The stunning performance of Jack Ciattarelli (Republican gubernatorial Candidate) stunned both the media and politics on Tuesday. As of 8:30 AM on Wednesday, Jack Ciattarelli leads incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy 49.7 to 49.6. You could say that he beat the corrupt press, regardless of the final outcome.
ABC, CBS and NBC buried the race and, over five months, only ONCE even uttered the name Ciattarelli on their morning or evening newscasts.
Ciattarelli won the Republican nomination on June 8, 2021 and the total coverage over the next 153 days (before Tuesday night), is a scant 50 seconds. (33.9 seconds on CBS, 11 minutes on ABC.
Emerson’s October 18 poll showed that the race was at six points. This is down from August’s 16-point lead. An October 31 Trafalgar survey put it even closer, just four points. The networks knew it was close, but they didn’t realize that. If journalists had done their job and covered this tight race, Ciattarelli would have enjoyed greater name ID and performed even better.
The mentions of New Jersey’s race at all were scant and you’d have to listen closely to even know there was a contest. The October 26, 2021 CBS Mornings, co-host Nate Burleson briefly noted, “[Joe Biden]Promotion of the [infrastructure] plan yesterday where in New Jersey, the state’s Democratic governor is running for a second term.”
Who is running for the second term? Burleson didn’t say.
On that same show, reporter Ed O’Keefe vaguely alluded to the Emerson poll saying that Biden’s Democratic Party is “locked in two competitive governors races in usually reliably blue states.” If you squinted real hard on CBS, you would see Ciattarelli in a tiny box in the bottom right corner of the screen. But his name never came up in the 32 second segment. (See the image.)
Dienstag, CBS Mornings journalist Major Garrett conceded the liberal nervousness. He talked about the race for seven seconds: “The other thing I’m keeping an eye on is the New Jersey governor’s race. It shouldn’t be. You would be wrong to think it’s closer, given the history of New Jersey.”
If it’s “close” and “closer than you think,” maybe talk about the race, who the candidates are, and what they stand for? Given that incumbent Murphy has a nursing homes death scandal similar to New York’s Andrew Cuomo, perhaps we can guess at the reason for the near-silence.
Two days prior to the election, Halloween night was celebrated World News Tonight reporter Kenneth Moton broke the network stranglehold and finally said Ciattarelli’s name: “Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states to hold their race for governor in the year after the presidential election. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy leads his effort to re-elect himself. Jack Ciattarelli, Republican challenger”
That mention of New Jersey added an additional 11 seconds, bringing the grand total to 50 seconds. Up until election day, if Americans wanted to hear from Ciattarelli, they had to turn to Fox. He appeared, for instance on the October 28th program. The Ingraham AngleAnd on Saturday, Cavuto Live
On Wednesday, the day after the election, Ed O’Keefe on CBS seemed stunned: “Some early polls have Murphy ahead by up on double digits making the razor-thin margins a major disappointment for Democrats and possibly a blueprint for Republicans looking ahead.” On NBC’s Today, Savannah Guthrie marveled, “In a surprise, the governor’s race in New Jersey too close to call.” On Good Morning America, Janai Norman was shocked: “Way closer than expected.”
While it was surprising to some, not all Americans found this shocking. Conservatives, Republicans and Democrats across America have been exuberant to vote in support of Joe Biden’s liberal agenda. Just imagine how Ciattarelli might have done if he was granted more than 50 seconds from the Democrat-protecting media.
