Washington Post Editorial Writer Brags About Electoral Power

In an incredible podcast of an appearance at Stanford University on 11/5/08, Washington Post editorial writer Lee Hockstader bragged about the power of newspaper editorials and specifically claimed credit for getting Virginia’s Jim Webb elected to the U.S. Senate. He then said, “Oh and by the way, it was Jim Webb’s victory that handed control of the Senate to the Democrats in 2006. So in other words, I’m basically taking personal credit for Democratic control of the Senate.”

Hockstader, a D.C. resident, has been the author of the Post’s Maryland editorials prior to and after the tenure of the intern known as the “Boy King.” If any union leader gloated so openly about his or her political power, the Post would run wild, but Post editorialists can apparently say anything and get away with it.

Following is a transcript of the podcast, which was narrated by former Stanford journalism student Tommy Wallach.

Tommy Wallach: This is Tommy Wallach, Lindsey Hoshaw and Li Liu reporting for iStanford. On Wednesday November 5th, we spoke with Lee Hockstader, a member of the Washington Post editorial board. Hockstader has been with the Washington Post for fourteen years as a foreign correspondent, a national correspondent, and since 2004, an editorial writer. He spoke with us about newspaper endorsements and the power of editorials to affect the outcome of a campaign.

Lee Hockstader: So, one question that I was going to raise, that I’d like to raise, is why do newspapers endorse presidential candidates at all? It seems like this sort of quaint throwback to an earlier time in print journalism when newspapers were sort of overtly partisan, both in the news pages and on the editorial pages, and much more agenda-driven in the news pages than they are now. It also seems like sort of like a quaint thing today that you should have editorials endorsing candidates, because after all, to state the obvious, there are so many sources of opinion journalism in the blogosphere and the Internet. What is the purpose of a newspaper editorial that endorses a presidential candidate at this point?

Wallach: Hockstader used examples from his own experience on the editorial board of the Washington Post to answer this question.

Hockstader: There are a few reasons. There is a weird paradox that even though readers say that it won’t really affect their votes, and even though candidates kind of roll their eyes at them, and even though publishers hate them, that newspaper endorsements are heavily read. [Emphasis by Hockstader]

Wallach: Hockstader went on to discuss the power of newspaper editorials, specifically in the context of George Allen’s infamous macaca comment.

[The podcast replays the George Allen macaca remarks.]

Hockstader: That was an amazing political moment because if we can sort of think back to ancient history, two and a half years ago, when that happened in the summer of 2006, George Allen, as some of you may remember, was being touted in a lot of serious journalism opinion and in Republican Party circles as the great hope for the Republican Party in 2008.

Wallach: Hockstader explained that George Allen’s failure to hold the Senate seat in Virginia could be traced back not just to the racist speech itself, but to the editorials written by the Washington Post that magnified and condemned that speech.

Hockstader: What we do know, though, is that out of a couple… two and a half million votes cast, that Jim Webb won by 7,000 votes. And where was that margin? That margin was - overwhelmingly came - in Northern Virginia, where Jim Webb blew, Northern Virginia being right outside Washington D.C., where Jim Webb blew George Allen out of the water, in other words, with the Washington Post’s readership, and with the use of these editorials in his advertising. Oh and by the way, it was Jim Webb’s victory that handed control of the Senate to the Democrats in 2006. So in other words, I’m basically taking personal credit for Democratic control of the Senate.

Wallach: This is Tommy Wallach, Lindsey Hoshaw and Li Liu reporting for iStanford and wishing George Allen the best of luck in all his future political endeavors.