CNN's Situation Room ignored McCain's missed votes in back-to-back segments

Repeating an earlier report on Senate votes missed by Sen. Barack Obama, CNN's Jessica Yellin again failed to note that Republican Sen. John McCain has missed more votes than Obama -- as well as any other senator who is running for president and all but one currently serving senator -- since Congress convened in January. Yellin's report was followed by another by correspondent Susan Candiotti that referenced McCain's ridiculing of an earmark for a museum at the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival; Candiotti did not note that McCain missed the vote on the earmark he criticized.


During the 7 p.m. ET hour of the November 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin reported on the votes Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has missed while campaigning for president, saying that he “has missed the most votes of any of the Democratic presidential candidates, nearly 80 percent since September,” and adding: “The others don't have great voting records, either.” But, as Media Matters for America noted when Yellin's report first aired, Yellin left out the fact that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) -- the only current Republican presidential candidate who is a sitting U.S. senator -- had missed more votes than any other senator since Congress convened in January (with the exception of Sen. Tim Johnson [D-SD], who spent months recuperating from a brain hemorrhage). Immediately following Yellin's report came a segment by national correspondent Susan Candiotti on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's (R) recent comments about the Republican presidential field. The report included a clip of McCain ridiculing an earmark requested by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), as well as a clip of Bush praising McCain's attack. However, despite CNN's having just reported on Obama's missed votes moments earlier, Candiotti did not mention that, as The Washington Post noted, McCain “missed the vote on the earmark” that he criticized Clinton for sponsoring.

Candiotti's omission constituted at least the fourth time in two weeks that CNN has reported McCain's comments on the earmark without noting that he missed the vote.

The earmark supported by Clinton and Schumer sought to provide $1 million for Museum at Bethel Woods, which, according to its website, is located “at the site of the original 1969 Woodstock Festival” in Bethel, New York. McCain signed on as a co-sponsor to an amendment to redirect the $1 million in funding away from the museum. However, McCain was one of six senators to miss the October 18 vote to “table” -- or kill -- the amendment to remove the earmark. The motion to table the amendment failed by a vote of 52-42, and the Senate subsequently passed the amendment by unanimous consent.

Yellin's report on Obama's missed votes first aired on the 4 p.m. ET hour of the November 2 edition of The Situation Room. The segment also appeared on the November 2 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight. Further, Candiotti's report on Bush's praise of the GOP candidates first aired on the 5 p.m. ET hour of the November 2 Situation Room.

From the 7 p.m. ET hour of the November 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BLITZER: Presidential candidates who serve in Congress have been known to miss a vote or two on the Senate or the House floor. But one Democrat apparently has been a no-show more than most this fall. Let's turn to our congressional correspondent, Jessica Yellin. She's keeping tabs on the candidates' voting records. Jessica, Barack Obama -- I take it he's missed some votes lately?

YELLIN: He sure has, Wolf. And it's not just how many votes but which ones. Senator Obama skipped a vote on a big issue that he's made into a key part of his campaign.

[begin video clip]

YELLIN: It's become one of the most consistent themes of Barack Obama's campaign: slamming Senator Clinton for her vote on an Iran amendment. He claims it empowers the president to attack Iran.

OBAMA: This kind of resolution does not send the right signal to the region; it doesn't send the right signal to our allies or our enemies.

YELLIN: But Barack Obama never voted on that amendment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Obama.

YELLIN: While Hillary Clinton was voicing her support for it, Senator Obama was campaigning in New Hampshire. Obama's campaign says he didn't get enough notice to make it back to the Senate in time, but Clinton and the other Democratic senators running for president did make the vote. In fact, since returning from the August recess, Senator Obama has missed the most votes of any of the Democratic presidential candidates, nearly 80 percent since September. The others don't have great voting records, either.

According to the Obama campaign, he has made the most important votes, including on Iraq and key domestic priorities. He canceled an appearance on The View to cast a crucial vote on the children's heath insurance measure. And, his campaign says, if you consider the entire year, Senators [Joe] Biden [D-DE] and [Chris] Dodd [D-CT] have been absent more often.

STU ROTHENBERG: I think most Americans understand that if you're running for president, you're going to have to be in Iowa, New Hampshire, and you're not going to make all the votes -- and they give candidates slack.

YELLIN: But facing a mounting fight with the White House over key bills, [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-NV] is putting all the contenders on notice.

REID: I'm going to leave here and go call our presidentials and let them know that they better look at their schedules because these are not votes you can miss.

[end video clip]

YELLIN: Now, Wolf, on the vote on that Iran amendment, two senior Senate Democratic aides tell CNN that, contrary to what the Obama campaign says, all Democratic senators were advised that the vote was coming the next day. They were given notice the night before. And Obama would have gone to New Hampshire knowing that that vote was coming and he would miss it. But the Obama campaign maintains he simply did not have enough time to come back and make that vote -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you, Jessica. Jessica's on the Hill.

Presidential candidates in Congress usually do have a heads-up that a big vote is coming so they can plan their schedules around it if they want. On the day of the vote, members of both chambers get about a 15-minute warning. When the vote begins, lights flash on the clocks inside the Capitol and bells start ringing. Members get electronic pages or email as well to let them know a vote is under way.

The president's brother, the former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, is breaking his silence on the Republican presidential candidates. He's sizing them up, but not necessarily finding fault, at least not yet, publicly. Our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, has details of what Jeb Bush is saying. Susan?

CANDIOTTI: It's been almost a year since Jeb Bush moved out of the governor's mansion for a swanky condo in Miami, and ever since, he's been doing some fundraising; he's been speaking at some schools; and now he's weighing in on the GOP race for that party's nominee for president.

[begin video clip]

PETER ROBINSON (Hoover Institution research fellow and host of Uncommon Knowledge): Talking today with the 43rd chief executive of the great state of Florida.

CANDIOTTI: Right off the bat, former Governor Bush sidestepped a question about the shortcomings of the Republican candidates.

BUSH: I'm not going to do the weakness, 'cause I saw someone that did that, [former White House counselor] Dan Bartlett, and it came out pretty bad looking.

CANDIOTTI: Here's how former presidential counselor Dan Bartlett recently sized up some fellow Republicans, starting with Mitt Romney.

BARTLETT: I think the Mormon issue is a real problem.

BARTLETT: Biggest dud: Fred Thompson.

BARTLETT: President Huckabee? You got to be kidding.

CANDIOTTI: Jeb Bush focused on each candidate's strengths, starting with front-runner Rudy Giuliani.

BUSH: He sees the world the way it is, and he's direct and he communicates well. He's got high energy and a tremendous personality. People are drawn towards him.

CANDIOTTI: He used two words to describe late entry Fred Thompson.

BUSH: Fred Thompson, I think, is a committed conservative.

CANDIOTTI: Bush gushed over John McCain.

BUSH: His courage. I mean, I was in my bed watching this with my wife. I got out of bed and started cheering. I assume you're talking about the Woodstock thing.

CANDIOTTI: McCain knocked Hillary Clinton for a recent vote to spend a million dollars for a Woodstock concert museum.

McCAIN: Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time.

BUSH: He did it in a humble way. He didn't do it in a way that was grandstanding at all.

CANDIOTTI: And this is what impresses Bush about Mitt Romney.

BUSH: Intellectual curiosity, which I think the next president of the United States is going to need to have. He's incredibly smart.

CANDIOTTI: Bush says he likes Mike Huckabee.

BUSH: He's clear, clear-minded about the importance of moral principles, which you can't untether in a -- in -- particularly if you believe in limited government. You have to also advocate self-government.

[end video]

CANDIOTTI: Bush wouldn't tip his hand about who his favorite is and insisted he will support the party nominee. And by the way, one of his sons, George P., is working for Fred Thompson, and another son, Jeb Jr., is in the Rudy Giuliani camp -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you, Susan Candiotti, in Miami.