Sometimes it surprises me what the media will cover and what they leave alone.

Over the past two days, local media outlets have focused on a stunt by an underfunded, independent candidate. The Roanoke Times reported that Jeremiah Heaton drove along I-81 filming VDOT crews. As he was filming them, he asked if they were legal and if they the proper documentation to prove they were working here legally.

This was a front page, above the fold story in today’s paper, all from a YouTube video posted by the Heaton campaign. Really, is this worth front page coverage? At least the Times went on to highlight the immigration stand of the three candidates in the 9th district, which was informative. The problem was that you had to read to the bottom of the article to get the relevant information… information that could make a voter a little smarter.

But, I really shouldn’t have been surprised by this story. In fact, throughout this campaign we’ve seen lots of issues crop up that were largely generated by a candidate’s campaign or the media. They include the legal status of a housekeeper for a California gubernatorial candidate, past drug use by a Kentucky Senate candidate, issues regarding the minimum wage (which is not being currently debated by the Congress), well it’s a long list.

It’s easy to get sidetracked by these issues and these stories are easier to tell than complicated budget or tax issues.

But, in these dire economic times when families are hurting and Congress is debating weighty topics from our Afghanistan policy to tax increases to deficit reduction, do we really care about a YouTube stunt or someone’s former housekeeper? I don’t.

UPDATE: WSLS is covering Heaton’s stunt today during our 6pm newscast. The reason? We have evidence, according to the subcontractor, that shows all the VDOT workers were in fact legal. Just another reason a story like this shouldn’t be reported until all the facts are considered and thoroughly researched.