Campaign Outsider

Splendid reader Michael Pahre – who, let’s all remember, miraculously won the Seamus Sweepstakes last year – sends along this query to the hardworking staff:

Should the Globe be quoting Derrick Jackson in news stories about the presidential race? Scott Lehigh?  Joan Vennochi?

Of course not.  Why oh why would a serious newspaper be looking to its op-ed contributors for quotations for its news stories?  They’re op-ed opinion folks, not people you interview for news stories.

Then why, pray tell, are they quoting John Sununu, regular op-ed contributor for the Globe, in a news story?

The offending quote:

Former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, a top Romney surrogate, said that while the campaign has been underway for more than a year and a half, the convention will signal a new start for many Americans who have paid only limited attention to the race.

With that reality in mind, Sununu said, Romney will get back to basics and talk about “Obama’s disastrous economy,” not only in his convention speech but also in the deluge of ads he will air between Labor Day and Election Day, when Romney can exploit the $62 million cash advantage he holds over Obama.

Indeed, if you search for Sununu at the Globe website, you get a crazy-quilt mix of news stories and opinion pieces.

So are contributors to the Globe’s op-ed page different from Globe op-ed columnists?

The hardwondering staff is sending that very question to Globe editorial page editor Peter Canellos.

We’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE: As splendid reader Kerry has pointed out, “The columnist is the Sunu-son and former US senator. The sunu-source and former governor is John H? Yes?”

Yes. We’ll see if the Globe issues a correction on its mixup of the two.

UPDATE UPDATE: We committed a Sunono above. Splendid commenter John has it right: The columnist is the senator, the source was the governor. The mixup was mine. (Yes, you were right too, Kerry.)

Our apologies are going out to Peter Canellos as well.