Colorado Progressive

Matt Yglesias points out in a post today that all political reporting can’t always reflect the fervor of Election Day. To make his point, he grabs a quote from NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd, as featured in a commercial seen during the Olympics: “I love politics; I wish every day was Election Day.”

Yglesias shows us how Chuck Todd’s analysis during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary was crucial to understanding the substance behind the incoming poll results. After praising Todd, Yglesias continues:

It was great stuff. But obviously it’s not Election Day every day. There’s all this governing that happens and that’s important mostly because of its impact on the lives of ordinary people who themselves are probably fairly indifferent to politics.

And, unfortunately, that’s where the post ends. It’s a good post, but not a complete post. What I wish is that Matt Yglesias had taken his thought one step further: Chuck Todd (and the media) ought to be as excited about explaining the substance behind governance and policy as he (and it) is when explicating poll results. Because, arguably, what happens between election days is more important to more people than anything that actually happens on Election Day.