After filing a gooey piece on Hillary Clinton, Monday’s NBC Nightly News also gave airtime to the Republican field, but only in the context of attacking 2016 candidate Carly Fiorina over campaign debt she recently finished paying off from her failed 2010 Senate campaign (despite the fact that she’s far from the first to have debt).
Anchor Lester Holt teed up correspondent Hallie Jackson’s report by first mentioning that Fiorina comes in second in the latest New Hampshire poll and third in Iowa but the former Hewlett-Packard CEO “had money issues to clear up before taking another shot at elected office” and follows the pattern of “many candidates who have run for office in the past.”
Jackson picked up from there and lamented that Fiorina had spent the past five years since her loss to Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer (Calif.) having penned a book, “led several charities, and bought a house” but not “[i]mmediately pay her half million dollar campaign debt.”
Continuing to slam Fiorina, Jackson complained that this decision had left “people like Joyce Shoemate hanging” because her husband and “Fiorina strategist died before the election, but his last paycheck, $30,000, only arrived this January.”
Only after a soundbite from her former campaign manager did Jackson mention that her segment follows in the footsteps of a Washington Post article harping on this story with Fiorina firing back on Monday afternoon: “All of our debt was paid off and everybody was paid in full. So, once again, The Washington Post doesn't have a lot of credibility here.”
Further undermining her hit on Fiorina was this admission on how long previous presidential candidates possessed debt of their own:
Fiorina finally cleared her old debt this year. Her campaign pointing out it took Hillary Clinton four years to pay off her debt. It’s not unusual to take a while to settle up, took Mitt Romney three years, John Kerry nearly two, [and] Newt Gingrich still owes money[.]
Nonetheless, Jackson tried to distinguish Fiorina by stating that it’s Fiorina who’s “now lighting up the polls, facing a more tense spotlight about her failed 2010 Senate run.”
With Boxer’s victory over Fiorina five years ago, Jackson closed with this quip: “For Fiorina’s rivals, that blue state battle, possibly a blue print for how to win now.”
The transcript of the segment from October 5's NBC Nightly News can be found below.
NBC Nightly News
October 5, 2015
7:13 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: On the Defensive]
LESTER HOLT: On the Republican side, Carly Fiorina is now running second in New Hampshire and third in Iowa in our newest polling, but like many candidates who have run for office in the past, Fiorina had money issues to clear up before taking another shot at elected office. NBC's Hallie Jackson explains.
HALLIE JACKSON: In the five years since losing her California Senate race, Carly Fiorina wrote a book, led several charities, and bought a house. What she didn't do? Immediately pay her half million dollar campaign debt, leaving people like Joyce Shoemate hanging. Shoemate’s husband, a Carly Fiorina strategist died before the election, but his last paycheck, $30,000, only arrived this January.
FORMER FIORINA SENATE CAMPAIGN MANAGER MARTY WILSON: Well, she had several conversations after the election about the campaign debt and she acknowledged it was there and I think she needed time to sort through the best way to address it.
JACKSON: Fiorina today firing back at the story first reported by The Washington Post.
CARLY FIORINA: All of our debt was paid off and everybody was paid in full. So, once again, The Washington Post doesn't have a lot of credibility here.
JACKSON: Fiorina finally cleared her old debt this year. Her campaign pointing out it took Hillary Clinton four years to pay off her debt. It’s not unusual to take a while to settle up, took Mitt Romney three years, John Kerry nearly two, Newt Gingrich still owes money, but it’s Fiorina now lighting up the polls, facing a more tense spotlight about her failed 2010 Senate run.
FIORINA: It was a fight worth having. This race I intend to win.
JACKSON: Defeated then by Barbara Boxer and her expensive attack ad campaign –
NARRATOR OF BOXER AD [in 10/2010]: She laid off 30,000 workers.
JACKSON: For Fiorina’s rivals, that blue state battle, possibly a blue print for how to win now. Hallie Jackson, NBC News, Washington.
