They Didn't Know It Was In The Paper

and God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't rain in indianapolis in the summer time. And there's no such thing as Dr. Seuss or Disneyland and Mother Goose, no nursery rhymes, no Billy Long running for Congress.

In this morning's SN-L, David Stoeffler, the executive editor of the paper, has an article, Newspaper gearing up for in-depth election coverage, on the opinion page in which he writes:

Our goal is to offer you a broad brush of coverage in local, state and federal elections set for Nov. 2, but with a focus on key races, especially the campaigns to replace U.S. Sen. Kit Bond and U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt.

I made the comment that local bloggers have got a leg up on the paper as those races, especially the race to replace Roy Blunt are being covered pretty thoroughly on some local blogs.

The newspaper (and most of the mainstream media) seem to be missing out on stories such as when Billy Long ignored a question from a citizen-journalist and walked away.

Not once.*

Not twice.**

But THREE TIMES.*** (was there a rooster crowing?)

They also missed out on reporting about the scores of voters who turned out for to meet and greet Scott Eckersley and his "Give 'em Eck" tour stop on the courthouse square in Christian County last week.

They also missed out on reporting on the three members of the community**** who turned out for a discussion of the issues on the first stop on the "Billy Long Business Tour."

The part of the tour chronicled here focused on the Springfield News-Leader and how closely the Auctioneer/Candidate and his staff pay attention to what goes in there (other than Billy's advertising dollars):

Billy Long (BL): I'll get outta here, thanks, Spook (Spook is the owner of Trailliner trucking company, the location of the business tour).

Female SSL(this would be the lady interested in Social Security issues): Would you, un, what other kind of tours have you taken, Billy?

Billy Long: Oh gosh, tomorrow is really our big tour day. We're doin,

Billy Long Staffer: Tomorrow and the next day. Tomorrow we're gonna be in, uh,

Spook: I'm special, hon.

SSL: You're special.

Billy Long Staffer: You know I don't know what the paper, I didn't know this would be in there.

Billy Long: I didn't know it was in the paper either.

SSL: Yeah, it was in the paper, several times, that's how,

Billy Long: Really?

The Friendly Bus Driver (FBD) [that's me]:Yeah, I thought there'd be a lot of people

SSL: Open to the public.

Billy Long Staffer: They made a big deal of it, tomorrow,

Billy Long: Tomorrow we're doin' a 'meet n greet' at 8

FBD: In Joplin,

Billy Long: And then we're doin' a ten o'clock at a computer store over there.

Billy Long Staffer: That'll be the big one.

Billy Long: There'll be people there, yeah. So tomorrow, kind the public tour day. I don't know what the paper, I didn't even see it, I'll be honest, I can't tell you.*****

Billy Long Staffer: That's like I'm surprised anybody showed up.

FBD: Well, they printed your press release

Billy Long Staffer: Ok

FBD: Is what they did.

Billy Long: Ok, ok, ok.

*once:

**twice:

***THREE TIMES:


****Uh, um, I was, One of, uh, those three folks would be a journalism professor and former state representative, a voter who was concerned about Social Security and me, your friendly bus driver.

*****Aww, jeez.

Personal to the Joplinfuse: That question of your's for Long, the one about raising the Social Security age, the one that Billy chose not to answer, yeah, that one. Well, I asked it and got an answer and then some. I'll post it tomorrow. -FBD