In days of old, when newspapers had advertisers, readers, and more space, we used to get pre-election stories about every race for alderman, county supervisor, and other offices. They were usually balanced, back-and-forth stories that hit on key issues and gave some background on the candidates. Not page-turners, but pretty valuable to most people who are not really following those races very closely. Which is most people.
Today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is quite a contrast. What readers got today was one roundup story on all of the aldermanic races, with the three highlighted ones getting 5 or 6 paragraphs and the others getting barely a mention.
District 9, for example, got one paragraph. Here is the coverage of that race, in its entirety:
Ald. Robert Puente faces a challenge from Ray Harmon in District 9, which is largely African-American. Puente, 57, the only Latino on the council, was elected in 2004. He served more than 27 years on the Milwaukee Police Department. Harmon, 45, an African-American, was an assistant and policy liaison to former Madison on Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
That should be all you need to make up your mind, apparently.
