Both Steve and I get TONS of press releases every day. We generally sign up for a bunch of politico email distribution lists simply to be able to keep our thumb on the pulse of what politicians, their staff, and advocacy groups want us to know about or take action on.
Yes, there are times we put them up on GraniteGrok. Some are “just because we want to and can,” and sometimes, well – Steve and I just had a conversation on Slack (which we use internally for GraniteGrok – or try, anyway) about this topic. Steve and I Slack each other off and on all day long (most days) so we’ve developed some shortcuts but still understand what the other is saying.
Lightly edited for YOUR readability –
Steve 9:02 AM
Q: We seem to be posting Karoline for Congress press releases (at 8:46am?) but no one else in CD-1. Looks like we’re endorsing even though we’re not. We’ve also published her op-eds. And I get that maybe they are just filler (maybe not at 8:46am) but it’s one-candidate. Just an observation.
His question of 8:46 am was because I had an almost-catastrophic laptop failure yesterday afternoon/evening after putting it to sleep to move from my office to the living room, it failed to wake up.
After waiting hours for the extra-large battery to run down and a few hours of running diagnostics later, I saw Karoline’s email request to post it up today (actually yesterday when I finally acted on it) but emailed her I’d do so this morning. We try to keep to an every-hour-and-a-half slot schedule starting at 6:30 am, so that’s the reason for his puzzlement at the timing.
His more important question, which is when readers AND candidates assume things that are NOT in evidence – why THESE pressers and not others, is easily answered.
“Because they asked.”
And sometimes, not even then. But most candidates never ask so we don’t bother. And yes, for those that agree to come in for our GrokGauntlets, I look upon them more favorably than those that don’t (“he that has ears, let him [her] hear”). But just a few because that’s NOT the reason why you folks come to read our posts.
Skip 9:55 AM
I have posted a few from Tim Baxter as well..and a couple of Bolduc ones. Frankly, they reached out to me asking for just a very few of the pressers to I get to post up.I’d post those from others but they haven’t asked. THAT I don’t understand.
Steve 10:02 AM
I suspect that those others don’t truly accept or understand just how much reach we have with their voters.
Indeed!
Skip 10:14 AM
That’s what I keep telling candidates “after all, our readers ARE the ones that vote in the Primaries and they ARE the influencers that other people come and ask ‘who should I vote for?’ or ‘who do you like?’Perhaps I should turn this into a post….
So, I just did
When candidates blow us off, they are also blowing off our readers, who ARE the ones that make the effort to vote. Ask a few failed candidates like Walt Havenstein (who never apologized for dissing the TEA Party folks), Kelly Ayotte, et al, how that worked out for them when election day came.
So, no, just because we put up a Press Release from someone doesn’t mean we’ve endorsed anyone. It generally means that others haven’t figured it out.
