Is The Fat Lady Humming?

In a campaign with more twists than a Twilight Zone episode, the media all but officially pronounced Sen Barack Obama (IL) the Democratic nominee last week after he emerged with a big win in North Carolina and a near-tie in Indiana. There are only a handful of Democratic primary contests left. And the consensus was that Sen Hillary Clinton (NY) needed a stronger showing on May 6 to change the increasingly insurmountable-looking pledged delegate math and/or the superdelegates who have been steadily migrating to Sen Obama. Ironically, in the week that calls for her to drop out grew louder, Sen Clinton generated her highest level of coverage this year. According to PEJ’s Campaign Coverage Index, she was a significant or dominant factor in 70% of the campaign stories from May 5-11. Sen Obama was a close second, at 67%. But at only 12%, Republican Sen John McCain (AZ) ended up with his lowest level of coverage in 2008. One other narrative also began to suggest itself last week in the coverage. Even though Sen McCain has been virtually relegated to the role of bystander as the Democrats battled on, that may soon change.
http://www.journalism.org/node/11038