Wednesday, June 6, 2007

How CNN Sk(r)ewed The NH Debates

Over at Chris Dodd dot Com they've been tracking the amount of time allocated to each of the speakers during the most recent debates and the results are almost exactly what you'd expect if you figured the production was sk(r)ewed in favor of certain (read: pro-war) candidates.

Lookee here:


The top four in the Donkey debate were Obama (16 minutes), Clinton (14:26), Blitzer (13:24) and Edwards (11:42), followed by Richardson (10:48), Kucinich (9:02), Dodd (8:28), Biden (7:58) and Gravel (5:37).


In the Elephant debate, the lion's share of the clock went to Blitzer (19:34), McCain (12:44), Giuliani (12:35) and Romney (11:04), followed by Brownback (7:12), Hunter (7:14), Huckabee (6:48), Glimore (5:59), Paul (5:51), Tancredo (5:43) and Thompson (4:21).

The first surprise: Dennis Kucinich ahead of both Chris Dodd and Joe Biden. Is Joltin' Joe sinking that fast? Hard to believe ...

The second surprise: Ron Paul ahead of two -- count 'em -- two other Elephants!

The third surprise: Fred Thompson got even less time than Mike Gravel. But then again he doesn't need any, since middle America plans to watch Law & Order reruns forever anyway.

And now ... drum roll ... the obvious conclusion: Wolf Blitzer for President!!

Don't you think?