- AP Photo/Seth Perlman
- The press makes way too much of something little—Jim Oberweis’s vacation in Florida.
It’s tricky for political writers to frame a campaign story just before an election. Whether the story’s about a big deal or small potatoes will probably depend on the framing.
Oberweis’s days in Florida were fair game for his opponent, who said they showed Oberweis’s lack of commitment to the Senate race and called him a “timid snowbird.” The Tribune‘s John Kass picked up the cue. Kass called Oberweis a “perennial big-bucks candidate and political gaffe machine” and snickered, “Fly, Jimmy Snowbird. Fly away. Fly, little bird. Fly.” In a second column, Kass said Oberweis’s “embarrassing escape to Florida” and willingness to “[throw] his own wife under the bus for his recent political troubles” indicate he “might not really want to be in the race.”
