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Tracking the Presidential Candidates' Public Profiles
Nine candidates are currently running for the Democratic nomination for President. The media wield incredible power, determining which candidates get almost daily coverage and which candidates are rarely even mentioned. NOW took three of the most-read newspapers in the country and searched for the names of the nine candidates over the last six months. Carol Moseley Braun, despite her vast political experience, is dead last in each tally. The media, in effect, relegated her to also-ran status based not on her newsworthiness, platform or credentials but on status quo assumptions.
Despite the media's failure to fully inform the public about all nine candidates and their campaigns, Moseley Braun is polling respectably among voters—the people who count. NOW took a look at three recent polls and found Moseley Braun running in the middle of the pack—a direct contradiction to her profile in the mainstream press. Compare these two sets of numbers and ask yourself if the only African American woman running for President is being treated fairly and equally by the media.
Media Coverage:
(The number of times the candidates' names came up in a Nexis database search, March 14-Sept. 14, 2003)
The New York Times
Howard Dean: 185
John Kerry: 153
John Edwards: 139
Dick Gephardt: 126
Joseph Lieberman: 116
Bob Graham: 93
Al Sharpton: 75
Dennis Kucinich: 54
Carol Moseley Braun: 33
Washington Post
Dean: 283
Gephardt: 223
Edwards: 208
Graham: 178
Kerry: 112
Kucinich: 111
Sharpton: 91
Lieberman: 77
Moseley Braun: 66
USA Today
Kerry: 98
Dean: 87
Gephardt: 86
Lieberman: 81
Edwards: 79
Graham: 77
Kucinich: 38
Sharpton: 32
Moseley Braun: 28
Public Polling:
ABC News Poll
Sept. 10-13, 2003
(% of registered Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents nationwide)
Joseph Lieberman: 21
Howard Dean: 15
John Kerry: 14
Richard Gephardt: 14
Al Sharpton: 5
Carol Moseley Braun: 4
John Edwards: 3
Bob Graham: 3
Dennis Kucinich: 2
FOX News Poll
Sept. 9-10, 2003
(% registered Democrats nationwide)
Kerry: 17
Lieberman: 16
Dean: 14
Gephardt: 6
Edwards: 4
Moseley Braun: 3
Graham: 3
Kucinich: 2
Sharpton: 2
USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll
Aug. 25-26, 2003
(% of registered Democrats and Democratic leaners nationwide)
Lieberman: 23
Gephardt: 13
Dean: 12
Kerry: 10
Moseley Braun: 5
Edwards: 5
Graham: 4
Sharpton: 4
Kucinich: 1
Posted Sept. 15, 2003
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