On Thursday’s network evening programs, ABC’s World News Tonight was the only newscast to make no mention of the 5:00 p.m. EDT debate between the bottom seven Republican presidential contenders ahead of the 9:00 p.m. EDT event featuring the top ten candidates. In addition, the CBS Evening News skipped Carly Fiorina’s attack on fellow candidate Donald Trump for his phone call with Bill Clinton.
Instead, ABC devoted its three minutes and 54 seconds of coverage to the lead debate and the front-runner in Trump. Correspondent Tom Llamas was there as Trump landed in Cleveland, asking him if it was “true you did not prepare” for the debate to which the billionaire responded that had “been preparing all my life.”
Llamas also tracked down Jeb Bush after he attended midday Mass, wondering if he’s “nervous” because “[i]t’s been awhile since you’ve been on the debate stage.” After brief nods to Republican Governors Scott Walker (Wisc.) and Chris Christie (N.J.), the focus was back on Trump and Bush for the duration of Llamas’ report and then analysis from chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl and analyst Matthew Dowd.
On the CBS Evening News, correspondent Major Garrett devoted the first portion of his segment from Cleveland to Trump, but then referenced the first debate:
Earlier, seven other Republicans met on the same stage for what South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham called the happy hour debate. In the Fox News forum, Graham had sobering words about the fight against ISIS.
Along with a soundbite from Graham, Garrett reported that “[f]ormer Texas Governor Rick Perry took aim at Trump” before playing a clip of Perry throwing his latest bomb in The Apprentice host’s direction: “I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism.”
Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt began the newscast by observing that “Trump has defied the pundits and soared to the top of the polls and stayed there” with “so much interest in today’s Republican debates in Cleveland.” Noting to the audience that he uttered the word “debates” and not “debate,” Holt reminded them that Fox News divided the 17 candidates into the two separate events.
Reporting from outside Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, national correspondent Peter Alexander invoked Fiorina’s jab at Trump in the context of other candidates trying to stand out from the real estate mogul:
The test for Trump’s opponents: How did they get attention? Especially, the bottom seven relegated to the sparsely-attended second tier debate that just ended. Early on, Carly Fiorina attacked Trump for seeking advice from Bill Clinton.
Alexander then played the clip of Fiorina’s line: “I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't.”
Near the end of his story, Alexander shed light on why the crowd at the first debate was so sparse:
Peppered with questions about the small afternoon audience, late tonight Republican leaders say that Fox News restricted access to the candidate's friends and family only, but they insist there will be roughly 5,000 people in attendance here at the Quicken Loans Arena here tonight.
Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd joined Holt afterward and gave credence to the prevailing notion that being in the first debate was not the preferred event to have been invited to:
First of all, let's put to rest one piece of conventional wisdom that was developing, that the idea of being in the first debate might be more beneficial somehow than being involved in a debate with Donald Trump. That turned out not to be the case. I think being relegated to the second debate is not healthy for those campaigns no matter how hard they tried[.]
