A Couple of Standard-Examiner Election-related Guest Commentaries

A little something to help work through your election post partum blues, perhaps?

In the wake of yesterday's election, we'll shine the spotlight on a couple of Standard-Examiner guest commentaries which deal with nuts-and-bolts issues surrounding national and local elections:

First, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Michael Smerconish furnishes a thoughtful essay urging U.S. newspapers to abandon the practice of offering candidate endorsements, arguing that "[b]y pursuing a partisan, presumptuous path on the editorial page, newspapers encourage questions about their objectivity elsewhere and put themselves on a level with other mediums that have cheapened the civic debate":

• Papers should leave endorsing to others

Our home town newspaper published a six-article election endorsement series during the two weeks preceding yesterday's general election; yet when the final results in these select races rolled in, the Standard only went 3 for 6.

Mr. Smerconish urges U.S. newspapers to put themselves on a pedestal and avoid emulating the practices of those crass media sources he characterises as "a partisan cacophony," e.g., "Cable TV, talk radio, the blogosphere, Facebook, and Twitter," etc.

So what about it, gentle readers? Did the Standard's endorsement series add useful analysis to the 2010 election debate? Or did this editorial series at least to some extent "erode its readership's perception" of the Standard's overall "objectivity" and bring itself down to the level of the partisan alternate media rabble? In the future should the Standard-Examiner continue the practice of endorsing political candidates? Or in the alternative, should the Standard abandon the practice and hold itself above the fray?

Also notable this morning is former GOP insider and West Haven resident Lynn M. Hansen's guest editorial piece, making the observation that (as "we have [all] come to recognize") "in large measure, it is money that buys votes, not the candidates' positions on issues."

Check it out, WCF readers. Yeah, its familiar WCF-topical territory. But all-in-all we believe its a pretty good read nevetheless ... a little something, perhaps, to help work through your election post partum blues?

• Campaigns: It's all about money

That's it for now, folks.

Your thoughtful comments are invited, as always.