***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***
Seemingly finished with reporting on the alleged racism and sexism controversies of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tuesday, ABC’s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News took to touting his rise in the polls and subsequent qualification for the Democratic debate in Nevada. It had CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell marveling at how Bloomberg's “surge” in the polls puts him in “second place” nationally and “puts him over the top” to get on the stage.
“He's not competing in Nevada, but Bloomberg will be on the debate state here against five rivals who’ve been debating for months,” CBS correspondent Nikole Killion noted at the top of her report. She later added: “Bloomberg has spent $415 million of his own money on ads, and it's paying off. In the super Tuesday state of Virginia, has now tied for the lead with Bernie Sanders.”
Killion also highlighted an extremely vague warning from of damaging dirt the Bloomberg campaign supposedly had on Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT):
On Twitter, Bloomberg's campaign manager warned today, “the opposition research against the democratic socialist is damaging, perhaps even disqualifying.”
[Cuts back to live]
Tonight the Bloomberg campaign isn't saying what information it has that could be disqualifying and the Sanders campaign isn't commenting, although aides have privately expressed concern that Bloomberg could be their most formidable opponent.
There was no mention of Bloomberg’s stop and frisk policy, accusations of sexism at his company, nor his condescending dismissal of the plight of American farmers.
(...)