Boy, that was a close call wasn’t it?

What with Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama selecting Sen. Joe Biden as a running mate, and Mitt Romney and Sen. Joe Lieberman in the wings — awaiting a nod from Republican nominee Sen. John McCain — it looked like the news media might have to knuckle down and cover issues in a presidential campaign.

The anxiety was palpable.

Almost too close for comfort, but not to worry. McCain got the news media off the hook and chose Alaska’s governor, Sarah Palin, to be president-in-waiting.

One could feel the sense of relief as the news media reverted to form and trumpeted field dressing a moose over having to report about economic issues and blabbed about teen-age pregnancy instead of dissecting policies on wars, health care, education and other peripheral issues.

We’ve got a circus now, not a boring campaign. And covering the side show, instead of the center ring, is what much of journalism is about these days.

But it was a close call.