General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders: “If I were to run for president, do you know how much money the Kochs would spend? [View all]merrily
(45,251 posts)We can find links to support all that.
The DNC's adverse rulings on a state or two didn't hurt Obama, either.
And I had the feeling at least MSNBC was pulling for Obama as nominee, too.
I don't know about the networks. It was pretty clear they were not for Dean in 2004, but I did not notice anything blatant on behalf of Obama in 2008. However, some program recently re-ran the reaction from media after Obama's 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention that nominated Kerry. They guys in the news booths (forgot who they were) didn't even let him finish before they started saying he'd be President. It was a great speech, yes, but I don't recall news people going from "Who is this guy?" to "Oval Office" on the basis of one speech.
What also helped, Bush's entire administration and global economic collapse in June 2008. That trumped any October surprise I can recall.
As far as the losers on the Republican side, I don't know who picked them.