Our bad media: How political reporters are missing the most important factor in the 2016 race

The intense focus on the candidates' personalities misses the forest for the trees

Hillary Clinton begins her campaign in Iowa.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall))

The absurd carnival of our political press was on bald display last week, at Hillary Clinton's first campaign event in Iowa. Attempting to avoid a press scrum, her entourage drove around to the back of a building, which prompted a footrace from the assembled media to get ahead of her. A quietly amused Alex Seitz-Wald narrated the proceedings on MSNBC:

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.