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George Packer says he prefers being the only visiting journalist in town to joining the media herd that follows candidates and probes their staffers for new nuggets of inside information
Packer was drawn to Eau Claire in a roundabout way. He was a guest on a Wisconsin Public Radio program May 23. Eau Claire resident Dan Collins called in to the program to express skepticism that Obama would win Wisconsin, despite his lead in opinion polls. Collins, a self-described "Yellow Dog Democrat," said last week that his pessimism stems in part from bias and misinformation expressed by some voters. For example, Collins said, a Bayfield County tavern owner told him he wouldn't vote for Obama "because he's black and he's Muslim." Packer was intrigued by Collins' radio comments and subsequently contacted him. "With Wisconsin being a swing state, (Packer) wanted to see what the mood was out here in the rural area of Wisconsin," said Collins, who connected the journalist with local residents of various ideological stripes. This year, Packer's campaign coverage has amounted to trips to Eau Claire, eastern Kentucky and New Hampshire, which he visited on the eve of that state's first-in-the-nation primary. It was there he observed the pundits proven wrong when Hillary Rodham Clinton beat Obama, the heavy favorite, in the Democratic primary. "Some days I think the public is always surprising because it will not be told what to think and what to do," he said. Journalist George Packer served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo.
George Packer says he prefers being the only visiting journalist in town to joining the media herd that follows candidates and probes their staffers for new nuggets of inside information
Writer taking electoral pulse of Chippewa Valley
By Tom Giffey
Leader-Telegram staff
A desire to avoid the press pool - literally and figuratively - brought a nationally recognized journalist to the Chippewa Valley to explore Midwestern voters' attitudes as the presidential election looms.
George Packer, a staff writer for The New Yorker, was in Eau Claire last weekend conducting interviews for a forthcoming piece for the magazine.
Packer said he prefers being the only visiting journalist in town to joining the media herd that follows candidates and probes their staffers for new nuggets of inside information.
"The media and the candidates and the people around the candidates are all swimming in the same water," he observed during a visit to the Leader-Telegram last week.
Packer said he's surprised the chumminess between politicians and pundits evident on cable TV doesn't alienate more voters. Media personalities seem to spend most of their time talking to each other and present politics as a form of entertainment, he said.
"(Voters) don't expect to be talked to about their (own) lives anymore," he said. "It's like watching the lives of movie stars."
Politics isn't Packer's typical beat: He most recently wrote about Burma for The New Yorker, and he's best known for writing about the Iraq war. The latter coverage led to a book, "The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq," which The New York Times named one of the 10 best of 2005.
Despite the unpopularity of the Iraq war, Packer doesn't believe the Nov. 4 contest between John McCain and Barack Obama will be a referendum on the conflict. However, he added, fatigue with the war will reinforce support for Obama among many voters, while McCain's opposition to withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq will bolster support for him among a significant minority of the electorate. But even though McCain can take partial credit for the improved situation in Iraq in recent months, that probably won't help him at the ballot box, Packer added.
Packer was drawn to Eau Claire in a roundabout way. He was a guest on a Wisconsin Public Radio program May 23. Eau Claire resident Dan Collins called in to the program to express skepticism that Obama would win Wisconsin, despite his lead in opinion polls. Collins, a self-described "Yellow Dog Democrat," said last week that his pessimism stems in part from bias and misinformation expressed by some voters. For example, Collins said, a Bayfield County tavern owner told him he wouldn't vote for Obama "because he's black and he's Muslim."
Packer was intrigued by Collins' radio comments and subsequently contacted him.
"With Wisconsin being a swing state, (Packer) wanted to see what the mood was out here in the rural area of Wisconsin," said Collins, who connected the journalist with local residents of various ideological stripes.
This year, Packer's campaign coverage has amounted to trips to Eau Claire, eastern Kentucky and New Hampshire, which he visited on the eve of that state's first-in-the-nation primary. It was there he observed the pundits proven wrong when Hillary Rodham Clinton beat Obama, the heavy favorite, in the Democratic primary.
"Some days I think the public is always surprising because it will not be told what to think and what to do," he said.
On the other hand, Packer noted, media messages can shift voters' decisions. For example, he pointed to the impact the notorious Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads slamming John Kerry's Vietnam War service had on the 2004 presidential race.
And while voters may say they want more media focus on policy details, they are drawn to more sensationalist coverage, he said.
"People feel that they're not getting (detailed coverage), but it's there," Packer said. "Rev. (Jeremiah) Wright is much more interesting to talk about than Obama's health care plan."
Packer scoffed at the idea - sometimes expressed by anti-McCain Republicans and Hillary Clinton supporters - that the media "picked" the nominees.
"I think it's just grousing," he said of such sentiments, noting that voters in Iowa and New Hampshire - small states with a large influence on the selection process - are less likely to be swayed by national media spin than by seeing candidates face-to-face in town halls and school gymnasiums.
"The atmosphere (in New Hampshire) is exhilarating," he wrote Jan. 8 in his blog on the magazine's Web site. "Campaign signs show up all over back roads and town greens as splotches of color against the snow. Strangers compare events they've been to and talk over the candidates while waiting in long, weirdly cheerful lines outside schools and town halls. ... Everyone is in a good mood; we know we're participating in something rare. And we're all talking about politics seriously, which never happens in this country."
Packer acknowledges, however, that the roles of Iowa and New Hampshire are disproportionate, and that those states aren't good representatives of the nation as a whole.
So what does Packer have to report about Eau Claire? It's too soon to tell, he says; he may return in a few weeks to explore further.
Giffey can be reached at 833-9205, 800-236-7077 or tom.giffey@ecpc.com.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: August, 2008; RPCV George Packer (Togo); Peace Corps Togo; Directory of Togo RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Togo RPCVs; Writing - Togo; Journalism
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