REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES RON PAUL and Mitt Romney are polar opposites. Romney has a good shot at winning the nomination. Ron Paul doesn̢۪t.
Mitt Romney was once the governor of Massachusetts. He spent months at the top of the Iowa polls, and was only recently unseated by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
Romney has all the money he needs, often lending money to his campaign from his personal fortune. Until the Huckabee̢۪s sudden popularity, his was one of three national frontrunners in what could only be called a three-way race to the primary. His support has been pretty hefty and consistent.
Romney looked directly at the camera when he answered his questions. The few times he didn̢۪t were usually attacks on other candidates.
Paul was 10 times a representative of Texas districts. He̢۪s been a longshot candidate from the very start, but the Internet̢۪s influence has snowballed his campaign into an organizational marvel. In the polls, he has topped out at 10 percent support, and hovers in the higher single-digit range in most state polls.
Paul runs a low-cost campaign, flying coach and avoiding four-star hotels. Most of the money he makes come from single-day “money bombs,â€Â fundraisers organized so supporters donate their money in one fell swoop. His campaign passed $12 million a while ago. His support has grown significantly, and with little to no money spent organizing it. His supporters have done much of the work themselves.
Perhaps most importantly, Ron Paul looked at the audience when he answered his questions. The few times he didn̢۪t were usually when he responded to other candidates̢۪ attacks upon him.
To me, he represents a Barack Obama to Romney̢۪s Hillary Clinton. Perhaps unconsciously, Paul is a voice of opposition to established politics as usual and showdowns onstage, while Romney knows exactly how to perform.
These are two very different candidates, for better or for worse.
Comments may be used in the print edition of the newspaper. Be sure to pick up Friday̢۪s issue of The Collegian for featured comments.
The Collegian reserves the right to edit material for length, content, spelling and grammar, as well as the right to refuse publication of any material submitted. All material submitted to The Collegian becomes property of The Collegian.
Eddie Winslow • Dec 8, 2007 at 3:12 pm
I agree with Baxter somewhat but his sentences end with prepositions often.
Eddie Winslow • Dec 8, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I agree with Baxter somewhat but his sentences end with prepositions often.
Whatever • Dec 7, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I agree completely with Baxter. It’s a tough situation over there for the collegian, which can be read by anyone but is created solely by students.
Whatever • Dec 7, 2007 at 9:53 pm
I agree completely with Baxter. It’s a tough situation over there for the collegian, which can be read by anyone but is created solely by students.
Benjamin Baxter • Dec 7, 2007 at 1:16 pm
The Collegian Staff Comment
Future Squirrel Stuffer
Before I begin, you should note that this comment is not made as a member of The Collegian’s editorial board, and my views are not necessarily the views of The Collegian.
I agree that reporting in The Collegian is consistently fluff, but that’s a function of The Collegian first serving as a laboratory classroom for journalism students. It’s a learning kind of thing.
As for covering national events, we’re limited. Due to financial constraints, we had to close our Washington Bureau last week, and our Des Moines field office has been pretty mismanaged lately.
Oh, wait. We don’t have reporters who can personally cover events across the country.
As a laboratory class, our reporting really has to be in person, and therefore immediately local. With such a small staff and so few students getting involved, there’s only so much we can do.
Our relative handful of paid staff — other schools our size have staffs twice as large as we do — write well more than half of the stories and content items for the paper. The other bylines are mostly for unpaid staff who, as “unpaid” might imply, are neither enthusiastic nor populous.
Unlike The Fresno Bee, we run very, very few stories off the wire — the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times and The New York Times can go get published somewhere else. If you look carefully, not quite but almost half of the state and national coverage in The Fresno Bee is from one of those other sources. Stuff off the wire gets expensive fast.
To correct your mistake, I don’t write stories for The Collegian. I write blogs, mostly, and a weekly column. Articles that are ragged right in the paper are not stories, they are columns or op-ed or reviews.
Consider one blog you list as an article: the Chuck Norris piece. It was not in the paper, and it described an actual ad by an actual presidential candidate with an actual endorsement from Chuck Norris. It was not a humor piece, and not an exaggeration.
Consider also that The Collegian writes its stories for a student audience who is, in fact, mostly apathetic about relevant issues.
Doubt it? As someone who actually has to help interview random students about what issues they care about at least once a week, I have a pretty good grasp on the general apathy or misinformation. Why do you think the most consistent election coverage is on the blog?
The food stories in the paper were parts of a series. It was called, surprisingly enough, the Food Series.
It was put together by Tommy Miller’s MCJ 108 class, and wasn’t really that bad. You might remember, if you care, that Miller’s 108 put together a package of parking stories for The Collegian that was also published.
The Collegian, unlike most better student papers, is also entirely run by students. Other school papers have consistent meddling and input by faculty or staff, but The Collegian’s advisers only advise and have no expressed, implied or inherent editorial control.
Errors of omission are errors that come from the paper being necessarily limited to Fresno State issues.
Any faults you see — and, to be sure, they are frequent — only emphasize that this is student journalism in the purest sense.
Benjamin Baxter • Dec 7, 2007 at 8:16 pm
The Collegian Staff Comment
Future Squirrel Stuffer
Before I begin, you should note that this comment is not made as a member of The Collegian’s editorial board, and my views are not necessarily the views of The Collegian.
I agree that reporting in The Collegian is consistently fluff, but that’s a function of The Collegian first serving as a laboratory classroom for journalism students. It’s a learning kind of thing.
As for covering national events, we’re limited. Due to financial constraints, we had to close our Washington Bureau last week, and our Des Moines field office has been pretty mismanaged lately.
Oh, wait. We don’t have reporters who can personally cover events across the country.
As a laboratory class, our reporting really has to be in person, and therefore immediately local. With such a small staff and so few students getting involved, there’s only so much we can do.
Our relative handful of paid staff — other schools our size have staffs twice as large as we do — write well more than half of the stories and content items for the paper. The other bylines are mostly for unpaid staff who, as “unpaid” might imply, are neither enthusiastic nor populous.
Unlike The Fresno Bee, we run very, very few stories off the wire — the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times and The New York Times can go get published somewhere else. If you look carefully, not quite but almost half of the state and national coverage in The Fresno Bee is from one of those other sources. Stuff off the wire gets expensive fast.
To correct your mistake, I don’t write stories for The Collegian. I write blogs, mostly, and a weekly column. Articles that are ragged right in the paper are not stories, they are columns or op-ed or reviews.
Consider one blog you list as an article: the Chuck Norris piece. It was not in the paper, and it described an actual ad by an actual presidential candidate with an actual endorsement from Chuck Norris. It was not a humor piece, and not an exaggeration.
Consider also that The Collegian writes its stories for a student audience who is, in fact, mostly apathetic about relevant issues.
Doubt it? As someone who actually has to help interview random students about what issues they care about at least once a week, I have a pretty good grasp on the general apathy or misinformation. Why do you think the most consistent election coverage is on the blog?
The food stories in the paper were parts of a series. It was called, surprisingly enough, the Food Series.
It was put together by Tommy Miller’s MCJ 108 class, and wasn’t really that bad. You might remember, if you care, that Miller’s 108 put together a package of parking stories for The Collegian that was also published.
The Collegian, unlike most better student papers, is also entirely run by students. Other school papers have consistent meddling and input by faculty or staff, but The Collegian’s advisers only advise and have no expressed, implied or inherent editorial control.
Errors of omission are errors that come from the paper being necessarily limited to Fresno State issues.
Any faults you see — and, to be sure, they are frequent — only emphasize that this is student journalism in the purest sense.
Whatever • Dec 7, 2007 at 11:12 am
It’s sad that the newspaper is secondary to many staffers, but what can you expect? They have about 60 units of seemingly pointless GE classes to take.
The Fresno Bee has 200 full-time journalists. I have to give The Collegian a break, but this is the work that everyone sees and its editors need to stay focused.
Whatever • Dec 7, 2007 at 6:12 pm
It’s sad that the newspaper is secondary to many staffers, but what can you expect? They have about 60 units of seemingly pointless GE classes to take.
The Fresno Bee has 200 full-time journalists. I have to give The Collegian a break, but this is the work that everyone sees and its editors need to stay focused.
BULLdog • Dec 6, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Baxter-listen up, I̢۪ll not mince words here. The Collegian is struggling. The stories are powder puff, I really feel like I̢۪m reading high school freshman news coverage when I read the majority of your stories. Walk with me through some recent Collegian headlines. This is not a shot at you, but at Collegian reporting in general.
1. “Bored, try starting a new clubâ€Â…..really, a new club?
2. “Yes its possibleâ€Â story about fast food selection on campus, I understand you need one of these stories every six months, no problem.
3. “An unconventional addictionâ€Â….about magazines
4. “Eating out around campusâ€Â another one of over 7 campus food stories in the last 3 months.
5. “Chuck Norris approves presidential candidateâ€Â maybe an attempt at a humor piece, because Norris is a joke.
Most Collegian stories have zero student response. That̢۪s not because students are not reading them, it̢۪s because the stories lack substance, depth and meaning. Please be clear, not all stories are like this, I̢۪ve read a few great stories that report the facts and invoke tremendous student response and discussion. I̢۪m not even saying you need to report with a fair and unbiased reporting style (we clearly don̢۪t get that in the classroom). It just seems like the Collegian steers away from any potentially divisive issues. The very issues we learn to critically exam in college are seemingly ignored by the majority of Collegian writers, is this purely coincidental? Race relations, gender roles and relations, gun control, abortions in college, illegal/legal immigration, nuclear proliferation, societal trends, civil liberties, supreme court cases, new laws, national heritage, gangs in America are just a few of the many issues that insight discussion. The student population (though not always well informed) have strong feeling about these and other major contemporary issues. These are not just national issues, these issues each effect a different cross section of the student populous. Yet we get stories about fast food on campus, and parking spaces, and scantrons and lots of other nothing burger issues.
The previous response stated : I, for one, am glad the Collegian did not write about Sean Taylor̢۪s death. That thug is not a hero and was into some nefarious stuff before his death. I agree he was not a hero, but do a little research on his life and find out the contributing factors that led up to his death. Here̢۪s how a story could be written about Sean Taylor, not Sean Taylor the Hero, Sean Taylor the dead man. Questions to ask; are violent crimes more likely to happen to professional football athletes compared to professional tennis athletes? Why is that? Is Shawn Taylor the only pro football player to involved in a violet crime in the last 5 years? Who are the others? What are there backgrounds what do these men have in common? Insightful articles on Sean Taylor̢۪s death have recently come from ESPN writer John Whitlock and Entertainer Bill Cosby.
-Thanks and think-
GO DOGS!
[email protected]
BULLdog • Dec 7, 2007 at 6:44 am
Baxter-listen up, I’ll not mince words here. The Collegian is struggling. The stories are powder puff, I really feel like I’m reading high school freshman news coverage when I read the majority of your stories. Walk with me through some recent Collegian headlines. This is not a shot at you, but at Collegian reporting in general.
1. “Bored, try starting a new club”…..really, a new club?
2. “Yes its possible” story about fast food selection on campus, I understand you need one of these stories every six months, no problem.
3. “An unconventional addiction”….about magazines
4. “Eating out around campus” another one of over 7 campus food stories in the last 3 months.
5. “Chuck Norris approves presidential candidate” maybe an attempt at a humor piece, because Norris is a joke.
Most Collegian stories have zero student response. That’s not because students are not reading them, it’s because the stories lack substance, depth and meaning. Please be clear, not all stories are like this, I’ve read a few great stories that report the facts and invoke tremendous student response and discussion. I’m not even saying you need to report with a fair and unbiased reporting style (we clearly don’t get that in the classroom). It just seems like the Collegian steers away from any potentially divisive issues. The very issues we learn to critically exam in college are seemingly ignored by the majority of Collegian writers, is this purely coincidental? Race relations, gender roles and relations, gun control, abortions in college, illegal/legal immigration, nuclear proliferation, societal trends, civil liberties, supreme court cases, new laws, national heritage, gangs in America are just a few of the many issues that insight discussion. The student population (though not always well informed) have strong feeling about these and other major contemporary issues. These are not just national issues, these issues each effect a different cross section of the student populous. Yet we get stories about fast food on campus, and parking spaces, and scantrons and lots of other nothing burger issues.
The previous response stated : I, for one, am glad the Collegian did not write about Sean Taylor’s death. That thug is not a hero and was into some nefarious stuff before his death. I agree he was not a hero, but do a little research on his life and find out the contributing factors that led up to his death. Here’s how a story could be written about Sean Taylor, not Sean Taylor the Hero, Sean Taylor the dead man. Questions to ask; are violent crimes more likely to happen to professional football athletes compared to professional tennis athletes? Why is that? Is Shawn Taylor the only pro football player to involved in a violet crime in the last 5 years? Who are the others? What are there backgrounds what do these men have in common? Insightful articles on Sean Taylor’s death have recently come from ESPN writer John Whitlock and Entertainer Bill Cosby.
-Thanks and think-
GO DOGS!
[email protected]
Dirk Diggler • Dec 6, 2007 at 3:10 pm
I, for one, am glad the Collegian did not write about Sean Taylor’s death. That thug is not a hero and was into some nefarious stuff before his death.
Dirk Diggler • Dec 6, 2007 at 10:10 pm
I, for one, am glad the Collegian did not write about Sean Taylor’s death. That thug is not a hero and was into some nefarious stuff before his death.
Benjamin Baxter • Dec 6, 2007 at 9:00 pm
The Collegian Staff Comment
Future Squirrel Stuffer
I don’t particularly think this was a bit of a stretch, but let’s agree to disagree.
That you’ve heard about Sean Taylor’s death means we don’t have to write about it. If The Collegian wrote about every far-reaching, highly publicized news story, we wouldn’t have any space to fit in news that actually matters to Fresno State only.
This very quickly would get into a discussion of the purpose of local and campus papers. The way I figure it, and I don’t speak for the editors, is that the Fresno State school paper should cover Fresno State first, and better than The Fresno Bee.
At least, that’s the goal.
Benjamin Baxter • Dec 6, 2007 at 2:00 pm
The Collegian Staff Comment
Future Squirrel Stuffer
I don’t particularly think this was a bit of a stretch, but let’s agree to disagree.
That you’ve heard about Sean Taylor’s death means we don’t have to write about it. If The Collegian wrote about every far-reaching, highly publicized news story, we wouldn’t have any space to fit in news that actually matters to Fresno State only.
This very quickly would get into a discussion of the purpose of local and campus papers. The way I figure it, and I don’t speak for the editors, is that the Fresno State school paper should cover Fresno State first, and better than The Fresno Bee.
At least, that’s the goal.
Flenjamin Flaxter • Dec 6, 2007 at 1:31 pm
hey mr.baxter. i think this article was a bit of a stretch.
correct me if im wrong, but there has yet to be a single article about sean taylors death, granted you may not be a sports editor, but why has the collegian not written on this? do tell
[email protected]
Flenjamin Flaxter • Dec 6, 2007 at 8:31 pm
hey mr.baxter. i think this article was a bit of a stretch.
correct me if im wrong, but there has yet to be a single article about sean taylors death, granted you may not be a sports editor, but why has the collegian not written on this? do tell
[email protected]