Ground Game

The leading discussion on the blogosphere right now concerns today's Howard Kurtz column, which reports that Barack Obama and his top-level staffers are not spending as much time courting reporters on the campaign trail as some in the media would like.

The perceived media snub is leaving some reporters, like Newsweek's Richard Wolffe, sounding like he was left holding a corsage outside the junior-high prom:

"There is no charm offensive from the candidate toward the press corps," says Newsweek correspondent Richard Wolffe. "The contact is limited. . . . They see the national media more as a logistical problem than a channel for getting stuff out."

Of course, what is team Obama's incentive to risk over-exposure when so many reporters, like NBC's Lee Cowan, have-all-but endorsed the man they are supposed to be objectively reporting on?

The risk, according to a number of bloggers, is that spurned lovers like Wolffe may pull a Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and turn on Obama.

Just One Minute:

the seeds have been sown for an Obama media backlash, but when will we see the harvest?

And Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum:

Obama has gotten pretty rapturous press coverage anyway, and Kurtz mentions later in his piece that reporters are just as susceptible to the famous Obama charisma as anyone. Still, the general election is going to be a slugfest, and it's a bad sign if Obama's press operation hasn't been honed to deal with it. What's more, it's also peculiar: why stay aloof from a press corps that loves you? Maybe someone should try to ask him.

However, Jules Crittendon says Obama's strategy may actually play in his favor.