CBS, NBC Tout ‘Moderate’ Versus ‘Progressive’ Showdowns in MN, WI Democrat Primaries

On Tuesday, CBS Mornings and NBC’s Today had full reports previewing the day’s key Democratic Party primary elections in Minnesota and Wisconsin (plus South Carolina’s Senate Republican primary), but continued the liberal, elitist media’s pattern of underselling the radical nature of numerous Democratic candidates, opting instead to frame it as a battle between “moderates” and “progressives.”

This also marked the first time a network’s flagship morning or evening newscast referenced the communist Hong, but only NBC was able to mention any of her radical views on everything from holidays to law enforcement.

All told, CBS and NBC deployed the “moderate” moniker six times in reference to Minnesota Democratic senatorial candidate Angie Craig and Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley, and then “progressive” seven times to describe Craig opponent Peggy Flanagan and Crowley’s rival, Francesca Hong. The “socialist” label only came once on each network.

CBS Mornings actually had two segments on the primaries. The first hour’s report largely focused on the GOP primary in the South Carolina special election to replace the late senator, Lindsey Graham.

Correspondent Mark Strassmann largely focused on whether Darline Graham, the appointed-incumbent and Lindsey’s sister, could muster a victory with Trump’s endorsement and emerge from a crowded field of two sitting House members and a former governor.

He briefly touched on Minnesota and Wisconsin. In the Gopher State, he mentioned “Democrats there will pick between more moderate Congresswoman Angie Craig and progressive Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan” for a general election match-up “that could factor in the fight for control of the U.S. Senate.”

“In Wisconsin, voters are choosing their party’s candidate for governor. Democrats are picking between Democratic socialist Francesca Hong, and the establishment-backed Milwaukee County executive, David Crowley,” he added.

CBS opened the second hour with a Minnesota-focused story from Minneapolis-based correspondent Jonah Kaplan.

Featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers framed it as “one more chance for progressives and moderates to try and decide the future of their party.”

Kaplan added it is indeed a “proxy battle about the future of the party” as, “[o]n the more progressive side, you have Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan in office the last seven years” and “endorsed by some of the liberal powerhouses like Senator Bernie Sanders and Minnesota’s own Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.”

He described Craig as “the more moderate candidate...from a Trump district, endorsed by former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego.”

After one soundbite from what each of them told him, Kaplan concluded this has been “the most expensive primary in the state’s history” with the eventual winner “expected to face Republican — an outsider, but with name recognition — and that’s former network sportscaster Michelle Tafoya.”

NBC’s Today was initially about the window-dressing for their friends on the left. Co-host Savannah Guthrie stated that, “In Wisconsin and Minnesota, Democrats once again decided between moderate and progressive candidates.”

Like CBS’s Strassmann, NBC congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles was in South Carolina and front-loaded his story with the GOP race in the Palmetto State.

Pivoting to the Midwest, Nobles first zeroed in on Hong, whom he deemed “a progressive” leading in the polls, “despite a push from the more moderate wing of the party worried about her socialist views, and backlash over past social media posts calling to cancel Thanksgiving and abolish ICE, comments she’s attempted to walk back.”

He did try to tamp down on Hong, noting she’s lacked “the endorsement of prominent progressive leaders like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” as she tries to hold off the re-entry of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, backed by “the state’s popular governor, Tony Evers.”

Going to Minnesota, Nobles kept to the template the networks have used for all the other Democratic primaries, including last week in Michigan: “Meanwhile, in the Minnesota Senate primary, Democrats will pick from progressive Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and moderate Congresswoman Angie Craig.”

Two soundbites later, he concluded with more on Minnesota and South Carolina (click “expand”):

FLANAGAN: I’m fighting for the policies that I think Minnesotans really care about.

CRAIG: I’m the experienced person in Washington, who has a track record already of taking on Donald Trump.

NOBLES: The winner will face whoever emerges from the GOP primary that includes former NFL sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya, a critical seat Democrats must hold if they have hoped to retake the Senate this fall. And here in South Carolina, the polls just opened. It could be a light turnout given that this is such a unique primary. They close tonight at 7. If no candidate reaches that 50 percent threshold, there will be a runoff here two weeks from today on August 25.

On the subject of Craig being a “moderate,” a trip to the conservative Institute for Legislative Analysis scorecard would find that Craig has a score of 17.1 percent, starting in 2022, with zero percent lifetime ratings on health care and “workforce and labor,” and less than half a percent on “taxes and fiscal.” That’s despite representing a district with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+3. 

The all-too-superficial ABC’s Good Morning America ignored the primaries completely, preferring to keep their sheepish viewers in the dark.

To see the relevant transcripts from August 11, click here (for CBS) and here (for NBC).