A short set of rules applies in our newsroom:

* Tell the truth.

This should be apparent but read a week’s worth of newspapers and make a list of stories that are the result of someone shading the truth.

* No game playing.

This does not mean that no fun is allowed, because every task should allow at least a brief period of levity. The application here is for those who spend their time trying to spread rumors without the facts for a reason that is difficult to understand. Those in this category never lived by the Golden Rule, or don’t have enough to do.

* No surprises.

For a leader, it is important to support those who work with you. To do so requires a basic understanding — before walking out on the limb, saw in hand, share the facts and cushion the fall.

Those three points are the background for sharing a decision that was tossed around the Times Free Press newsroom for months. With the Democratic and Republican national conventions at hand, the time for procrastination ended, a decision was made, and you, our readers, deserved an explanation.

As a former political writer for the afternoon newspaper in Chattanooga, I considered it a highlight every four years to attend the nominating conventions.

There were memorable times, such as staying in the “no name” hotel in Kansas City when Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker was on the final list to be the vice presidential choice of President Gerald Ford. His hopes were dashed as Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas was selected. Having received an early break on the Dole announcement, your writer placed a call to the newsroom in Chattanooga only to be rebuffed by those on the city desk who had never heard of Bob Dole and did not believe he was the choice.

In the 1976 presidential election, there was the memorable trip by the former governor of California, Ronald Reagan, to Sen. Baker’s home in Huntsville, Tenn., which caused the Ford campaign team some angst. That Reagan visit weighed heavily in the anybody-but-Baker vice presidential decision several weeks later.

In Kansas City, Mr. Reagan pushed Mr. Ford to the wire, refusing to drop out of the race prior to the nominating convention. The roll call on the convention floor was more than the courtesy call afforded to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton at this year’s Democratic convention.

In 1980 as President Jimmy Carter stood for re-election, he was challenged in the Democratic primaries by Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. While the outcome was not in question at the time of the convention, Sen. Kennedy pressed his case for change on the floor of the convention and persisted into the fall election.

Twenty-eight years later and after the front-loading of the delegate selection process, the party nominating conventions are one down and one to go, but the outcomes were well known months ago.

The choices of Barack Obama and Joe Biden for the Democrats have the party convention blessing, and John McCain and his running mate await the final nod from the Republicans.

Really?

Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain have been gearing up for the final 10-week sprint to the November finish line for some time. They already have appeared on the same platform — but at separate times — in California. The advertising wars online and minimally on television have been under way for weeks. The notion that Fred Thompson, who last year at this time was the dream GOP candidate, would be the nominee seems as a moment lost in time.

At the Times Free Press we chose to use our wire services for the daily reports from the Denver and Minneapolis conventions, relying on our delegates to supply information of regional interest for our readers in print and online.

We allocated our resources — people and money — to offer more focused reports on political issues that affect those who live in Chattanooga, North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee. In the weeks ahead we will share your opinions on the candidates and the issues that face those who live in the Tennessee Valley.

There will not be a lack of information on the election, but there will be more precision based on relevance.

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