what voters see and hear

Most congressional candidates spend the bulk of their budget on television advertising -- and often they prefer to put those ads on during local news shows. But changes in the economics of local stations has cut local coverage of political campaigns.

The net result is this, according to the Columbia Journalism Review:

"CJR's analysis of a hard-fought congressional primary near Scranton, PA found that six local stations aired some 28 hours of political ads, and only half a dozen news reports, over nearly eight weeks."

No wonder voters get turned off.