2014 Congressional

"'Horrendous' Ruling: Federal court upholds controversial voter ID law" blared the top-of-the-page teaser headline for Zachary Roth's October 7 story on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the Badger State's 2012 voter ID law which has been tangled up in court for the past two years. 

While ignoring any mention of the pivotal midterm election less than a month away that could decide control of the United States Senate, on Tuesday, NBC's Today instead devoted a full two-minute segment in its first hour to newly discovered photos of John and Jackie Kennedy's wedding – from 61 years ago. Co-host Matt Lauer introduced the segment by announcing "a stunning series of never-before-…

Just how deceptive is Alison Grimes' campaign commercial attacking Senator Mitch McConnell for supposedly being "anti-coal?" So deceptive that even fact checker Glenn  Kessler of the Washington Post has awarded it four Pinocchios for extreme mendacity.  

Despite it's superficial tone and disinterest in serious news, Good Morning America on Tuesday profiled liberal congressional candidate Clay Aiken for the third time this year. News reader Amy Robach enthused over the "pop star entering politics" and hyped, "Former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken, took the stage for his first debate in the run for Congress in North Carolina." 

Managing Editor's Note (Jan. 15, 2015; 5:15 p.m. Eastern): I've republished this to the front page today given the news that Sen. Ernst will be give the official Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union Address next Wednesday. If Chris Matthews doesn't make repeated sneering references to hog castration on MSNBC next Wednesday night, look out your window. You'll probably see a…

On his October 6 Hardball program, MSNBC's Chris Matthews hyped a new NBC poll that shows Democrat Alison Grimes up two points on incumbent Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky). This represents a six-point swing from a recent poll showing Grimes down by four, Matthews enthused. But let completely unmentioned during Monday's Hardball was a hidden video of Grimes campaign operatives admitting they…

While interrogating Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, host Chuck Todd spat out a nasty attack line against the GOP regarding a new Texas law requiring abortion clinics to have hospital-level medical standards: "One of the things about the Republican Party is you don't like a lot of regulation on businesses, except if the business is a…

The polling partnership of the Associated Press and GfK Public Affairs & Corporate Communications conducted its final pre-early voting survey of the American electorate during the five days ended September 29. It would be pretty hard to argue against the idea that the polling effort searched for answers it could use, while avoiding getting — or at least publishing — answers it wouldn't like…

On Thursday, President Barack Obama did something Republicans have inexplicably been reluctant to do. He nationalized the impending midterm elections by telling a friendly audience at Northwestern University that "I am not on the ballot this fall ... But make no mistake: These policies (of my administration) are on the ballot -- every single one of them." That evening on Fox News's Special…

It appears as though former Obama official Van Jones has taken Rahm Emmanuel’s belief that you never “want a good crisis go to waste” to heart during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week w/ George Stephanopoulos. During a panel discussion on the upcoming midterm elections, Jones suggested that Democrats should point out that the “Ebola thing is the best argument you can make for the kind of…

A blogger declared that as many as 17,000 Americans per year needlessly die because of what “might be the greatest act of political spite in modern American history.” The good news, he added, is that the “GOPer virus” can be killed at the polls.

Michelle Obama is sitting out the tight Senate races in 2014, and the New York Times seems a bit worried. Saturday's front page story by Jackie Calmes was interspersed with praise for both the crowd-rousing Michelle and that resilient "ace" campaigner, former first lady Hillary Clinton.

Perhaps eager to restart the so-called Republican "war on women," Time magazine claimed to have found the "most sexist Republican ad of the year." Writer Charlotte Alter was outraged at a spot by the College Republicans National Committee promoting Florida's Rick Scott in a Say Yes to the Dress parody. 

Incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Begich has a lifetime American Conservative Union score of eight. Yet, NPR qualifies the Alaska politician as "conservative" on many issues. The October 2 segment featured no mention of Begich's widely condemned campaign ad that accused his Republican opponent of being indirectly responsible for a sex crime.