If the last two weeks of election coverage in the Grand Rapids Press is any indication of what readers can expect between now and November 4, then voters will have to look elsewhere for good information. There were plenty of election stories that appeared in the past two weeks (Sunday, September 7 through Sunday, September 21), a total of 38. Seven of the 38 stories were focused on GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, 6 stories focused on accusations from both parties, 5 were absurd and irrelevant stories, and there were seven stories on the candidates and the economy.

The early part of the two week period was focused on the Sarah Palin hype, with one story (9/7) that asked the question whether or not Palin could be a mom and a vice president. A few of the Palin stories focused on her tenure as governor of Alaska and one on her trendy eyeglasses (9/15). On Sunday, September 14 there was even an article entitled "Hugs and Kisses: The GOP Pecking Order." This story was basically about how John McCain needed to make sure that he only hugged Sarah Palin, but kissed his wife while on the campaign trail.

There were several stories that bordered on the absurd, like a a story about online parodies of Sarah Palin (9/19), the influence of the Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" on the elections (9/7), and whether or not the candidates should leave their children out of the campaign plans (9/7). These stories were similar to those that focused on attacks that candidates made about each other, that relying on comments and claims from candidates, with little or no substance.

On 9/9 there was a story headlined "Obama blasts McCain," which cited Obama on the campaign trail in Flint, Michigan. Obama makes claims about the bad economic policies of the GOP, particularly how they have hurt the middle class, but there is no substance to the claims and the AP reporter never verifies the claims made in the story. Another story that focused on accusations ran on 9/10. This story, headlined "Who are you calling a pig?" was in reference to a comment that Sen. Obama made about a pig wearing lipstick. The McCain camp took offense of the phrase and accused the Democrats of name-calling.

There were several stories about a visit to Grand Rapids by McCain and Palin on September 17 and a story about a celebrity speaking for the Obama campaign on September 21. These stories were a basic summary of these rallies long with an article about a protest of the McCain visit on September 17. However, none of the stories dealt with platforms. the Press also ran a story about how rural West Michigan views the candidates, but the people they talked to in the story provided a very narrow spectrum of opinion. the Press reporter only quotes five people from the towns of Saranac and Hopkins, all five of which are white, even though census data shows that the Hispanic population has grown in rural West Michigan.

When it came to stories that at least mentioned issues, there were a total of 10. An Associated Press story on September 14 was the only story that had any information of the two major party candidates and their stance on education. Compared to many other stories over the two-week period this story was rather short and touched on school choice, No Child Left Behind, teacher quality, and school funding. For each of these topics there were quotes from the candidates, but no assessment of their voting record in the Senate as it relates to this issue. It would be easy for any reporter to check this record by going to Project Vote Smart to see how McCain and Obama voted on education issues in recent years. There were also two stories that focused on the Great Lakes and the presidential race. The first story ran on September 12 and was based on a press conference held by the Our Healing Waters - Great lakes Coalition. The other article (9/17) was based on a statement made by the Obama campaign in regards to what he would do for the Great Lakes if elected. In that story, the focus was on funding and invasive species, but there was no mention of polluters.

The issue that received most of the coverage was where the candidates stood on the current state of the US economy. Some stories were based on campaign stops where candidates made claims or accusation about their opponent. On September 17, the Press ran a San Francisco Chronicle story on the economy and the candidates with a headline that read, "What would they do?" The article does have some comments from candidates on tax policy, government regulation, and the mortgage crisis, but the story is framed in very partisan terms. At one point the article says, "although the voters will have a genuine alternative" in speaking about the two major party candidates, most of the article demonstrated that McCain and Obama have many common stances on economic issues.

In a September 19 Washington Post article, the reporter presents how McCain and Obama would respond to the current Wall Street crisis. The reporter makes some broad claims about how each candidate would respond to the crisis, but most of the article has the candidates making accusations about what each have said, instead of concrete plans on how to respond. The story does cite Sen. Obama who makes the claim that the same people that the McCain camp is accusing of economic fraud have been the same ones McCain has supported for 26 years in Washington. There is no verification of this claim, but a recent report from the Center for Responsive Politics shows that the big financial backers of both McCain and Obama have had a hand in the Wall Street crisis.

Much of the coverage has relied on horse race coverage and campaign talking points, just as the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) documented in the 2004 presidential race. We will continue to monitor the local coverage and provide some analysis as well as links to resources that provide readers with information on candidate positions and voting records as part of our ongoing Election Watch project.