If you’re a subscriber to the Rocky Mountain News, your Tuesday edition arrived in this nifty newspaper condom. The large print on the side you see above reads, "Vote Freedom First: NRA Political Victory Fund: Bob Schaffer for U.S. Senate." The fine print adds, “Paid For by NRA-Political Victory Fund. WWW.NRAPVF.org. Not Authorized By Any Candidate or Candidate’s Committee" and, more importantly, "Warning: Keep This Plastic Bag Away From Children. Misuse May Cause Suffocation." (But at least "This Bag is Recyclable.") And on the aft side? The "Vote Freedom First" message is accompanied by one that reads, "Defend Freedom: NRA: Defeat Obama."
And defeat falling newspaper advertising revenue, too. The dailies have benefited in a huge way from Colorado becoming a swing state, with campaign purchases fattening recent issues of both the Rocky and the Denver Post. Of course, all that goes away today. Rocky editor/publisher/president John Temple promised in his November 1 column that the paper would publish its largest-ever election edition on Wednesday – but the Thursday offering should be more telling. Will it, too, be heftier than expected? Or will it be the roughly the thickness of a windshield flier? We’ll learn the answer to that question less than 48 hours from now. -- Michael Roberts