Read More of the Same Day's Blog

It was rehearsal day. All three broadcast networks showed off their news divisions' Election HQ on the campaign's final day as they expanded their nightly newscasts to an hour and gave their Electoral College state-by-state colored maps a dry run. Democratic candidate Barack Obama was selected as the lead on all three newscasts--but it was legitimate journalism not favoritism that guided their decision to give him precedence over Republican John McCain. Madelyn Dunham, the 86-year-old who had raised her grandson Barack for much of his youth, died of cancer in Hawaii. The bereaved Obama continued barnstorming anyway and that poignant contrast was the Story of the Day. Tyndall Report, for the sake of consistency in our database, monitors just the first half hour of each newscast here.

Obama issued a formal statement calling his grandmother "the cornerstone of our family and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength and humility." ABC's Jake Tapper quoted from the interview with Obama by his network's Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts when he visited Dunham just eleven days ago. He used the same words: "She really has been one of the cornerstones of my life and she has been a remarkable woman."

As for how affecting it was to see the candidate continue campaigning despite his grief, who can tell? NBC's Lee Cowan saw stoicism: "The strain on him showed only once for a brief moment," when Obama mistook Florida for Ohio. CBS' Dean Reynolds saw emotionalism: "He soldiered on" with "a heavy heart" and a "grim look." It was "clearly a bittersweet day."

CBS' Katie Couric became the third of the broadcast network anchors to air an extended interview with Obama during the nightly newscasts. She mentioned that she sought a similar sitdown with Republican John McCain but he "declined our invitation." ABC's Charles Gibson aired his in two parts (here and here) last Wednesday; NBC's Brian Williams divided his into a two-parter last Thursday and Friday. Couric asked Obama--as Gibson and Williams had before--about the dangers, should he be elected, of "overreach" by an "unbridled, unchecked, filibusterproof Democratic majority." Obama demurred at the question: "I think it is important to point out that the critics who make this claim are Republicans."

"If things go your way," Couric inquired, what will that mean to you personally?" "This overwhelming feeling of humility and gratitude," the candidate answered, "where you say: 'Boy! I had better come through for folks if I win this thing because they really need it."


Andrew Tyndall 11/10/08 5:20:22 pm

© 2010 Tyndall Report