As news networks continue to fall over themselves to praise and support Pete Buttigieg’s campaign, one ABC News anchor took things to a really awkward place on Sunday.
In an interview on ABC’s This Week, Martha Raddatz asked ‘Mayor Pete’ if running for president has been a “sexy challenge.”
Raddatz recounted an old news story from when the candidate was 18-years-old and describing his political aspirations. Speaking of national politics, Buttigieg had described it as “a sexy challenge.”
“Has it been a sexy challenge?” Raddatz asked.
“In a way,” Buttigieg responded. “If you’re a curious person, there’s nothing like it.”
“That challenge is about an engaging thing I could think to do with my life. While this may not be a career for me, it’s certainly something that has been extremely exciting for as long as I’ve been involved in it, and most importantly, I think I can make myself useful.”
The media doesn’t even appear to be hiding their favor for this candidate.
Last week, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace also let her mask of impartiality slip as she asked Buttigieg how her network can better serve him.
“Play media critic, what can we do better, those of us trying to cover your candidacies, from very far away from where the first votes will be cast in Iowa and New Hampshire,” Wallace asked, getting a chuckle out of the failed senate candidate.
While the media may love O’Rourke, it seems as though their party’s base have little interest in his campaign.
According to a report from Forbes, CNN’s town hall event with O’Rourke actually dragged their ratings down 30%.
“CNN’s ratings delivery was down nearly 30% compared to its average Tuesday night, which over the last few months has typically reached more than one million viewers. O’Rourke even failed to exceed the audience that watched a CNN town hall featuring third-tier candidate John Hickenlooper, which drew 745,000 viewers in March. The lowest-rated town hall so far this cycle was CNN’s event with Julian Castro, which reached just 654,000 viewers in April,” the Forbes report explained.
A recent poll found that only 2% of voters are sold on the Texan. The Monmouth University poll of likely 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary voters had him in sixth place in the crowded candidate field.
