The latest on the Dems’ Fox News debate debacle:
In a 20-minute conference call, a group of bloggers told [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid an uprising was brewing over the decision by the Nevada State Democratic Party to partner with Fox for the August debate in Reno. Among the bloggers, some were national — Matt Stoller of MyDD, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKos — and some were local — Hugh Jackson of the Las Vegas Gleaner.
In the call, Reid explained that he had been focused on the Iraq war debate the past few weeks and didn’t seem to have closely followed the controversy over the Fox sponsorship. (When the debate was announced last month, Reid called it “great news for Nevada” and declared himself “happy.”)
Stoller said the bloggers told Reid that the issue was spoiling his popularity with the party’s Netroots: his DailyKos straw poll approval rating, they told him, had gone from the mid-80s to around 40 percent recently.
Reid backed off of his support of the debate, contending that he had had nothing to do with the decision, adding, “I don’t like Fox News.”
Got that? Reid did a total 180 on his support for the debate when informed that his poll numbers on Daily Kos had dropped from the 80s to the 40s. Victory for the liberal blogosphere comes at the cost of showing the leader of their party to be a total wimp.