The Beginning of the End of the 2010 American Midterm Elections

By Maggie Palin

There are several things that you can count on every time Labor Day comes and goes. Our minds tell us it’s the end of summer (even if it really does not become fall until the Autumnal equinox), kids fill up their backpacks with brand-new school supplies for their first day of school, workplace water cooler debate reverts to talk of fantasy football leagues and BCS standings, and white pants get buried in the back of the closet until next summer. And unless you live in one of the handful of states that have meaningful elections in the off-years, the Labor Day of an even term year—such as this year—brings with it one more important milestone: the official kick-off to the general election campaign. Yes it is that time of year again, when our roads and sidewalks become littered with yard signs and leaflets, when our phone lines bombarded with phone calls from survey research firms, and our TV and radio waves become filled with political advertisements.

Campaigns aren’t the only ones telling us who to vote for in November, however. While the media has been writing and rewriting the political debate for months now the voting electorate is finally reading and digesting the message.

So what did the voters learn from the mainstream media today?

• The Washington Post: “Another reason for a big GOP blowout at Midterms”
• The New York Times: “State Gains Would Give Redistricting Edge to GOP”
• The Philadelphia Inquirer: “Democrats mobilize to thwart GOP ‘tsunami’”
• Politico: “Latest polls predict a blow-out loss for Democrats in November”
• MSNBC.com: “Poll: GOP advantage ahead of midterms”

All of these headlines have one major theme in common—that the GOP will win big in November. While I am cautiously optimistic myself that the GOP will take back many, if not all, of the seats it has lost in Washington over the past two cycles, the fact that the news is essentially calling the race on the first day that the average American pays attention does worry me.

The media has been known to distort the truth in the past for commercial gain. Many Americans also consider the mainstream media to be politically biased to one political ideology or another. Regardless, having the mainstream media handicap the race at this juncture is harmful to the democratic process. If swing and undecided voters believe the race is over and the GOP has won in a landslide, they may feel that their vote is not necessarily and skip the ballot box on November 2nd. Long-term Democratic voters who have not engaged in the process thus far may become energized at the thought of losing Congress and tighten up the race. The best-case scenario for Republicans is that the Republican base continues to become mobilized and turns out in heavy numbers on Election Day. In short, having the media call the race this early in the game does nothing but hamper the political process rather than keep the American public engaged.

Whether the predictions from today’s papers are right we will not know for approximately eight more weeks. But as the unelected fourth estate of government, the media should go back to just reporting the facts, and not shaping the message. That job belongs to the American people—and the representatives they elect to Washington.