Babb: Shocked by phone call

Thank God there's a student at Chapel Hill smart enough NOT to be a stinking registered democrackkk! Who KNEW?

Then you have that fine representation of the Edwards campaign's basic outlook and philosophy by the UNC student working on the staff, but this exemplary effort in campaign involvement by the Carolina student is practically entirely undone by the surprising and inappropriate attempted intervention in campus press operations by the Edwards campaign staff.

Ever since Watergate, the press has sometimes failed to distinguish between difficulties committed at mid-staff levels in campaigns or governmental offices and actions reflecting a lack of judgment by those at the top, including candidates and public officials themselves. Too often the press will take a pass on mid-level staff or departmental shenanigans or other difficulties, waiting instead for some connection, plausible or dubious, to be made between the working staff level and the person actually having ultimate responsibility for the whole operation.

Admirers of the phenomenal talents, achievements and dedicated hard work on the campaign trail by John and Elizabeth Edwards can only hope that this episode was strictly a local staff-level production!

What is needed is a statement from the candidate to the effect that while he appreciates the enthusiasm with which some on his staff may wish to defend his political interests and philosophical vantage points, John Edwards does not endorse this sort of meddling in the work of the press, whether within campus press organization staffs, or in the offices of professional news media operations. And this better be soon too because a story like this could draw caution flags in campaign camps from Iowa to New Hampshire.

And all this over an interesting and appealing business and residential location linking Chatham County with Chapel Hill. They even have Chapel Hill-Carrboro public bus transporation routes connecting Southern Village with Chapel Hill and UNC, so this area is not without its own "public access."

All in all, one of the more curious staff episodes in the presidential campaigns of candidates of both parties thus far in the state of North Carolina, which is another reason we need more reporting and news and editorial analysis by The News & Observer on the basic operations modes and political attitudes of all presidential campaign organizing efforts, Democratic and Republican, in the Triangle region and across North Carolina.

During the course of this campaign, many individuals and groups have been subjected to various inappropriate and unjustiable pressures from political operatives, so the people naturally would like to have more information on just where these unpleasantries are emanating from. In short, we need to know what the people working in all the presidential campaigns with a presence in North Carolina really believe about the perspectives of the public, the press and voter issue groups here in the Old North State.

David P. McKnight

Gotta, like, love the New J-School. Heh.

PS Thanks for getting closer to the bottom of this. Sounds like her "professor" has had more than a little involvement in the mess. (Someone should tell the student that interning with Etheridge barely qualifies as working for a Democrat.)