A Big Story Is Brewing in Little Delaware

Mike Castle represents Kiko’s House in Congress.

The Delaware Republican and former governor was well on his way to winning an eighth term in the House of Representatives when he awoke at his vacation home at the shore on September 22 complaining of nausea, dizziness and breathing problems. He also had an irregular heartbeat.

Castle was rushed to the ER of a small community hospital which was unable to diagnose what was wrong. He then was helicoptered to a large medical center in northern Delaware where a magnetic imaging scan detected a small bleed in his thalamus, the brain’s center for communicating various sensations. The areas of the brain responsible for movement, speech and reason apparently were not affected.

Castle, the public was told, had suffered a minor stroke.

From there things get fuzzy, and because of a lack of curiosity in the Delaware news media and great curiosity in the liberal (which is to say Democratic) political blogosphere, questions are being raised about the "true" extent of Castle’s stroke and whether he should even be on the November 7 ballot.

Before we continue this tale, I’m going to call a time out to note a couple of things:

First, Mike Castle is a good man. He is that rarest of beasts -- a moderate Republican -- and I have voted for him without hesitation. (So have my cats.)

Castle recently stood up to the White House on torture legislation, as did Joe Biden, one of Delaware’s two Democratic senators, and he cannot be counted on to vote the party line in an era of lock-step allegiance to the GOP leadership.

Second, even if Castle’s health is an issue, he will be re-elected.

Tiny Delaware, which has only one seat in the House, is one of the most ticket-splitting states in the union and reliably swings from Democratic to Republican control and back again. Not too long ago, voters elected a governor and lieutenant governor from different political parties.

But back to our story . . .

Because of conflicting statements from Castle’s campaign staff and spotty coverage by The News Journal newspaper, the state’s only media outlet of consequence, questions have been raised about whether Castle’s stroke was worse than reported.

Enter the DailyKos and other liberal blogs that smell blood and the possibility of picking up a Democratic House seat if it could be proven that there is a cover-up of Castle’s condition and he is no longer ballot worthy.

Two problems with that: The aforementioned fact that Delaware voters will elect Castle no matter what, as well as his extremely weak competition, who include an inexperienced Democratic challenger (who has not made Castle’s health a campaign issue to date) and two minor party candidates.

My own take:

* Impressions count for a lot, and it is my impression that The News Journal (where I worked early in my newspaper career) has been notably uncurious about pursuing the story. Is this institutional laziness or is there a darker motive? I really don't care. The result is the same. The paper is ill serving its readers.

* It is The News Journal’s responsibility to ask that Castle’s medical records be made public and when they are, to consult with a third-party medical team not beholden to candidate or party to assess whether the public is being given the straight dope.

* Some questions: If Castle had a stroke, why is a cardiologist so involved in his care? Did he have a pre-existing heart condition and was given an anti-coagulant at the small hospital that exacerbated his cranial bleed? Was he taking Coumadin, an oft-prescribed blood thinner with notoriously dangerous side effects, and that made matters worse? Was he . . . You get the idea.

* Coincidentally, I suffered a stroke four years ago that was not dissimilar to Castle’s. I appreciate the need for a paced rehab and would never suggest that he rush back onto the campaign trail at risk to his health and a long-term recovery that is complete as possible. But based on my personal experience and the fair amount of reading that I have done since my own boo-boo, I do not believe The News Journal is being told the full story – and in turn is not providing the full story to its readers.

* The blogosphere, for all of its blather, has an uncanny way of getting to the bottom of stories that the mainstream media hasn't. The phony George Bush Air National Guard memos is one of many examples where the blogosphere tail waged the media dog. The News Journal and Daddy Gannett, the paper's owner, risk being embarrassed if the blogosphere looks under rocks that The News Journal hasn't.

Onward through the fog!