Like many Americans I enjoy Sunday mornings reading the local Sunday paper, while drinking my morning coffee. It's getting tougher and tougher to enjoy anything after reading the Bend Bulletin's right wing slant on the news. This mornings editorial page is typical from the current publishers of Bulletin: David Brooks, George Will, Victor David Hanson (Heritage Foundation), Ben Lieberman (Heritage Foundation). Every once and while we will get a Ellen Goodman column just to let us know the Bulletin is "Fair and Balanced". My recent post
A Blue Guy In Red Oregon my letter to the editor was printed on Saturday and yesterday (7/1/06) a letter calling my opponent in my race for the state legislature to task, again printed on Saturday. For the uniformed Saturday is usually the day with the lowest newspaper readership.
I'm a candidate for House District 54 which is basically the City of Bend plus the southern neighborhood of Deschutes River Woods. Bend is a liberal oasis in a sea of red. Growing up during the cold war and now being able to call Republican territory "Red", offers me too much personal satisfaction! Deschutes County is fastest growing area in the state of Oregon and we haven't elected a Democrat since Tom Troop in the eighties. Deschutes County voter's registration breaks down as follows: 42% Republican, 32% Democrat, and 22% Non-Affiliated (Independent). The Break Down for House District 54 is better but not terrific: 39% Republican, 32% Democrat, and 23% Independent.
I have some questions for the Kos community. How many of you live in rural areas with similar numbers? How many of you have similar stories to tell about your local newspapers conservative bias. Keeping Chairman Dean's 50 State strategy in mind, how do counter this bias?