Democratic Soapbox Disappears With Imus

The cancellation of the Don Imus' show creates a vacuum for Democratic pols  who've used it to reach the white, politically independent men that were Imus's prime audience, the LA Times reports. Democratic candidates like Joe Lieberman,  Chris Dodd, John Kerry, and Harold E. Ford were among those who availed themselves of Imus' s sympathetic ear.

Others, like Hillary Clinton, a frequent target of the I-Man's jokes, shunned it. One senior Democratic strategist called the show a "locker room for middle-age politicians." Elsewhere in the Times, Joel Stein dismisses Imus as an adolescent jokester who isn't as smart as Howard Stern; he can't be all that bright, Stein argues,  if he thinks politics still matter. (More Democrats stories.)