Tone, Tactics and Economy Drive Campaign Coverage

According to the Oct. 6-12 Campaign Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center's Project For Excellence in Journalism, the media narrative of the campaign focused on tone and tactics last week, perhaps as the press searched for something that might alter the strategic dynamic of the race. For the first time in a month, the 2008 campaign generated more coverage than the financial crisis (41% vs. 36%). And almost one-third of that election coverage was connected to the increasingly harsh tone of the campaign. The biggest component of that storyline -- attacks often focused on the candidates' character and associations -- accounted for 27% of the week's campaign newshole. Most of them emanated from McCain and they included efforts to link Obama to 60's radical Bill Ayers. As the week went on, the anger boiling up at Republican rallies also became part of the story. For his part, Obama reprised the Keating Five savings and loan-related scandal that ensnared the Arizona Senator two decades ago.