15 Minutes

In the Washington Post's Media Notes, Howard Kurtz performs an autopsy on the Wesley Clark media splash. Taking cues from USA Today ("a cliché-filled 11-minute oration that brought to mind the Peggy Lee ballad, Is That All There Is? . . ."), the NYTimes ("The general's remarks in a free-rolling 90-minute airborne interview suggested the extent of the adjustment he faces in becoming a presidential candidate"), and blogger Andrew Sullivan ("Everything is seen through the prism of NATO's Kosovo campaign, his one claim to military glory"), among others.

This is a clear example of the media "setting the table" for public debate. While they certainly can't put people in power single-handedly, media strongmen can leverage a candidate or smother him. Of course, Denis Kucinich (for example) isn't much of a story - but a headline in the New York Times could change that (the story creates the story, if you will). I can see it now "KUCINICH DECLARES CANDIDACY" across the top of the newspaper. The story could be short on facts and long on comparison, "Denis is a relative outsider to Washington. Though he's served in Congress for X years, his biennial accountability to the voters in his Ohio district gives him a perspective shared by none of the other candidates who are in public service."

The media's task in the Clark case is even simpler: stop the circus after one act. It's not like there's something important happening and they're ignoring it... they're just denying Clark the momentum that they've given plenty of candidates in the past. His lack of media savvy and flat appearance apparently bored enough people, and as long as Howard Dean is still chugging, it's going to take someone Clintonesque to take attention off of the Vermonster.