COMM 386: Read yesterday's story (below) first ...

Jonathan Martin, who blogs on the Republican presidential campaign for Politico.com, has a couple of trenchant reports on the politics of personality -- in terms that will be familiar to us after reading about show-biz and political coverage -- in today's and yesterday's editions of the Web-based newspaper.

But first, please read yesterday's post by Martin and Jim Vandehei. This year's election coverage is all about "narratives," and yesterday's article headlined "COMM 386: Politics, personality, polls ..." launches this narrative.

September 9th may mark a turning point in this contest when the inevitable finally arrived.

A high-stakes campaign fought in the modern media environment between tickets featuring an African-American, a former POW and a woman made it such that the personal would become the political.

That it has seemingly happened so soon, though, presages an ugly two months.

Blame can be shared between both campaigns. But thanks to the anchor of Bush, a devalued brand, the compelling stories of McCain and Palin and the cultural vulnerabilities of Obama, Republicans plainly have more to gain by making the race about character and identity.

So they've begun to engage in what is effectively a campaign of baiting and exploiting. And Tuesday, Obama played right into their hands.