A Plumber Named Joe Drives Campaign Coverage

According to the Campaign Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, an Ohio plumber, cited by Sen John McCain (R-AZ) and mentioned some two dozen times during the Oct 15 presidential debate, was the No. 3 campaign storyline of the week (filling 8% of the election newshole) from Oct. 13-19. The final and perhaps most combative presidential debate of the campaign was the No. 1 campaign storyline (at 18% of the news hole). And even though both candidates produced new economic proposals costing an estimated $100 billion or so, coverage of their response to the financial meltdown barely edged out the plumber (at 9% of the coverage). Campaign coverage is also taking on an increasingly tactical lens in the final days. Last week, attention to tactics and strategy -- including McCain's invocation of the plumber to represent the working man -- accounted for 26% of the newshole, making that general theme the biggest component of the week's election coverage. Coverage of these strategic aspects of the race included the fight over key battleground states (7%) and the parade of polls, including numerous daily tracking surveys, at 5%.