ABC Devotes 64 Minutes to Dem White House Contenders; Zero For GOP

On Monday’s "Good Morning America," ABC devoted 38 minutes of air time to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards in a town hall special. This is in addition to the over 26 minutes they provided fellow ‘08 contender Hillary Clinton back in March. That’s a grand total of 64 minutes of publicity for Democratic candidates and zero for Republicans.

Now, to be fair to "Good Morning America," GMA host Diane Sawyer did ask tougher, harsher questions than her colleague Robin Roberts did when she interviewed Senator Clinton on March 26. However during the July 16 program, Sawyer found no time to ask Edwards about the hateful anti-Christian bloggers that the campaign hired, and then was forced to fire, earlier this year. Instead, the ABC anchor did manage these tough queries:

Diane Sawyer: "What’s the worst meal you’ve had on the road?"

....

Sawyer: "Do you listen to an iPod? Does it relax you on the road?"

(What is it with Sawyer and iPods? She asked Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad a similar question.)

GMA must address this fundamental problem: Their 2008 town hall segment kicked off nearly four months ago and they have yet to feature a single Republican. Is Mitt Romney not interested? Would Senator John McCain, whose White House bid is low on cash, turn down free air time? If ABC is truly interested in a balanced look at campaign ‘08, the network needs to answer this objection.

[Special thanks to MRC intern Michael Lanza for transcribing parts of the Edwards special.]