CNN.com projected, unseemly early, that Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had won his re-election bid against Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Although, as we go to press, CNN is showing McConnell with 53% to Grimes's 42%, with 87% of the votes counted, virtually ensuring that McConnell will, in fact, win the race, one is left to wonder if CNN's projection was not, perhaps, a bit premature.
It has been clear for several months, that the mainstream media have been pursuing a course of badmouthing Democratic candidates with dogged determination. The snap coronation of McConnell as the winner in the Kentucky Senate race argues, circularly, that CNN indulged in a little self-congratulation by fiat: "We've been calling for McConnell to win throughout the campaign, so we're going to go ahead and make ourselves look good by declaring him the winner as soon as the polls close."* CNN could not afford to lose face, in case Grimes did pull out a victory, so they went ahead and gave their "little cock-a-doodle of victory," before the vote tally began to come in.
Candor demands the admission that Grimes cannot win election to the Senate, except in the unlikely event that 100% of the uncounted votes are for her. Sen. McConnell has won his campaign, against all objective evidence. CNN's indulgence in media-policy-driven self-congratulation did itself no favor, credibility-wise.
* Not an actual quote.
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