In Media, Perception - Not Votes - Is Paramount
Charles Black, a senior adviser to President Bush's campaign, was deep into the spin cycle on CNN Tuesday night when anchor Bernard Shaw abruptly cut him off.</br></br>"Charlie Black," Shaw said, sounding like an exasperated teacher lecturing a wayward student, "Patrick Buchanan taking 44 percent out of George Bush's hide has got to be an embarrassment."</br></br>Throughout the night and into yesterday morning, the airwaves hummed with the sound of punditry as the New Hampshire primary results were analyzed, dissected and chewed over. Every candidate claimed victory - even former California governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr., who finished last among the five major Democrats - while television journalists offered their judgments, warning viewers against taking the candidates' claims at face value.</br></br>When the dust settles, the raw vote matters less than how the contest is played by the news media, which determine who gets the fabled media "bounce" from New Hampshire.</br></br>Although Bush won, he was repeatedly depicted as the loser, particularly before Buchanan's tally shrunk to 37 percent. "A wounded president," said CNN's Ken Bode. Buchanan "has certainly staggered the sitting president of the United States," NBC anchor Tom Brokaw said.