ABC's Hastert Huff Drew Much Better Placement Than Democrat's Freezer-Cash Story

As we wait for ABC to retract its strange Wednesday night leadoff story asserting Speaker Dennis Hastert was "included" in a federal bribery probe (and ex-Clinton flack George Stephanopoulos called it "potentially seismic"), it is quite obvious there is some serious liberal bias by placement here. The Hastert claims led "World News Tonight" on Wednesday. But what about Monday night, when ABC's Jake Tapper had the story on the FBI finding $90,000 in a Democratic congressman's freezer?

Monday night's broadcast didn't get to Congressman William Jefferson until 20 minutes into the show, with no promotion at the show's beginning. The program began with anchor Elizabeth Vargas promoting four other stories: identity theft against veterans, hurricane forecasts, the health of race horse Barbaro, and a segment on back pain.

Since it came after potential hurricanes and ailing race horses, Vargas did promote it as coming up at about 11 minutes in and 18 minutes in. Tapper's story was pretty straightforward, but it didn't feature Stephanopoulos showing up to declare it "potentially seismic." At the story's end, Tapper noted Democrats are already seeking someone else to run for Jefferson's seat, but no real mention that Democrats have been trying to run against a "Republican culture of corruption" in the mid-term elections.