Today’s Washington Post has a 2,700 word, above the fold, front-page story examining what is one of the most important debates concerning the future of the Democratic Party. Ground zero is the Bay Area, but you wouldn’t know that from reading the San Francisco Chronicle. In contrast, on the front page of today’s Chron was a story on how daylight savings time is coming in a few weeks.

Despite it being more than two months since the Washington DC press noticed this primary (1, 2, 3), Phil Bronstein’s political team has not printed a single word on the race. There was one blog post, but it was mocked for not following the most basic rules for online publishing by refusing to link to the primary source material that was quoted verbatim.

Sure, today’s story has problems, but at least the Post is paying close enough attention to fly reporters into the Bay Area to cover what the Chronicle is missing.

In 2008, the Bay Area is going to have multiple, exciting primaries that deserve thorough coverage. These are exciting times. With 17 writers able to post on the SFGate Politics Blog and also able to write things for the paper, the Chronicle is well positioned to provide top-notch coverage. Let’s hope they decide to.