AP article quoted Wadhams' multiple criticisms of Democrats, omitted Democratic response

Summary: The Associated Press is the latest media outlet to provide Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams a platform for political statements without including any Democratic response for balance. An AP article -- posted on the websites of KCNC CBS4 and the Aurora Sentinel & Daily Sun -- reported Wadhams' comments on the GOP's 2006 losses and Democrats' chances of success in 2008 in the West.

An Associated Press article posted on the KCNC CBS4 website on June 26 and on the Aurora Sentinel & Daily Sun website on June 25 reported several criticisms of Democrats by Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams, but failed to include a single Democratic response. The AP quoted Wadhams as saying, "I don't think Democrats really won the 2006 elections ... They were just standing there." The article further reported Wadhams' assertion that "whoever the Democrats nominate for the presidency in 2008, he or she will not be popular in the West and showcasing that person in Denver will hurt Democratic candidates in the region."

The AP article is the latest example of the news media providing Wadhams a platform for political statements without including commentary from Democratic lawmakers or party officials, as Colorado Media Matters has noted repeatedly (here, here, here, and here).

From the Associated Press article "Wadhams: Dems didn't win 2006 election, GOP lost":

HELENA, Mont. -- Republicans themselves brought on the whipping they suffered in the 2006 elections, Colorado state GOP chairman Dick Wadahms said in appearances in Montana.

"I don't think Democrats really won the 2006 elections," said Wadhams, who spoke to the Montana Republican Party convention and Lee Newspapers of Montana on Friday. "They were just standing there. We didn't deserve to win in 2006."

Wadhams is a former campaign director and staff member for Conrad Burns, who represented Montana in the U.S. Senate but lost a re-election bid in November.

Wadhams said that in political terms, 2006 is comparable to 1974, the year voters nationwide rejected Republicans after the Watergate scandal.

The defeats of 1974 refocused the GOP and eventually led to the rise of Ronald Reagan, whose 1980 victory in the presidential race ushered in 25 years of mostly Republican dominance, Wadhams said.

"A drubbing like that (in 1974 or 2006) has a cleansing effect on a party," he said. "It results in new people coming in."

Republicans lost in 2006 because they forfeited their claim to fiscal responsibility, "mishandled the ethical lapses" of some members of Congress and poorly handled the aftermath of the Iraq war, Wadhams said.

He said he looks forward to the Democrats holding their 2008 presidential nominating convention in Denver, his home turf.

Wadhams said that whoever the Democrats nominate for the presidency in 2008, he or she will not be popular in the West and showcasing that person in Denver will hurt Democratic candidates in the region.

—T.S.P.