Madam, - The Democratic primaries in the United States are a sideshow - and the Iowa Caucus is a sideshow of a sideshow, as shown by the absence of two of the more prominent candidates, General Wesley Clark and Senator Joe Lieberman.
However, your edition of last Wednesday carried a photograph of the victor on the front page, followed by a half-page on the contest in the World News section, an Editorial, and an assessment of the winning candidate which took up most of the Opinion and Analysis page.
Below that article was another penned by Senator Ted Kennedy criticising President Bush. However, coverage of the President's State of the Union address, arguably of much greater importance, was restricted to half-a-dozen paragraphs from a wire service.
This surely lends credibility to the criticism by some commentators that there is an inherent bias in the media against the Bush administration. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN McMAHON, Naas, Co Kildare.
The timing of President Bush's address allowed us to carry only an advance summary in Wednesday's edition. The speech was reported more fully on Thursday. - Ed., IT.