If Dennis Kucinich were to get the nomination...

[IrateCitizen]

... how would the media report it? Would they actually acknowledge his existence, or would they spend two pages of the paper reporting on Bush's campaign stops while putting Dennis's upcoming stops in a little box? Or would they completely pretend he doesn't exist and report "Bush running unopposed for 2004 election"?

Seriously, I'm curious as to what people's thoughts are here.

[brainwashed_youth]

1. they'd downplay him

they wouldn't take Kucinich seriously and probably print the latter headline you mentioned. Sad thing is, Bush probably would get a sweeping victory if that was the case, but that's just my opinion

[charlie]

2. Considering that it was hard

to find coverage of Gore's campaign unless he changed the style of his casualwear, I would expect media reporting would stop. Early November, a lot of people will get that antsy feeling that comes with forgetting an important date, and will buy a gift for their spouse just to be safe.

[MuseRider]

3. I seriously thought

that after his two 3rd place wins that they would cover him more. Silly me. It seems that they are mentioning his name more often but as a joke. Who knows. It seems to me that a great number of people would question why the Bush* challenger was getting no press but since when has that mattered?

[redqueen]

4. They'd minimize him

but it wouldn't matter.

The fact that he's still got donations coming in, that he's still drawing in supporters, and that he managed 6, 8, and 15% showings with basically no media at all show how strong his message really is.

No matter what the media did to stop him, the outsourcing combined with the war issue would make his message resonate that much more.

People need to realize just how many people out there, dem rep green and independent, really do support his ideas. Knowing how many support him despite not voting for him in primaries is another good indicator of how easily he will win.

[Mairead]

5. I think that they will indeed do all in their (too-great!) power to

ignore him.

But I also think that, once we've documented the pattern and put it on sandwich boards and handouts--say two weeks' time--we should start raising hell! Public hell. In public! In the streets in front of the media offices. With videos. Interviewing the media staff as they come and go. Interviewing the cops trying to stop us. Putting the interviews up on a ring of web sites, and on community cable, and as samizdat transcripts. Filing, on camera, for summary injunctions under the serve-the-public-interest clauses. Demanding, on camera, that the US Attorney lodge criminal charges under the interfering-with-an-election laws.

I bet we'd get plenty coverage after that :evilgrin:

[southerngirlwriter]

6. I love DK -- I really do.

BUT, if he were the nominee, we would lose 49-50 states. Massachusetts is the only one I think we'd even have a prayer to win. It would be a bloodbath. America's not ready for DK and the truth he tells. :-(

[Mairead]

8. What evidence do you have that your apocalyptic vision is reasonable?

Without some sort of rational support to point to, deep pessimism, like soaring optimism, risks being explained away as brain-chemistry imbalance.

I'm quite optimistic about DK. My reasons? He has an enviable win record, much better than the other candidates; he is starting to make some progress in the caucuses despite the totally lopsided lack of press he's gotten; and his policies are those that the vast majority of people support.

What are your reasons?

[FDRrocks]

7. They'd prolly photoshop a beard on him

and start calling him a Marxist. Would you put it past them?