Press campaign trail stories focus on Democrats 2 to 1

Grumpy Editor finds it interesting that Bill Clinton, who is not running for any post, grabbed more media attention in election coverage last week than any Republican candidate on the presidential campaign trail.

That’s the finding of the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s “campaign coverage index” that measures who is winning in media exposure.

The study showed the former president grabbed 18.3 percent of campaign stories Jan. 21 to 27. 

That beat Republicans John McCain with 16.9 percent, Rudy Giuliani’s 13.7 percent, Mitt Romney’s 11.7 percent and Mike Huckabee’s 6.4 percent.

Highest percentage of campaign stories went to Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) with 41.3 percent, closely followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.) with 40.3 percent.  Closest Democrat, John Edwards, generated 11.2 percent of campaign coverage.

The former president’s ranking with Hillary Clinton brings a combined total of 58.6 percent of Clinton coverage.

And if you felt press attention toward Democrats was heavier than Republicans, you are right.  The focus on Democrats was almost double that of Republicans:  56 percent to 30.