Sometimes, particular late night in the USA or holidays and weekends, the overwhelmed mods will not take notice (particularly if there aren't a lot of people clicking 'report'.) If it stays up for more than an hour or two, you've gotten away with it! But the relevant rule is:
Articles must be published within the last calendar month
Old content is often misleading because the political landscape changes rapidly. We therefore require all submissions in /r/politics to be published within the last calendar month. For example, if the date is January 29 and the article submitted was written before December 29, then the submission is out of date.
Personally, I've sent the link to a handful of reporters, news organizations, in essence saying, "Hey, think there's a story here?"