…when prominent Democratic politician John Edwards from North Carolina admitted that he had an affair, it was the lead story on the KFOR news (Oklahoma City channel 4, NBC affiliate) at 4:30 PM, or at least covered in the top section. At the time, Edwards neither held political office nor was a candidate for political office.

I mention this because today, prominent Republican politician Mark Sanford of South Carolina admitted that he has been having an affair with a woman from (and in) Argentina, capping a six-day period where he was “missing” and out of contact with his staff. That’s important because he is currently the governor of South Carolina, where he had made a name for himself in conservative circles by fighting to keep his state from receiving federal stimulus money because it might go to poor people who didn’t vote for him. He’s also, until today, been mentioned as a serious presidential candidate in 2012.

I also mention this because on today’s 4:30 PM news, KFOR didn’t see fit to mention the story at all, with the exception of asking people to call in and opine about it for “The Rant,” a segment they air each night with random local opinions because they’re lazy and it’s cheaper than accurately measuring local opinion (with a poll) or going out and finding actual news.

So…Democrat who’s not in office admitting to an affair? Top story. Prominent Republican governor having an international affair while touted as presidential candidate after being missing for nearly a week? No big whoop.

This is how people like Inhofe and Coburn get elected here.

(They are going to cover it at 5:00, and my memory may be faulty, but bad news about Republicans gets nowhere near the same attention from the Oklahoma media as bad news about Democrats does.)