Karina’s Capsule: Political Lunch

As a part-time political junkie, I’ve generally been disappointed by the range and quality of DIY politically-themed news videos online. Yes, there’s some great stuff directly resulting from the war, such as Hometown Baghdad, but for all the hype about how citizen journalists are going to change the world or whatever, I’m just not seeing a lot of independently produced news online.

So it was exciting to go hunting for analysis of Sunday’s Democratic debate and stumble upon Political Lunch. It’s a thrice-weekly newscast, hosted by Rob Millis and Will Coghlan, with episodes posted around midday every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on blip.tv. It’s a short, succinct, frill-free desk-bound wrap-up of the day’s story or stories pertaining to the election, with the occasional road trip thrown in (this week, Coghlan and Millis are in New Hampshire recapping the debates).

The show is most valuable when the hosts devote an entire episode to the analysis of a single issue, such as this episode, in which Coghlan deconstructs the latest polls in Iowa. Many episodes consist of Coghlan and Millis reading and recapping a wide range of political blogs (not to mention the fine print on candidate websites) so that you don’t have to. As someone who counts politics as number 3 or 4 on a long list of obsessions, this is my ideal way to take in this kind of information; if you’re someone who’s obsessively reading all that stuff on your own and looking for deeper analysis, Politcal Lunch may not be as useful for you.

As a commentator, Coghlan is clearly inspired by Keith Olbermann, but he’s not yet nearly as ballsy or vitriolic. As a team, Coghlan and Millis aren’t always the most charismatic duo, but they get the job done, and I actually admire their ability to exercise restraint over easy jokes and emotional outbursts. If this sounds too simple to be worth your time, you may not be the target audience.

But, if you’re obsessed with the minutia of the elections but can’t stand talk radio or cable news (because of real or perceived bias, or simply because the networks are so in bed with the major corporations that keep their lights on that actual news only seeps through the commercial blocks a couple of times an hour), than Political Lunch might be exactly what you’re looking for