Midterms: Record Amount Of

The “broadcast networks’ coverage of this campaign has already broken the record set for midterm coverage 12 years ago,” Andrew Tyndall notes in B&C.

“The 1994 campaign set a record with twice the coverage of a normal, incumbent-friendly midterm election, logging a three-network total of 216 minutes in the first 10 months of that year. In the same period leading up to Election Day 2006, the current campaign has clocked 240 min. of coverage. (Contrast those with the other midterm totals in the Tyndall Report database: 1990: 157 min.; 1998: 107 min.; 2002: 140 min.)”

> Also: “This year’s campaign lacks the number of big-name candidates in tight races that dominated the ’94 campaign. This year, the campaign coverage is decidedly focused on issues…”