CBS Skips Any Mention of Dem Senate Candidate's Military Scandal, NBC Avoids Party ID

CBS's Early Show on Tuesday completely ignored the front page New York Times story on Democratic senatorial candidate Richard Blumenthal and his claims to have "served in Vietnam," despite having never done so.

NBC's Today mentioned the subject once in a news brief, but anchor Ann Curry described the Connecticut Democrat only as a "U.S. Senate candidate." On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos described the development as a "huge story."

Yet, the show devoted less than a minute to the topic. Unlike the Early Show, however, Stephanopoulos at least used a party label, explaining that "this was considered a safe Democratic seat. Now, it could be in play."

Remarking on the proximity of the GMA studios to this story, co-host Robin Roberts observed, "Next door in Connecticut, we, you know, wake up. We see in the New York Times this morning about what's going on for Senator Dodd's seat."

Considering that Connecticut is so close to New York (where all the morning shows are filmed), it certainly would have been easy to have a reporter live on the scene.

Over on CNN, the cable network's American Morning covered the developing story with three news briefs. Co-host Kiran Chetry simply discussed the "U.S. Senate candidate."

In other anchor briefs, substitute host Jim Acosta referred to the scandal as something that "could be the biggest political story of the day, coming out of nowhere." He also labeled the allegations "stunning." But, again, no one on the show found time to note that Blumenthal is a Democrat.

A transcript of the May 18 network coverage follows:

GMA

7:12

ROBERTS: Next door in Connecticut, we, you know, wake up. We see in the New York Times this morning about what's going on for Senator Dodd's seat. That was a surprise.

STEPHANOPOULOS: This is a huge story, Robin. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democrats had considered this a safe Senate seat.

ROBERTS: Yes!

STEPHANOPOULOS: But, the New York Times has discovered that on several occasions, he claimed to have served in Vietnam, even though he didn't. He served in the military during the Vietnam era. But, not in Vietnam. And the Attorney General is going to hold a press conference today to talk about that. But, as I said, this was considered a safe Democratic seat. Now, it could be in play.

Today

8:03

ANN CURRY: The New York Times is questioning claims by U.S. Senate candidate and Connecticut Attorney General Rich Blumenthal that he once served in Vietnam. Today, the paper is reporting that Blumenthal obtained military determents and served in the Marine reserves to avoid going to war. Blumenthal denies lying about his service, but says he may have misspoken.