On political coverage: Elizabeth Edwards' view

In a guest column at the New York Times, Elizabeth Edwards rates the campaign so far: Bowling 1, Health Care 0. Why this annoying emphasis on things that don't matter?

...every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture.
...I was lucky enough for a time to have a front-row seat in this campaign — to see all this, to get my information firsthand. But most Americans are not so lucky. As we move the contest to my home state, North Carolina, I want my neighbors to know as much as they possibly can about what these men and this woman would do as president.

Is it really too much to ask?