They say all politics is local, so where's the local news coverage this election year?

I'm David Brancaccio. I've been traveling to what are called News Deserts in Super Tuesday states to hear about

the business models that are failing or informing voters as they make their choices on

Tuesday. We begin this week's Democracy in the Desert coverage in Valverdi County, Texas,

where Mexico is just across the river. Breakfast in one of the 204 counties in America

researchers have labeled a news

desert. Here at Skillets in the county seat of Del Rio there are biscuits

smothered in chilly and surprise for a local news desert, one diner reading what turns out to be a daily local newspaper.

Well, yes and no. He shows me it's Zokalo Acunya, a paper from Acunya, a city nearby, but over in another country.

Zocula will cover big news from South Texas for Spanish-speaking readers,

but it's not big on covering the local races on the

ballot on the Texas side next week.

And had I been here on a Friday,

there is an online news site that puts a paper

edition on the stands one day a week.

My son hooked me up to the Internet New York Times,

but it's not the same.

I want to have something to hold.

Bob Marshall, retired hospital administrator,

says he is a big fan of Texas public radio

out of San Antonio.

Still, how do you find out about the local people running for office.

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