For those of you who aren't interested in the 1994 election.
If you are interested, however, here are the links to each section:
Part One: Two Primaries, One Upset
Part Two: A Wild Race to November
Part Three: Conclusions and Implications for 2006 (includes sources)
2006 is almost here... what's happening around the state?
16 comments:
Let me be candid: I haven't been able to figure out what the hell the Republican Party is doing pursuing the immigrant issue. It seems to be a very divisive issue within the party - what the heck?
Well, don't ask me how, but I stumbled across this posting and, ya know, my faith in Turdblossom and company is reaffirmed.
Heh. That didn't work.
Here is the post, Just Don't Count 'Em.
I dunno, maybe landslide referendums on those issues in CA and AZ might motivate the GOP.
BTW: definition of a "divisive issue"
A popular issue opposed by the NY Times, who decides its discussion is therefore off-limits.
Immigration is not a party issue; it is a regional issue based on competing priorities. Not everything has to be driven by partisan politics and party control/unity.
Watching the posts here and reflecting on the departure of Michele Jacklin as political columnist for the Courant, I've been struck by how few women or people of color are political bloggers or journalists. Of course, it is not always possible to determine the gender or ethnicity of bloggers or commenters, but there are very few self-identified women or people of color. This online disparity reflects a more serious disparity in the news media.
I hope that I am missing some people in the numbers below, and there may be a couple irregular or obscure journalists I'm not aware of, but nonetheless, the complete dominance of white men in political journalism is undeniable.
Number of women and/or people of color in Connecticut who are:
* Political bloggers: 0
* State or federal political reporters (print, radio, or TV): 3 (Sue Haigh, Rick Hancock, and Ebong Udoma)
* Political/public affairs radio talk show hosts: 1 (Diane Smith, though she's really more of a sidekick)
* Political/public affairs TV talk show hosts: 1 (Hancock)
* Political columnists: 0 (now that Michele Jacklin is gone; some others touch on politics, but it's not their primary beat)
* Editorial board members: a minority
Could these numbers have been much worse in 1950s Mississippi? The CT news media needs to do a much better job of recruitment.
The disparities reflect national trends, though the problem is worse in Connecticut political journalism. In 2002, women were one-third of journalists, and less than one in ten journalists were people of color (though people of color make up 31% of the U.S. population). According to the survey, the percentage of journalists who are women is stagnant, while the percentage of journalists who are people of color is slowly increasing. As far as I know, there are no women of color in any of the roles above in Connecticut, though nationally they they make up half of journalists of color.
people don't hire bloggers, they do it themselves, so including them in your list is misleading. But anyway, I'm not sure exactly what kind of indictment on the society you are endorsing by bemoaning that so few (or no) women and "people of color" (hereafter referred to as "POCs") want to waste precious moments of their life writing blog entries that get picked apart by political hacks with entrenched opinions and bitter vocabularies. As far as women and POCs in the media, a quick review indicates that you have forgotten Stan Simpson, Shelly Sinland, Helen Ubinas (a WomanOfColor), Stacy Stowe, and Elizabeth Hamilton. I'm sure there are others, I just don't feel like looking them up. This, of course, proves nothing. But neither did your post.
Frustrated by the Republican Congress' unwillingness to eliminate penalties and extend enrollment periods for the confusing Medicare Part D Prescription coverage, Joe Courtney has started an online petition to ask Congress to consider a Democratic solution.
House Resolution 4410, sponsored by Rep. John Larson, would extend the enrollment period through May 15, 2008, waive all penalties for late enrollment, and offer other protections. The Republican congress refuses to bring the bill to the floor.
Click here to view and sign the petition!
WTNH and NBC30 are all loaded with white anchor guys too.! Maybe MikeCT wants to consider Rachel Hunter has better things to do with her time than hang out at the modern day equivalent of the local tap room.
Anon,
Shelley Sundland does co-host 61's talk show - I should have included her there. She is not the political reporter. As I said, Simpson, Ubinas and other columnists sometimes write about politics, but it is not their primary beat; neither they nor their employers would call them "political columnists." I don't know what Simpson talks about during his twice-monthly radio show. Stacey Stowe is a CT stringer. She is not the Capitol reporter. I don't know how often she covers political stories - I have not noticed them, but perhaps she should be included. Elizabeth Hamilton did some reporting at the Capitol last year, but I have not seen stories from her this year - it has been Keating, Pazniokas, and the investigative reporters.
I'm aware that bloggers are not paid, thank you. I was broadening the discussion to online as well as offline political commentary, and trying to localize it.
In any case, this is nitpicking around the edges. As I said, the dominance of white men in political journalism is undeniable. The fact that you think documented evidence of state and national disparities doesn't "prove anything" only "proves" that you don't care about it and feel threatened by recognition of the problem.
Rachel Hunter might bring a whole new audience to political stories, yes. :)
What's the story on M. Lisa Moody? Will she be back in the gov's office 1/2/06? It seems to me that if an investigation is underway by the chief state's attorney and Garfield's office, that Jodi would want to await their results before bring MLM back. Any rumors about this?
Mike, you're right, only women and people of color can be trusted to acurately report on politics. The Connecticut white male journalist cabal is part of a conspiracy that threatens to undermine the basis on which the nation was founded, namely, that ethnic diversity should be enforced through bad laws and white-liberal hectoring. Give me one single example of a qualified person of color being passed over on a political reporting job in this state, then you can tell me how threatened I feel. I think yours is the kind of pissant political correctness that obscures the real problem, which is that the corporate media has decided to downsize its coverage of local politics due to concerns over the profit margin. There is a very real chance that in 25 years daily print media will cease to exist, and that will not be just white men, but for all the marginalized groups you single out in your cry for fair treatment. Mike, I'm picking on you a little because it's fun, but I'm sure you'll agree - give me a print media dominated by liberal white males over no print media at all.
PS - who's covering the DMR scandal? Elizabeth Hamilton.
In the Mood(ie) haven't heard much on the investigation from anyone... i have heard that she working from home and regularly trades email with the Governor…. So much for suspension..
The solution to this disparity stuff is to fire Mark Davis and Tom Monahan and the rest of the old timers. CT isn't a real big state you know and there are only so many jobs to go 'round. When the woman and POC start to complain instead of a couple of white guy bloggers maybe the issue needs to be addressed. Sounds like another limosine liberal solution looking for a problem.
As for Moody, I heard she is roasting kittens - slowly, slowly - on a bonfire of rejected citizenship applications and e-mailing *.wav files of their terrified meows to white male journalists.
Hey,what about the minority candidiate for state inspector that complained (the operative word there is that somebody may have been truly aggreived) that Chief State's Attorney Morano only hires white guys for those jobs. Sorry, Gabe, I don't remember where I read it but I know I read it and it sounded like a valid complaint. Can't remember whether a white guy wrote the story either.
It does seem odd that nothing's been in the HC from Lender, Mahoney on Moody lately. Some wag told me that if MJR really wanted to make a statement she would fire MLM and simultaneously announce a new series of spending cuts; all under the guise of "cutting the fat" from state gov't. Who's being interviewed by Morano's office?
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