Shifting the focus to statewide races

The withdrawal of John Edwards as a presidential candidate dramatically alters the landscape of the 2008 Democratic campaign. It also affects The News & Observer's coverage of politics back home.

Edwards' departure from the race presumably will remove the home-state candidate's smiling face from the front page, where it has been a regular fixture these last months. More importantly, perhaps, it frees up the newspaper's political staff to devote more attention to the North Carolina races just heating up.

I had been wondering whether The N&O was so fixated on the presidential primaries and caucuses, like papers nationally, that it was neglecting some interesting elections back home. On the ballot for the May 6 primary election are campaigns for governor on both the Democratic and Republican sides that are among the most sulfurous in years. Elizabeth Dole's Senate seat also is up this year. She's not opposed in the primary, but several Democrats are battling for the right to oppose her.

Below those elections on the radar screen are statewide races for lieutenant governor, state treasurer, Supreme Court and a host of other statewide offices. Quick now: Who are the Democratic and Republican candidates for the second-highest executive branch job in North Carolina? You'll be choosing them in three months. (Answer at the bottom of this column.)

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HAS THE RACE TO REPLACE MIKE EASLEY BEEN OVERSHADOWED by the presidential election? No, says Capitol Editor Bill Krueger. The filing period for governor and all other state offices does not even begin until Feb. 11, and although the candidates have been out there campaigning, it's a little early for most people to pay attention.

"I don't think the bulk of the readers are out there champing at the bit for coverage of the lieutenant governor's race," Krueger said. Yes, N&O reporters have been pulled away to follow Edwards on the campaign trail to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But Krueger said that hasn't reduced the amount of coverage that the paper would be giving to the state races at this stage of the game. He challenged me to compare the number of stories this year to similar elections in years past.

I did, and he's right, at least compared with 2000, the last year when there were open seats for both president and governor competing for reporters' attention in North Carolina. In January 2000, The N&O published 11 stories about the gubernatorial primary campaigns. In January 2008, the number was the same, 11 (not including Under the Dome, editorials and other nonstory content.)

One difference, though, was that four of the 2000 stories ran on the front page, compared with two this year. Another was that Rob Christensen, the paper's chief political correspondent, wrote nine of the governor's race stories in January 2000 and none this year, because he has been on the Edwards beat and unavailable to cover state races until now.

Reporter Ben Niolet is covering the governor's race this year.

Krueger points out that there is another big difference from previous elections. The paper this year is running a vigorous online political report that churns out coverage not just daily, but hourly. For the Jan. 26 gubernatorial debate in Durham, for instance, online reporter Ryan Teague Beckwith filed reports live as the debate was going on. The site, Krueger says, has become the go-to destination for political junkies who want the latest inside information on the campaigns: "I would say that in that respect, we're doing a lot more than we've ever done in the past."