Last May, ABC fought for the privilege of hosting and later airing a Democratic debate in South Carolina.

George Stephanopoulos said Democratic Party leaders wanted this early debate and early South Carolina primary to encourage the idea that “you could get a conservative” through the primaries. (So much for that idea.)

But Stephanopoulos failed to raise a single question with the Democrats about one controversial issue: pulling the Confederate flag down off state government flag poles. This may be a relatively unimportant question on a national scale, but on “This Week” on January 23, 2000, when Sam Donaldson noted that Bush and McCain were both saying it was a state issue they didn’t need to discuss, Stephanopoulos said of their position “It’s craven and cowardly.” (Democrats lobbied ABC not to bring it up.) It will be interesting to see if it comes up this time. Larry King asked George W Bush about the Confederate flag in a CNN debate in South Carolina on February 15, 2000.