Iraq Fading

James Fallows notes a Pew research paper that concludes that "News about the Iraq war does not dominate the public's consciousness nearly as much as it did last winter." Public interest in Iraq news has declined, as has the quantity of Iraq coverage in the media. This reminds me that one of my pet theories about the 2004 campaign is that Howard Dean's candidacy was damaged by the mere fact that the primaries were getting closer as the primaries got closer. Coverage of the campaign squeezed out some of the coverage of Iraq and he was hurt by having his signature issue fade from confidence.

The situation today is very different in many respects, but this basic dynamic should hold. More and more and more of the minutes and column-inches dedicated to Serious News is going to be campaign related, so we'll hear less and less about foreign affairs and Iraq will need to share the stage with an apparently worsening situation in Afghanistan, with whatever happens in Pakistan, etc.