Presidential Candidates Are Labeled 'Formers' -- Except For One

Guess Which Party, and What Label?

Here are Old Media excerpts relating to recent presidential contenders you might find interesting.

First, here's the Associated Press from May 15 (fourth short item at link):

The United Steelworkers union endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president Thursday, giving the Illinois senator a powerful advocate in attracting blue-collar voters.

The endorsement comes one day after former presidential candidate and Steelworker ally John Edwards endorsed Obama, a key component in the union's decision to go with the Democratic front-runner.

Edwards won only one primary, his home state of South Carolina, in two presidential runs.

Here's ABC's "Political Radar Blog" on that same day:

ABC's Z. Byron Wolf Reports: Former presidential candidate, undeclared superdelegate and Senate Foreign Relations Chair Joe Biden, D-Del., called President Bush's comment during foreign policy speech to the Israeli parliament "a political hit" against Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

In three presidential runs, Biden won three delegates.

Now here's the New York Times's Sarah Wheaton at The Caucus Blog on March 4 (go to 1:30 a.m. Update):

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, a former presidential candidate, has managed to hold off his four challengers in the Democratic primary for his seat in Ohio, including a former ally in the anti-war movement.

The best that can be said of Kucinich's 2004 run is that he posted several distant second-place finishes to John Kerry long after the Massachusetts Senator became the clear Democratic nominee. In 2008, while in some ways entertaining, Kucinich was a non-factor.

Just for good measure and old times' sake, there's this one from NPR in March 2004:

Only five African-Americans have been elected to the Senate. And only one was a woman: Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois.

..... The former presidential candidate talks about whether women leaders are held to a higher standard, in part 2 of a series on women in leadership positions.

Braun dropped her presidential bid before the first 2004 contest in Iowa.

Let's look at one more.

It is no secret that I strongly opposed Mitt Romney's candidacy, but facts are facts: Romney's 2008 performance was far superior to any of the others mentioned previously, as he won three primaries (MI, UT, MA), eight caucuses (WY, NV, ME, ND, MT, MN, CO, AK), 4.2 million votes, and 291 delegates.

So, with that in mind, take a look at how the Associated Press wrote up Saturday's Romney-related news:

The same story as headlined at CBS2.com in California reads, "Is Romney Looking To Get Mitts On The Statehouse?"

No bias in the media, eh?

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.