Jonathan Martin is the national political correspondent for the paper. He lives in the D.C. area, is often on various campaign trails and has been on the beat since June 2013. His enthusiasm for his subject seems undiminished.
As a political reporter and political junkie, I find it as tricky to pick among my favorite midterm races as it would be for parents to choose their favorite child: Each is lovable in his or her own way. But what really fascinates me are those races that mix interesting candidates against the canvas of culturally rich states.
I spent a good bit of time this summer covering the Senate race in Kentucky for The Times Magazine. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, is on the brink of fulfilling his decades-long goal of being majority leader. First, though, he must survive what may be his final campaign against the Kentucky secretary of state, Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is half his age. And the two are facing off in a state that combines Appalachia, the Midwest and the South. It is conservative in some ways — President Obama is widely disliked — but also happens to be home to perhaps the most successful implementation of Mr. Obama’s chief domestic legacy: the Affordable Care Act.
The race in the Bluegrass is, to me, an example of what makes covering campaigns so fulfilling. Yes, the horse race (pun intended) is interesting and the policy and political implications of the outcome are important. But what makes this beat so enjoyable is that in covering these races we are also telling the story of the country and its people. Capturing a sense of place and the moment is important for readers, and I think providing a living history is a vital part of The Times’s mission. Closer to home, it is also a hell of a lot of fun. Whether it is the people, the places or the local cuisine, there is nothing like being there.
Now, how do I go about plunging into a race? It’s not all that complicated and is probably similar to how any reporter at the paper prepares for a datelined story: read and report, read some more and report some more, and so on. My long-ago predecessors in this job often made their first stop on the road at the local paper to talk to the reporters and (ideally) read through some clips. Thanks to the Internet, however, I can skip this step. I usually arrive in a state having already read much of the local coverage. This is a breeze not just because news outlets are online, but also because most political reporters are on Twitter. Their pieces are almost always easy to find.
I’m a bit of an old soul, though, because I still like to print out the stories and read them from my hands on the plane. And when I get to whatever state I’m covering, the first thing I do is find is as many different local papers as possible. Print edition, of course.