For the 1st time in its history, the Chicago Tribune has endorsed a Democratic candidate for President. This paper has endorsed Republicans literally all the way back to Abraham Lincoln [read the endorsement here].

There’s one quote I’d like to pull from this right-leaning editorial board as a way to get into the meat of this post [emphasis mine]:

“McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate–but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin’s exposure to the public. But it’s clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment’s notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country.”

The last few days have been busy & I haven’t touched on the latest tidbits coming from “Campaign Sarah.” But they’re worth pointing out.

We are, as of today, 17 days out from the election. Sarah Palin has been the Vice-Presidential candidate for 51 days. & as of today, a man who has been on the campaign scene for just four days, “Joe the Plumber,” has given more news conferences than Sarah Palin has.

Yes, she’s done “sit-down” one-on-one interviews, with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, & Katie Couric. She’s also done phone interviews with radio talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Neil Boortz, & Hugh Hewitt.

The thing is, if you notice, is that the majority of the media personalities I list above are predisposed to treat her favorably. To say the least.

Other things about Palin’s media strategy I’ve found troubling this week:

1. Her staffers apparently shield her from most of the news about her. In North Carolina she said:

“At those times on the campaign trail when sometimes it’s easy to get a little bit discouraged, when, you know, when you happen to turn on the news when your campaign staffers will let you turn on the news,” she said, prompting laughter from the group. “Usually they’re like ‘Oh my gosh, don’t watch. You’re going to, you know, you’re going to get depressed.’”

2. Incredibly, the Secret Service has “started preventing reporters from leaving the press section to interview people in the crowd.” (don’t they have more important things to worry about?)

-WCSH, the NBC affiliate in Portland, Maine, had to refuse an interview with Palin after the McCain campaign insisted on hand-picking the reporter who would do it. You’d better believe that NewsChannel9 would treat this situation the exact same way.

This insularity only damages our system of democracy.

& before you move on from this post & call me a member of the “liberal elite media,” let me take you through an exercise that may change your thinking:

Let’s pretend for a moment that the tables are turned, & it’s Joe Biden who is behaving this way. He only does interviews with media types he considers “favorable.” He refuses to do a press conference. & he keeps the secret service from letting media types interview members of the crowd at his rallies.

Do you think the GOP would sit on their hands & let this happen? No, not for a second.

If you are a supporter of Palin, then you have to believe that she is ready for the job of Vice President of the United States. You have to believe that she has the grit it takes to stand up to all kinds of different challenges. Approving of this media-shy behavior only implicitly bolsters the perception that the candidate ‘can’t take the heat.’

This has to stop.

Sarah Palin appears on Saturday Night Live tonight, in an effort to fight the “Tina Fey effect.” But the appearance, I’m predicting, will be supremely anti-climactic, & do nothing to measurably improve her image.

A press conference, on the other hand - facing the media, warts & all - would measurably help her image, not to mention strengthen our democracy.

Come on, Sarah. If nothing else, do it for your country, which would be damaged if this historical precedent is allowed to continue.