H 18°, L 6° | Tomorrow: 
Critical Badger has beef with our coverage of the District 8 race, arguing opinion has dropped the ball. In terms of coverage, yes. It has been minimal. But not without good reason. In the time since the Editorial Board’s endorsement of Eagon, Biddy Martin launched a massive - but necessary - increase in tuition, an alleged gang rape was brought to the attention of campus, and, conversely, nothing of significance has happened between the two candidates. There WAS a brave request to have Bob Marley play at Freakfest, but other than this laughable oversight, it is difficult for the page’s staff, myself included, to write columns on unchanging situations. In other races, where perhaps the cases of ridiculousness were more common, or at least more evenly distributed (Manning v. O’Hagan), it made sense to have more intense coverage.
But let’s be realistic. Nothing has happened since the endorsement. Eagon is the better candidate. Woulf, however, is not as stupid as O’Hagan. He is by no means worthy of the position, but then again, he’s not worthy of arbitrary columns that repeat ad absurdum points made over a month ago either.
Additionally, two endorsements of Eagon (one is forthcoming - sorry Woulf) from the editorial board and a column from Labuz strike me as effective coverage, given the fact that the election hasn’t taken place yet. It is Opinion’s responsibility to cover an issue, but if that is CB’s argument, then wouldn’t it be more effectively made by waiting to assess coverage AFTER the election? Yes, coming up with something 100 hours before is, I dunno, sudden. It’s also the time when people will read, care, and all those other things they’re supposed to do when they read opinion pages on issues they are used to, for the most part, ignoring.
And making the whimsical accusation that all we really give a damn about is “making you mad,” is, well, dumb. Especially if that accusation is made before the election has ended. Yes, the page should address substantial issues. It should also address them in times when people will give a shit, and only as much as they will give a shit, about. In short, we give a damn about making you read, and persuading you with what you read. Suggesting that District 8 could have been worthy of 10-20 editorials displays a surprising lack of understanding regarding what we do here.
I’m the last person to argue we’re perfect - there will inevitably be columns on the page that none of us are happy with printing. And there were a few that I would have been happy to see articles on District 8 replace - IF anything regarding that race had happened or was about to happen. Understanding the moment when our coverage will - and more importantly, will not - have the most influence is certainly not “sleeping on the job.”
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Additionally, if local races are CB’s concerns, Districts 5 and 2 seem far more pertinent. The races are guaranteed to be much closer, and on both sides there is a candidate far more aligned with the interests of students. If any column comes from my end (written by me), it will be on one of those two.
Sam Clegg
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Opinion columns after the election mean jack shit. Your job is to tell people what to think before the election when it actually matters.
Your other points aren’t half bad, but your point about how coverage should be after the election rather than before is the opposite of correct, making it even worse than wrong.
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so a candidate releasing a major safety plan, a candidate getting big endorsements, a candidate not living in the district, the candidates appearing in a forum on the city channel - none of these warrant coverage? (besides the article on judge’s endorsement, though with no editorial on it)
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“He is by no means worthy of the position, but then again, he�s not worthy of arbitrary columns that repeat ad absurdum points made over a month ago either.”
Exactly what I think. The whole race has been pretty much status quo since the primary.
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Note to 8:57 -
I don’t know where you got that, but I absolutely think the opposite of what you accuse me of believing. I merely argued the CB should wait until after the election before assessing our coverage of District 8. That being said, most, if not all, of opinion’s coverage on all the elections (Districts 5 and 2 as well) will come before the election. Apologies if I didn’t make that clear.
And ASO to the computer that won’t let me post as myself. But this really is me.
Sam Clegg
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District 5 won’t be close and you have no way of knowing the outcome of District 8. How much money would you have bet on Flores Eagon, not Eagon Woulf finishing 1 and 2.
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Fair enough on D5, to be honest that was me just being sleep deprived. Shiva will (I think) carry it. But D8 seems somewhat intuitive outcome-wise. Eagon was a favorite; to be honest Woulf WAS a surprise but not one relevant to the election. Obviously the results might make me look like a fool but, then again, even the great Karl Rove once said in 2004 that Republicans would have hegemony for basically ever following Bush’s LEGAL election.
Sam Clegg
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The principal problem I see here is not the Herald’s coverage of the District 8 race (or lack thereof), but that you actually feel it necessary to defend the page’s content from a freaking blog which has no legitimacy. WHY ARE YOU HOLDING YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE TO HIM? If you are being personally smeared, that’s one thing. But responding to substantive claims from a source that has called out people for eating chicken sandwiches, falsely accused people of anti-Semitism and regularly writes entire posts based on false premises (i.e. Viewpoint neutrality applies to the Union for SSFC budget decisions) is ludicrous. I’m not saying it’s completely worthless, but it needs to be explicitly stated that the blog is really only as important as you want it to be, and I really wish that more people involved in campus politics would recognize that.
Kyle
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Kyle’s got it right.
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I don’t agree with Kyle often, but he’s hit this one on the head. No one needs to respond to CB… ever. Seriously, the guy is a joke.