I just watched CNN gleefully play up the story that John McCain doesn't know how many houses his family owns, treating it as some sort of transcendent gaffe. Uh, his wife is an heiress who has a lot of property and doesn't do a good job of keeping track of it, as the recent flap over her unpaid taxes at a Coronado condo confirmed.

This comes after the cable networks gleefuly played up the story that Barack Obama is somehow out of touch and not ready for prime time because he gave a more nuanced, less cartoonish answer than McCain to the question from Rick Warren about how he would deal with evil. Uh, do we really think nuance and thoughtfulness are now political sins? How low an opinion do we have of voters' cognitive powers?

This drives me bonkers. Campaign journalism is increasingly a form of theater criticism. Yes, it's worst on TV, but it infects print media as well. I was on The New Republic's very smart The Plank blog, and it's hammering McCain on Homegate. What? What? Why?

It's not like there aren't matters of huge substance to discuss. McCain's rhetoric about Iran and Georgia makes it sound like he's unfazed by the prospect of a third and fourth war, which is nuts. Obama has said the multibillions to be gained by ending the Bush tax cuts will allow him to pay for a half-dozen different extremely costly initiatives simultaneously, which is nuts.

Can we talk about these issues, oh, one day a week? No, Chris, you don't get it. People choose presidents many times based on little things. CNN, MSNBC and Fox are just bringing the most relevant little things to their attention. It's a public service, keeping the focus on minutiae.

If John McCain doesn't know how many homes he has, how can we trust him with the nuclear football?And if Barack Obama doesn't stick to forceful, one-dimensional soundbites, how can he be an effective negotiator with Congress, Russia, China, anyone?We're doomed. OK, that's an exaggeration. But it's what I think whenever I watch CNN's political coverage.