Worried Whitman Might Win, Colorado's Bennet 'Deserves To,' Chafee a 'Voice for Reason'

This weekend's Inside Washington put on full display the liberal sensibilities of the Washington press corps as Newsweek veteran Evan Thomas yearned for a win in Colorado for incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, "a good guy," wishing "sometimes justice does triumph," and former Wall Street Journal reporter Jeanne Cummings, now with Politico, was upset Republican Meg Whitman might win the California gubernatorial race: "She's built a turn-out operation of her own and it worries me."

Thomas soon hailed Lincoln Chafee, the ex-Republican who campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008 and is now an independent candidate for Governor in Rhode Island, as "a tiny little ray of hope" since he's the kind of "liberal Republican" which "did the Republican Party a lot of good." Despite the fact he abandoned the GOP, Thomas trumpeted him as "a voice for reason in the Republican Party."

(Inside Washington is a weekly show produced by ABC's Washington, DC affiliate, which airs it Sunday morning after it runs Friday night on DC's PBS affiliate, WETA-TV channel 26, and Saturday on local cable's TBD TV.)

Last month: "Evan Thomas on Ending Bush Tax Rates: 'God Knows the Federal Government Desperately Needs that Revenue'"

From the October 29 Inside Washington:

EVAN THOMAS:

It's possible that voters will actually recognize that Bennet's a good guy, deserves to be there. I mean, you know, sometimes justice does triumph.... He's a tiny little ray of hope. He's a moderate Republican, actually a liberal Republican, a type that used to exist - I think did the Republican Party a lot of good, virtually extinct. He was, himself, swept out of office. Now he's coming back now maybe because as Jeanne says, Rhode Island's a funny state, small state and they all remember the Chafees and they know what a great family it is. But still, he is a voice for reason in the Republican Party."

JEANNE CUMMINGS, Assistant Managing Editor of Politico:

She has spent $165 million or so, Meg Whitman, of her own money. She's built a turn-out operation of her own and it worries me. With races that are tight, if she's got a good machine.

- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.