Okay, so I am being dragged, kicking and screaming, into writing this particular blog post.  I am not kicking and screaming out of any dislike or blame for Meg Whitman or her campaign by the way, but because in writing this blog post, I am in fact becoming part of the problem about which I am about to complain.

Today Meg Whitman gave a speech here in Orange County, and announced that she is officially running for Governor.   (Long pause)  

"Wait," you say, "I thought Meg Whitman was already running for Governor?"

I’m glad you asked that question, loyal blog reader.  Yes, in fact, Meg Whitman has not only been running for Governor for many months now — but she has been a rather high profile candidates, literally raising millions of dollars, and maintaining a pretty high profile in the media (and on this website) as she has been gearing up her campaign efforts.

Thanks to a lot of obscure and immoral campaign laws, there is actually some sort of technical distinction between having an Exploratory Committee, and then actually opening a Real Deal Committee.  But the point is that this is really just a technical distinction.  Whitman did not raise all of her millions in donations, or match it with her own millions, or ask people to come work for her full time because she was "exploring" a run — get real, she’s been an active candidate for a while now.

So why is she "announcing" her candidacy (again)?  That’s simple.  Because the media continues to provide very real coverage of this very non-news event.  I just got off of the phone with Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle, one of many MSM reporters writing a "Meg Makes It Official" stories for their print editions (here is his blog on it).

So I don’t blame the campaign for announcing,and announcing, and announcing.  Heck, I would do another announcement if it continues to generate fluffy, positive media stories.  I blame the MSM reporters and their editors. 

Meg Whitman giving a major address, in which she talks about policy issues that are relevant (especially to the extent she brings up new issues) — that is legitimately newsworthy.  But covering this announcement with the idea that before today at 2pm she wasn’t really running is nonsensical.

That said, now that I have chastised the MSM, I will provide this link to Whitman’s speech.  You can read it yourself, and decide if — regardless if it being her "announcement" — it is newsworthy.

In the meantime, I think I am going to prepare a release of the official "launch" of the FlashReport — wonder if I can get some great MSM coverage?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.