. The only effect it appears to have is driving subscribers to alternative news sources.
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