Recently, I noted an article published in the Los Angeles Times about corporate lobbyists "cashing in" on Thune's victory that simply ignored the fact that Thune's opponent collected three times more corporate money than Thune. Excerpt from the LAT:
The greatest contribution of Washington-based business organizations, however, was the on-the-ground effort for candidates in hard-fought congressional races.
Nowhere was this more dramatically displayed than in South Dakota, where Republican Congressman John Thune defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Washington business lobbyists made an extraordinary effort to usher Daschle from power.
Um, Washington business lobbyists made an extraordinary effort to keep Daschle in power, too. According to a May 5, 2004 story in Roll Call headlined "PAC Dollars Favor Daschle," Daschle "raised more than three times as much money for his re-election bid from U.S. corporations as former Rep. John Thune (R), his pro-business opponent."
If Daschle had won, I doubt the LAT would be writing stories about corporate interests "cashing in" on his victory. It seems to me that the LAT reporter here fell victim to his preconceived notions about the GOP and missed a rather important fact about the corporate interests opposed to Thune.
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