The controversy over Tim Walz's stolen valor has died down--everybody who is going to have an opinion on it already does, anyway. 

But Walz's sudden retirement from the National Guard in the face of deployment isn't the only time he has gone AWOL at a vital moment; he continues to do so today. 

As Harris and Walz do their Doritos, barbecue, donuts, and bathtub-washed collard greens campaign, the local media are getting frustrated by their inability to get anything out of the candidates. 

Most people think that the big national media shows are the most important places for candidates to get their message out, but if that were true then no presidential candidate would ever leave the so-called "Acela Corridor" between New York and Washington, D.C. The reason the candidates visit the swing states is to get on local TV to appear to care about the little people. 

A visit to Pittsburgh reaches a few thousand supporters without local news coverage--its value is in the ancillary press coverage provided by local TV and radio. And neither Tim Walz nor Kamala Harris is feeding the media beast at the local level. 

Reporter: "What's your administration going to do about lowering prices? Can you answer the question, please!?"

WALZ: Ignores

Reporter: "Can we get a question at some point!?"
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— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 4, 2024

Dissing the national media hasn't hurt Harris or Walz much yet, although I expect that it will hurt them in the longer run. Those folks are so in the tank for the Democrats that you could give them a beating in public, and they would thank Harris and ask for more. 

But local media is another story. It's not that they don't lean left, but they are less liable to give the candidates a pass because they have so few opportunities to cover big news stories, and the visit of a presidential candidate fills that bill. These guys want their day in the sun and being forced to quietly film candidates acting fake in front of supporters faking identities as undecided voters is too much to bear. 

"Walz is not taking questions from the media while here. We were also not allowed to put microphones up by Gov. Walz."

Not allowed? What happened to a free and fair press who would break these rules in the name of Democracy?

Good journalists would put a microphone up by him,… https://t.co/RgAt3oanCs

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 4, 2024

Staying quiet may frustrate some undecided voters, but it comes close to infuriating local reporters who want their day in the sun. These are people who campaigns should be puffing up, pretending to think that they are important. Treating them as court stenographers is a bad strategy. 

The longer tape here is so clarifying. After taking multiple questions from the press, a reporter mentions the hostages, and his staffer immediately springs into action and tells him to leave the gaggle. https://t.co/YXEtmvx8UB

— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) September 1, 2024

Local reporters have less to lose by challenging candidates and giving them not-so-nice coverage. They don't socialize in Washington or New York, and their careers are tied to their local communities and not the Washington blob. They are in a better position to vent their frustration at being disrespected than any Washington reporter or pundit and occasionally vent their frustrations through less favorable coverage. 

Another day of Kamala ignoring the press

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— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 4, 2024

Add to this the incentive to get a real news story if they can get an answer--any local who gets a straight answer from Walz or Harris would be practically a magician since both candidates have clammed up about anything but food--and the Democrats have created a bad dynamic. Whether this comes to bite them in the butt is unknown yet, but it is likely to hurt them. 

Kamala Harris is now using the "I'm on the phone, can't you tell by my wired headphones!" trick to avoid the media.
Sad.pic.twitter.com/ob193fNMm6

— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) September 2, 2024

Not by a LOT, but perhaps enough to cost some important votes with people who watch and like their local news folks. 

As Americans have soured on national media, they still tend to implicitly trust their local reporters, especially the TV people they can see and listen to. Annoying those folks is a bad move by Harris' team, although changing strategies to be more open would probably be worse. Giving Harris lots of opportunities to screw up is probably worse than what they are doing now. 

While Trump and Vance are barnstorming and stroking the local media, Walz and Harris have gone AWOL

It's quite possible that on election day, this may cost them more votes than Tim Walz's stolen valor with the undecideds.