Day 20: October 28

7 days to Election Day

The show starts out with a list of the maladies piling up on the McCain campaign. His vehicle got a flat tire, an event was rained out, new polls show Obama with a dominant lead in several supposedly red states, and Governor Charlie Crist decided to extend early voting hours in Florida to meet demand. Meanwhile, Obama does a speech in the rain, and one of McCain's advisers admits that current employer health care is "way better" than what people would have under a McCain administration. Howard Fineman is brought in to further break down McCain's supposed breakdown, with Olbermann asking why McCain would cancel an event -- rain or no rain -- so close to the election, what the alternative to being a "redistributionist" (as McCain called Obama) would be when taxation is allowed in the Constitution, and what the campaigns' reactions are to the new early vote poll showing a tight margin. Olbermann makes a few cracks about McCain (for example, when shown mispronouncing the word, he whispers, "It's 'pundits!'" Also, there are a few direct references to the horse race metaphor, with Joe Biden making one himself and Fineman saying that "now is when you look at the Electoral College, not just the horse race numbers." So to recap, this segment had interpretive journalism, the horse race metaphor, and partisan bias.

Next Olbermann talks to Eugene Robinson about Obama's dominating presence through personal visits and visits of surrogates, as well as over the airwaves via advertising. Robinson is asked whether it's appropriate to call the Obama campaign a "juggernaut" and whether a juggernaut can lose, if "we" will be talking about Obama's ability to get "erratic voters" to the polls, if the cost for McCain to possibly win Florida is going to be too high, and once again, what Obama will be shooting for with his half-hour commercial tomorrow. As usual for this segment, it's full of interpretive journalism.

Next, Margaret Carlson joins in to discuss Sarah Palin's possible candidacy in 2012. The Republican Party comes in two ways on this topic: one McCain staffer refers to Palin as "a whack job," and a former Buchanan aide says that she would be "very appealing" in 2012, whether or not McCain wins. Olbermann jokes at that quote, "...if we get to 2012." Carlson is asked whether the Republicans are trying to give away two straight elections, whether she's the future or the "last survivor" of the party, what the significance is of the fact that this is being talked about, and what would happen if McCain won after all of the sniping back and forth. At the end, Carlson says that she sees Palin "as a game show host" more than as a legitimate presidential candidate, and Olbermann suggests that she try out for SportsCenter. This segment too is made mostly of partisan bias and interpretive reporting.

The next segment begins with a story about George W. Bush appearing at RNC headquarters, evidently to try to help struggling downticket Republicans. However, there were no cameras present, so Olbermann re-enacts the event with "Puppet Theater." This involves paper finger puppets running screaming away from a finger puppet Bush. This is very funny, but pure speculation (and probably totally untrue), and the "Conviction Free for (1) Days" sign in the back of the scene is a little dab of partisanship. Chris Cillizza then joins the show to talk about the downticket races. Olbermann asks him about how this Congressional struggle has come to pass, how incumbents are supposed to try to pretend that they had nothing to do with Bush, what would happen to the Republican Party in 2010 if some of their leaders don't come back to Congress, and if there has been any consideration of the fact that a unified government might be a good thing. This is mainly interpretive journalism.

Today's "Worst Persons" include a flier designed to trick Virginia Democrats into voting on the wrong day, Rush Limbaugh -- "the bully of the airwaves," as Olbermann calls him -- for misrepresenting an Obama quote about the Constitution, and Bill O'Reilly for getting scolded by Nielsen's CEO for claiming that Countdown's high ratings are some kind of conspiracy. Once again, this is political bias, especially when Olbermann says that he doesn't understand O'Reilly because "I don't speak psycho."

The day's Campaign Comment is a bit more biting than usual. Olbermann accuses Sarah Palin of being a "fraud," because of her accusations toward Obama concerning his supposed socialism, when she actually just before being picked to be McCain's running mate bragged in a New Yorker piece that "collectively Alaskans own the resources" and "share in the wealth when the development of those resources occurs." It's probably an accurate description, but the tone with which it's delivered is not particularly journalistic, and is flush with partisan bias.