The Tote Board Blog and the Phony War

    At the beginning of World War II, in late 1939 and early 1940 before the U.S. entered the conflict, there was a period known as “The Phony War,” when there was little direct fighting between the combatants. The 2008 campaign is in a similar period.
    That isn’t to say that nothing of importance is going on. But much of what preoccupies the blogosphere and the political press on a daily basis now is of little consequence. Who hires whom in South Carolina or who reacts to whose charge more quickly is fodder for political junkies and bloggers who need to spin out copy four or five times a day. But that doesn’t make these events terribly significant. Most voters are paying very little attention to a campaign that has started earlier than any in recent history and just because there is now an entire Internet industry devoted to political philosophizing and speculating doesn't make this less true.
    When something happens of consequence in the campaign, the Tote Board will blog about it. Thus when Tom Vilsack withdrew or Mitt Romney ran the first ads of the campaign, we filed brief items to analyze their importance. When we have something noteworthy to add to the column – as we will in the next few days in a dispatch about Mitt Romney – we will do so too.
    Certainly when the campaign heats up and there are debates, constant ads, and the electorate is paying attention, we’ll blog often. But right now, to do so would almost be misleading. Through the weekly column, we’ll be able to keep up with most of the principal events in the campaign over the next six months. At this point, think of the blog as footnotes of a sort to what appears there.