Observer Jumps Gun: Declaring Obama Nominee

The following is my Letter to the Editor which was published in the Charlotte Observer, June 6, 2008.

Observer jumps gun in declaring winner

The writer is a Democratic National Convention delegate pledged to Hillary Clinton.

The Observer shows its bias in the headline “Obama makes history: Senator becomes first African American to win presidential nomination” (June 4).

While other news organizations reported only Obama's claim to be the presumptive Democratic nominee, the Observer has gone a step further.

You do readers a disservice by not educating them to the rules of the voting process. Obama is not currently the nominee, and I look forward to casting my vote at the convention in Denver.

Note that my letter was edited for brevity. I further explained that the actual nomination occurs at the convention. So while the Observer has continued to call Senator McCain the "presumptive" nominee, their headline declared Obama the nominee-- which nomination actually does not occur until the DNC Convention in August. So, again the Observer failed to actually educate the readers.