The transition to Hillary Clinton has begun.

Even though we are still 16 months from the choosing our next president, the News-Register is already in full election mode. You've probably noticed it -- the anti-Clinton material has been increasing weekly. Today, one-half of the editorial page is devoted to attacks on Clinton; two long editorials and an anti-Clinton column by Kathleen Parker grace the page usually reserved for attacks on Obama. (The president shouldn't feel slighted -- he's mentioned six times in the first editorial and at least half of the vitriol in the second editorial is aimed at him.)

We now know what Clinton is doing -- getting instructions from Obama on how to continue his "war on coal." What are the GOP's candidates doing?

Contrast the editorial page with the front page story on the Republican candidates: "GOP Hopefuls' New Insight on Faith." Yes, they were "promising Christian values would guide their personal decisions and public policies should they win the presidency."

Fiorina edited out of the story.

The News-Register dropped candidate Carly Fiorina from the above story as it appeared this morning. Here's the missing paragraph from the original AP article. (Note -- the online edition of the News-Register does includes Fiorina):

Asserting that "people of sincere faith make better leaders," former technology executive Carly Fiorina criticized Democrats for being weak on social issues. "I do not think progressives share our belief in gifts and the dignity of each and every human life," she said.

Why cut Fiorina from the morning paper? She wasn't at the end of the AP story (Kasich was) if space was a consideration. I'm not sure why her two sentences were cut but she is the only woman in the Republican field -- maybe the editor was already deciding who local readers should take seriously.

Political stories that weren't covered?

Rather than reporting that the Republican candidates are religious (I think we all knew that), it might have been more informative to cover what the candidates thought about the following topics related to the terrorist act in South Carolina last week:
1. South Carolina's Confederate state flag
2. South Carolina flying the American flag at half-mast but not lowering the state flag
3. what could be done to prevent a reoccurrence of this kind of terrorist act

I also found it interesting that Michael Myer wrote a whole column on James Holmes and the Colorado shooting in 2012 but had nothing to say about Charleston.