The Star: Paul Davis losing ground to Brownback, widening lead over Brownback

The race for the governor’s office in Kansas is neck-and-neck, polls show. Some days, Democratic challenger Paul Davis is ahead. Other days, sitting Gov. Sam Brownback is ahead. Who’s ahead today? Log on, tune in, find out! It’s a great time for horse-race journalism! 

In such a fast-paced campaign, the favorite can change in a matter of minutes — 40 minutes, if we’re going by the stories on the homepage of The Kansas City Star. A piece by the Star‘s Statehouse reporter, Brad Cooper, posted at 1:25 p.m. today, reports that Davis is widening his lead over Brownback. He’s up 7 points on Brownback, according to the Rasmussen poll the story cites. 

That’s quite a turnaround for Davis, who as recently as 12:45 p.m. today was losing ground to Brownback amid an onslaught of negative TV ads. That story, by an Associated Press reporter, indicates that the race is now “tied or with Brownback slightly ahead.” 

Which story is the most truest? At first, we would have said the AP story because it had a bigger font. But now Cooper’s “Davis is ahead” story is the featured story on the Star‘s site, in an even bigger font, and the AP story is nowhere to be found on the homepage. 

So, looks like Davis is today’s winner. Check back tomorrow to see who’s winning. Or just read the news the day after the election to see who won. Whatever works.