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According to Peverill Squire and Christina Fastnow, "voters tend to learn about office-holders from the media...newspapers are the major source of news about state politics. "

The purpose of this blog is to present my analyses of Star Tribune's news coverage of the governor's race. I will be reading literature on the news coverage of gubernatorial candidates and elections and applying that reading to the articles within the Star Tribune in order to analyze. I will be analyzing the content, location, tone, length, sources, and all other aspects of the articles.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Near the end, only numbers matter

An article posted online at Startribune.com on Sunday night reported on a debate between the three candidates. The article titled "Tough talk from candidates adds bite to latest gubernatorial debate" seemed to focus on Horner's attacks at opposing candidates, Emmer and Dayton. Whether or not the attacks are actually accurate, Horner got some major attention from them. 


View complete article here. 

As the election comes closer and closer, the candidates are doing everything but wrapping things up. As my professor discussed in class, the last week of the election is the most crucial. Candidates and their campaign managers are working to secure as many votes as possible. As for the news coverage, horse race coverage and last debates are the focus. 



An article posted earlier Sunday morning focused on horse race coverage with the report of the latest poll results. The online article was fairly lengthy for a report on poll results and included several graphic images to help display and convey the results of the poll. 


Months of negative ads appear to have taken a toll on all three candidates, with their unfavorable ratings ticking up as the assaults mount.
According to the poll, the number of voters who view Emmer and Horner unfavorably now exceeds the number who view them favorably.
About 48 percent of Minnesotans view Dayton favorably, compared to 41 percent for Emmer and 32 percent for Horner.
Besides reporting the results, the article included several quotes from voters. The quotes may be persuasive for those who are still undecided and may possibly help a candidate receive more (or less) votes. 


"I just think he has a really good feel for what Minnesotans need and want, and he will work for us," Annette Contos, of Fergus Falls, said of Dayton.
The 72-year-old Democrat said she likes Dayton's "tax the rich" message. "I think we all have to bite the bullet and pay more taxes," she said.
For not having much new information about the election, this article had a considerably large amount of comments online with over 500. The comments appear to show hopes for a better candidate or different poll results.   


View complete article here.

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