Big issues had spot in N&O

Elizabeth Edwards recently chastised the press for not covering campaigns as it should.

In a piece that ran in The New York Times, she said we weren't doing our jobs.

"The information about the candidates' priorities, policies and principles -- information that voters will need to choose the next president -- too often did not make the cut," she wrote.

Edwards, the wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, said reporters focused too much on strategy and not enough on ideas.

She's right -- unless she's talking about The N&O. I could not reach her to learn whether her comments applied to our coverage.

We started with this operating principle: We wanted to give voters enough information to make a good decision.

An election is like a job interview. You are hiring a president, a governor, a U.S. senator. We strived to give you information about the candidates' backgrounds and beliefs so you could decide who you wanted to hire.

When it comes to the presidential campaign, our coverage had two phases. In the first phase, we focused on John Edwards. The former U.S. senator was running a historic race -- the most serious campaign for president ever run by a North Carolina resident.

Our coverage included stories about his new $6 million estate outside Chapel Hill and how his $400 haircuts were playing back home. Some thought these stories irrelevant; others disagreed.

We also ran stories on his health-care and anti-poverty plans.

At that point, we didn't think North Carolina, with its May 6 primary, would have a voice in the presidential primaries. Our coverage focused less on useful information and more on how the candidates were doing.

In March, when it looked as if North Carolina might get to vote in a competitive Democratic primary, we moved into a second phase of presidential coverage.

We wrote more about issues. Our job was to help you decide.

We polled voters and asked which issues were most important. We published four two-page packages in the Q section about some of your top issues -- the economy, illegal immigration, health care and education. Each package included the ideas of the candidates for president, governor and U.S. senator.

We also published four stories on where the presidential candidates stood on creating jobs, college financial aid, energy policy and military issues.

We asked you to send us questions for the presidential candidates. We asked them your questions and printed their answers.

Much of today's top campaigns unfold on the airwaves. Especially in the governor's primaries, we checked the statements in the commercials and told you whether they were true.

Our voters guides, available in print and online, gave you basic information on dozens of candidates.

We published a few horse-race stories. But we kept a healthy balance between politics and policy. If you didn't get what you needed to make a decision, let me know. We want to give you what you need to hire the right person for the job.