The first 15 minutes of Paula Zahn's nightly show on CNN was not what I have been seeing. It had a distinctly different tone, slightly anti-Bush, although not really pro-Kerry.
The lead story was "over 100,000" Kerry supporters showing up in Philly. Lots of video of Clinton. True, they suggested that much of the crowd was really there to see Clinton, but having the Big Dog behind him can only help Kerry. There was also good Kerry footage, in which he went through a litany of ways in which Bush has put the troops in greater danger, and said he had "failed the test of Commander in Chief."
There was a clip of Bush, which was very unmemorable, and they said he'd changed his speech. Which sort of implies his message wasn't working.
Then Zahn had a fairly confrontational interview with Kay Baily Hutchinson. Sample questions: "How can the Vice President call the war in Iraq a success?" "The IAEA warned us specifically about that weapons cache, and it wasn't protected. Who is to blame for this failure?" Most of her replies to Hutchinson started with "But...."
Next up was Joseph Biden, who basically went on a rant about how Bush has screwed up the war in Iraq by not providing enough troops and by refusing the requests of his own military leaders. The only thing Zahn pressed him about was why Kerry's "good leader in the war against terror" numbers aren't closing in on Bush's rating in that area. It was actually great that she repeated this question at least three times, because the clear implication was that Bush is a lousy commander in chief and the numbers don't make sense. Biden said he had no idea why Kerry's numbers weren't better.
The only frustration was the Gallup poll results which were briefly flashed: Bush 51 Kerry 46. Obviously bullshit, and Zahn naturally provided no caveats.
All in all I felt like I was watching Jim Lehrer, moreso than CNN.
Not that Lehrer is all one might wish.