John Cox News Flash

Holy mother of pearl, I got a comment on that last post. It was a good one, too. Referring to my observation that the media would soon ignore Republican candidate John Cox into oblivion, a reader named Anonymous (that’s Greek, I believe) said “The media are ignoring Cox because he can’t raise more than $3000 in three months, and because he’s a loon.”

That’s the second time since posting that I’ve seen a reference to Cox’s lack of funds, so maybe there’s something to it. And I didn’t know anything about him at all until I read the article in the Register, so I can’t attest to his looniness.

Anyway, poor old loony strapped-for-cash John Cox notwithstanding, my point was that it’s too early in the game to anoint the front-runners as if they’re the only choice voters are allowed to have. On the Democratic side, my political beliefs match up pretty closely with those of Dennis Kucinich—but you generally don’t see his name mentioned in the press unless someone’s making a joke about him.

That’s not good journalism, in my opinion. Want another example? January 2004. Howard Dean gets excited at a post-caucus rally at the Val Air Ballroom. He starts listing the states he’s taking the fight to next. He tries for a war cry and falls short.

The media decides to call this “the Dean scream,” and from that point on his campaign is treated like a joke.

I’m still pissed about that. Howard Dean’s strangled war cry didn’t cost him the nomination, but the incessant coverage of such a trivial bit of nothing sure didn’t help.

I don’t think John Cox is going to get anywhere close to a position where he can croak out an enthusiastic shriek. But at this point in the long, long campaign, no idea is a bad idea. Let us know who’s out there, and like my commenting friend Anonymous, we’ll figure out on our own who the loons are.