Ms. Huffington did make a brief dash for political office back in 2003, and Al Franken’s short-lived home, the liberal “Air America” radio show, actually greased his 2008 entry to the US Senate, but the fact remains, say political and media observers, that the right is way ahead when it comes to powerful media mouthpieces, and the phenomenon is most acutely embodied in the Beck/Palin power team.

Why is this? Money, style and the evolution of the two major parties are the big reasons the reach and impact of Beck and Palin is unprecedented in mass media history, says Geoffrey Baym, author of “From Cronkite to Colbert: The Evolution of Broadcast News.” Not all that long ago, he says, the owners of big media companies used to trumpet the value of objective news coverage in their various outlets from radio to television. But once Rupert Murdoch began to wield his openly conservative agenda – and put his money where his various mouths are, the right began to gain an undeniable advantage.