TV spot ads by Democratic candidates reveal all about electorate’s mood. Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) tells camera he supports Bob Dole more often than Bill Clinton. Liberal Sen. Jim Sasser (D., Tenn.) talks about school prayer and return to traditional values. Admeisters for none other than Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.) are portraying him as crimefighter supreme…. Teddy’s mysterious endorsement several weeks ago of women as Catholic priests now explained: his senatorial campaign shortly afterward attacked opponent Mitt Romney (ahead in some polls) for membership in Mormon Church, which is too “white male.” Attack was hastily dropped after Romney cited candidate Jack Kennedy’s 1960 injunctions against appealing to religious prejudice in elections.
House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America, announced with more than 300 GOP House candidates assembled on Capitol steps, got big media play, accompanied by howls of “fraud” from White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and other Democrats…. Gingrich’s courageous charge that the D.C. press corps often serves as “Praetorian Guard of the Left” was bolstered by NBC’s coverage in particular. While ABC, CBS, and CNN gave balanced coverage to Contract and critics, NBC’s Lisa Meyers did blatantly biased, anti-GOP piece. Then her boss, NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert, was belligerence itself in questioning Gingrich on Meet the Press, while lobbing soft-balls at second guest, House Speaker Tom Foley (D., Wash). Meet the Press incident should be no surprise: Russert, a non-journalist who previously served as high-level Democratic Party operative, has pushed NBC steadily leftward since taking news job in early 1989. Another non-surprise was reaction of New York Times editorial page run by Howell Raines of All-Reaganites-Are-My-Moral-Inferiors fame. Editorial said Contract was “deceptive” and “duplicitous propaganda.”
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