Whoops! Teaser Headline in Today's WashPost: 'Wis. GOP on the Ropes'

August 10th, 2011 10:26 AM

Oh the perils of an early deadline.

On the bottom of page A4 in a teaser that reads "Wis. GOP on the ropes," the Washington Post alerted readers to a story on page A4 about how "Six lawmakers are fighting to survive recall challenges spurred by the governor's efforts to weaken unions."

 

The page A4 story is entitled "Two Wisconsin Republicans fend off recall efforts."

"State Senate races seen as a test of the GOP's policy agenda," added the subheader.

The story, by staffer Michael Fletcher was apparently written when only two of the six challenged Republicans had bee declared winners in yesterday's recall.

When the dust settled, however, Democrats picked off only two Republican state senators, leaving Republicans still in control of the Badger State's upper legislative chamber.

What's more, next Tuesday there are two Democrats who may be felled in a recall election. If Republican win both those races, then Democratic gains last night will have been completely erased.

In the penultimate paragraph of his story, Fletcher quoted University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin arguing that "If the Republicans hold the Senate, then I think they can see that as a ratification of the policy they adopted."

It remains to be seen if the Washington Post will present it that way.

I'm not holding my breath.