CONTAINING LINKS TO 1280 STORIES FROM THE NETWORKS' NIGHTLY NEWSCASTS
     COMMENTS: Giuliani Time

Yesterday anchor Katie Couric went through CBS' opinion poll data on the race for the Presidential nomination of each party--before telling us that her numbers were meaningless because the primary battle is decided state by state. Now Tim Russert, anchor of Meet the Press, does the same thing for NBC before confessing: "I should point out Mitt Romney is ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire" and among Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards "are dead even in Iowa." For the record, NBC's national data differ from CBS' only in assessing Fred Thompson's popularity: CBS found 21% of Republicans supporting him, NBC just 15%.

There were two pieces of campaign news concerning Rudolph Giuliani. ABC and NBC both covered his endorsement by televangelist Pat Robertson. CBS' Bob Orr reported on the looming corruption indictment of Giuliani's protege and onetime police commissioner Bernard Kerik, the man who was briefly the nominee for Homeland Security Secretary at Giuliani's urging. ABC's Jake Tapper (subscription required) took pro-life Robertson's decision to back pro-choice Giuliani as "the clearest indication yet that Christian conservatives may be more politically divided than ever before." NBC's David Gregory saw other evangelicals siding with John McCain and Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney. "If social conservatives cannot coalesce around one candidate…that allows Giuliani to ride in on a split Republican ticket," NBC's political director Chuck Todd opined.

This is the first anniversary of the midterm elections that saw Democrats gain control of both House and Senate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi bragged to CBS' Chip Reid that her party had managed to pass legislation to improve security against terrorism, to raise the minimum wage, to reform ethics rules for lobbyists, to increase student aid and to expand veterans' benefits. She conceded however, noted Reid, that Democrats "have failed on the primary reason they were elected, to end the war in Iraq."

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