Now that it has been decided that the Gore endorsement has all but officially annointed Howard Dean as the Democratic nominee before even one vote has been cast, the press can get back to covering politics the way it wants, as a benign horse race. From this point on, expect mainstream campaign reporting to consist of 1) fund raising statistics, 2) poll numbers, and 3) the candidate's personalities. It began during last night's debate when atrios counted 19 questions before anything relevant to policy was touched upon. Reporters are happy in this realm because they get to put on the air of cynical newshounds chasing the "real story" behind the election which they consider to be the machinations of fund raisers, party managers, pollsters etc. Avoiding any serious analysis of the issues is also the easiest way for reporters to avoid the appearance of bias. And, of course, by focusing on the candidates' image/temperament/wardrobe/favorite food we can turn the campaign into the reality show that everyone wants to watch anyway.
The good news, for me at least, is that now I get to cast my irrelevant Louisiana primary vote for Kucinich the angry elf without reservation.
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