If it’s Sunday, it’s time to advance liberal hopes. NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd and ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos both opened by plugging segments which forwarded the hope liberal Democratic dreams are becoming reality.
“Some Americans suddenly saying tax cutting has gone too far,” NBC host Chuck Todd announced, leading into a soundbite from a man in Kansas: “It’s been a train wreck.” Todd picked up: “Could Republicans now become the victims of a new anti anti-tax fever?”
Over on This Week, ABC’s announcer trumpeted: “And midterm shake-up. Surprising new twists in key Senate races. Is Republican momentum stalling? Why the Senate is still up for grabs.”
Both subsequent segments focused on Kansas. On Meet the Press, after a field report on how Republicans in Kansas think the state tax cuts, backed by Republican Governor Sam Brownback, went too far, American for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist faced off against liberal writer Thomas Frank.
On ABC, Stephanopolous set up a roundtable segment by highlighting how Republican Senator Pat Roberts has fallen behind in Kansas and how the FiveThirtyEight blog has reduced, by four points, the likelihood Republicans will win enough Senate seats to take control of the chamber.
— Brent Baker is the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Follow Brent Baker on Twitter. [1]