Prometheus 6

In a statement, David Rhodes, a vice president of Fox News, said: "News organizations will want to think twice before getting involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus, which appears to be controlled by radical fringe out-of-state interest groups, not the Nevada Democratic Party."

News organizations will have no problem with the Nevada Democratic Party. Call back when you become one.

Nevada Democrats Drop Debate
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 10, 2007; A05

The Nevada Democratic Party canceled yesterday an August debate in Reno it had been scheduled to co-sponsor with Fox News, after weeks of complaints from liberal groups and a controversial remark by the network's chairman.

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes said Thursday while accepting an award from the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation: "It is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?' "

Democrats said the comment, which referred to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, likened Obama, a senator from Illinois, to Osama bin Laden.

Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Tom Collins, chairman of the Nevada Democratic Party, released a letter to the network that said Ailes "went too far." "We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend such comments," the two added. [P6: Any excuse in a storm...]

Long before Ailes's remark, Fox News's sponsorship of the Reno debate among presidential contenders had become a major controversy. The liberal activist group MoveOn.org had been circulating a petition that called on party officials to drop Fox News, calling it a "mouthpiece" for Republicans. Former senator John Edwards (N.C.), a 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, had said he would not participate in the debate.