There's nothing like a good election season to get a journalist's blood bustling, and this year's Democratic primary is no different.
We've seen better here in South Dakota. The Thune vs. Johnson and Thune vs. Daschle elections were as good as they get, but this whole Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama battle hasn't been half bad.
In honor of tonight's big showdown in Pennsylvania, today's "The Fives" focuses on the senators' big showdown.
1.What does Pennsylvania mean?
Apart for Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" and its supporters in Pennsylvania, is there many that want the election season to be protracted even more? Well, it appears, yes.
Mostly, that would be journalists who know that politics is often like a bad car wreck in that it is the one thing that might people slow down and look. The 158 delegates up for grabs in Pa. U.S.A. could be just such a car wreck if it prevents Obama from wrapping up the primary and sends the nominee decision to the Democratic Convention.
That being said, the Democratic primary for president could be wrapped up tonight if Barack Obama can win or at least pull close enough that Hillary Clinton cannot pull anymore support from him. The polls suggest that Hillary has a big enough lead to keep the race going, but it has been a wildly unpredictable race thus far. Keep an eye here at www.rapidcityjournal.com. We'll have updates throughout the day and as results begin to pour in tonight.
2. The most popular rumor posted on Rapid Reply this season
Just like an e-mail that had made the rounds back in late 2007, a claim that Barack Obama, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, purposefully refused to put his hand over his heart at the playing of the National Anthem is the No. 1 rumor listed at Snopes.com.
The folks at Snopes take a stab at explaining a variety of Urban Legends, many of which are carried by the force of the Internet. And while it sometimes proves difficult to pinpoint the exact source of such Urban Legends, this one was quickly traced back to a political column by writer John Semmens whose, as Snopes put, "bit of satire evidently came off as too believable for some readers."
3. The most recent hot rumor on Rapid Reply on Barack Obama
A common thread the past month or so has been the "Who is Barack Obama" thread on Rapid Reply that goes into a prolonged explanation of his family upbringing and his "ties" to radical Muslim. As is often the case, Snopes says "nope."
While Snopes is a quick and easy trip to the debunking station, note that not everyone is enthralled with the work they do, and it isn't necessarily because of the accuracy of it's multitude of analyses done on the political front. The Jem Report takes issue with the fact that part of Snopes' mission is to get people to not trust anything they see on the Internet and that the site has put out false pages of information. Read "When The Debunkers Print Bunk."
5. Uhhh … presented without commentary.
