On Tuesday’s CBS This Morning, Nancy Cordes sat down with a group of Iowa Democrats, including Sean Bagniewski, a man featured in Hillary Clinton’s online campaign announcement video, to promote her presidential prospects in the Hawkeye state.
While Cordes beamed that one of her guests must have loved seeing himself in Clinton’s video, she failed to mention that Bagniewski is in fact a Democratic politician who recently ran for a seat on the Des Moines City Council. Instead of mentioning this detail, Cordes merely portrayed him as an ordinary Democratic voter who “has been a Clinton fan since fifth grade.”
Cordes explained that while in Iowa “it's possible that Clinton will do more listening than speaking. The event is billed as a roundtable discussion. As you pointed out, her 1,000 mile road trip turned out to be remarkably low key, she only sent one lone tweet, and she’s pulling into Iowa with no fanfare.”
She went on to highlight Clinton’s stop at Chipotle, before Cordes sat down with five Democrats in Iowa who were “such active volunteers for President Obama’s reelection...They earned the nickname Obamadale. Some of them are ready for Hillary.”
After she spoke to one Democratic voter who advised Hillary to learn from her last trip to Iowa and do more “listening” rather than talking during her campaign stop she then spoke to Bagniewski about his cameo in Clinton’s campaign video:
CORDES: Attorney Sean Bagniewski was in the video, along with his wife and his dog.
BAGNIEWSKI: We really just want to teach our dog to quit eating the trash.
CORDES: He says it was filmed a month and a half ago. And is he still eating the trash?
BAGNIEWSKI: He still is.
Rather than acknowledge her guest’s role in Democratic politics, Cordes simply noted that he’s been a Clinton fan for years but “still hopes other Democrats get in the race, including former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb.”
Cordes never bothered to ask her panel of Democratic voters their thoughts on Clinton’s recent scandals and how that might impact their potential support for her candidacy. Instead, she chose to promote the left’s concern that Hillary may have no serious Democratic primary challenger:
This, after all, is a state where voters like to meet their candidates again and again. And voters we’ve spoken to still don’t rule out the possibility that Clinton's Democratic competition could come out of nowhere, Gayle. They point out that at this point in 2007, a lot of people hadn't heard of Barack Obama either.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
April 14, 2015
CHARLIE ROSE: The only Democrat in the race is campaigning this morning in Iowa. Hillary Clinton is there after a 1,000-mile road trip from her New York home. When she stopped in Ohio Monday, a group of people did not seem to recognize her. Nancy Cordes is in Monticello, Iowa, Clinton's first campaign stop of the day. Nancy, good morning.
NANCY CORDES: Good morning to you. She's going to be meeting with students and educators at this community college and it's possible that Clinton will do more listening than speaking. The event is billed as a roundtable discussion. As you pointed out, her 1,000 mile road trip turned out to be remarkably low key, she only sent one lone tweet, and she’s pulling into Iowa with no fanfare. Clinton only surfaced once Monday in a Chipotle in Maumee, Ohio, where security video shows her ordering lunch. Today she begins to reintroduce herself to Iowa voters. [To roundtable] How many of you were Clinton supporters in 2008?
UNKNOWN WOMAN: I was.
CORDES: Two of you .We met up with five Democrats in Beaverdale, Iowa. They and their neighbors were such active volunteers for President Obama's reelection –
BARACK OBAMA: It is good to be back in Iowa!
CORDES: They earned the nickname Obamadale. Some of them are ready for Hillary.
UNKNOWN MAN: I think she’s well-qualified to be president.
CORDES: Others are still on the fence.
KIMBERLY BOGGUS: My hope is that in this cycle Hillary has learned from some of those past mistakes. Listen more. Talk less. And that's what the president is.
CORDES: What do you think about the way she announced her campaign?
HILLARY CLINTON: I'm getting ready to do something, too. I'm running for president.
CORDES: I know you liked it.
SEAN BAGNIEWSKI [sic]: I liked it a lot.
CORDES: Attorney Sean Bagniewski was in the video, along with his wife and his dog.
BAGNIEWSKI: We really just want to teach our dog to quit eating the trash.
CORDES: He says it was filmed a month and a half ago. And is he still eating the trash?
BAGNIEWSKI: He still is.
CORDES: Bagniewski has been a Clinton fan since fifth grade. But he still hopes other Democrats get in the race, including former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb. Do you want more Democratic candidates in field?
ROUNDTABLE: Yes.
BAGNIEWSKI: I think it's better for the candidates, better for the voters to get the whole array of opinions and I think it's better for Iowa.
CORDES: This, after all, is a state where voters like to meet their candidates again and again. And voters we’ve spoken to still don’t rule out the possibility that Clinton's Democratic competition could come out of nowhere, Gayle. They point out that at this point in 2007, a lot of people hadn't heard of Barack Obama either.
GAYLE KING: That's very true. Thank you, Nancy.
