New York Times columnist Frank Bruni has some useful advice for the media rather than candidates as the 2016 presidential race unfolds. I’ll boil it down:
* AVOID OVERHYPING IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE: True but good luck with convincing the press pack that the tiny sector of Religious Righters who decide Iowa GOP caucuses are representative of anything but the Iowa Religious Right.
* EASY ON THE SPOUSES: True, but when one of them is named Bill, good luck with that.
* AVOID CIRCUS ACTS (meaning the nuttiest thing said lately by Palin, Trump and, increasingly, the Huckster): True, but everybody loves a train wreck.
There’s more in Bruni’s resist-temptation list. Anointing momentary darlings as real contenders (Herman Cain). Mistaking singular events as campaign-defining (Gennifer Flowers, anyone?). Process stories (are staffers really more important than the candidates?) Man-on-the-street stories that reputedly reflect the national mood. (God help us if the Arkansas legislature is a snapshot of the national mood.)