Misleading headling of the day: As Race Wanes, Talk of Clinton as No. 2 Grows.
If you saw this headline, what would you expect to read? You might expect to read an article in which a whole bunch of Democrats and pundits are increasingly talking about the prospects of Obama choosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate.
Instead, the only person in the article who seems to be talking about her prospects as VP is Bill Clinton. There’s sentence after sentence about what Bill Clinton wants.
Later in the article is this:
The growing discussion about a ticket of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton is largely being fueled by Clinton supporters, although it is a suggestion that Obama supporters do not dismiss.
Again, the article mentions exactly one of those Clinton supporters: the candidate’s husband. And the fact that Obama supporters “do not dismiss” the suggestion doesn’t mean that they’re actively talking about it.
There’s also this:
Jerry Crawford, a Des Moines lawyer who is the Midwest co-chairman of the Clinton campaign, said in an interview Thursday that he supported the notion of Mrs. Clinton serving as a vice presidential candidate for Mr. Obama should he become the nominee.
It sounds like reporter Patrick Healy asked Jerry Crawford about this in order to gin up a story. Again, it doesn’t sound like this is a grass-roots movement.
Worst headline ever.