No big media splash as Republican leader Ken Mehlman reveals he's gay

Republican leader Ken Mehlman’s announcement that he is gay may have come as a surprise to some of the party faithful, but, in keeping with usual journalistic practices, the mainstream media's coverage has been subdued.

Links to Mr. Mehlman’s past statements about homosexuality are one notable feature of the coverage.

Organized and unfailingly on message, Mehlman served as George W. Bush’s campaign manager in the 2004 election and then was chairman of the Republican National Committee. The Harvard Law School graduate is the highest ranking Republican Party official to say he is gay. He made the disclosure in an interview with Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic and later gave phone interviews to Politico’s Mike Allen and Jake Tapper of ABC News.

The Washington Post, a mainstay of political coverage, devoted one paragraph to the news in the “Reliable Sources” gossip column on an inside page of the Style section. On the Web, the Post covered the announcement in its “Politics and Policy” blog. The New York Times placed a nine-paragraph story on page A-16 of its Washington edition. The Wall Street Journal did not have a story in the print edition but ran a brief item on a blog covering the private equity industry. Mehlman is now executive vice president of KKR, a New York City-based private equity firm. The announcement appeared in RealClearPolitics.com's “More Political News” section, after an item on protests Thursday by a flotilla of New England fisherman off the Obamas' vacation island.

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