When it came time to cover the news from Tuesday that Mike Huckabee had announced his entry into the 2016 Republican presidential field, ABC and NBC largely yawned at this story by devoting a combined 48 seconds of airtime to Huckabee on their Tuesday evening newscasts.
NBC Nightly News interim anchor Lester Holt read the following 20-second news brief on Huckabee’s announcement: “The race for 2016 a little more crowded now. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announcing he was running. He stunned the Republican field in 2008 with that upset of Iowa. A social conservative, who tonight, is pointing to his track record, taking on the Clintons back in Arkansas in the 1990s.”
Later during a segment on the Hillary Clinton campaign, correspondent Andrea Mitchell spent 13 seconds mentioning how Huckabee was a former Arkansas Governor like her husband Bill and then played a soundbite of Huckabee slamming Clinton in his speech announcing his second White House run.
Over on ABC’s World News Tonight, anchor David Muir used the first 15 seconds of a 29-second new brief to mention Huckabee’s announcement with the other 12 seconds going to Hillary Clinton’s camapaign stop in Nevada and her agreement to participate in all six Democratic presidential primary debates.
On Huckabee, Muir labeled him “[a] social conservative” and brought up his history as a presidential candidate in 2008:
The race for 2016 a little more crowded now. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announcing he was running. He stunned the Republican field in 2008 with that upset of Iowa. A social conservative, who tonight, is pointing to his track record, taking on the Clintons back in Arkansas in the 1990s.
At the other end of the coverage spectrum was the CBS Evening News, which gave a full segment to the story and ran for two minutes and two seconds. Reporting from Hope, congressional correspondent Cordes remarked how “Huckabee entered the race today better funded and better known than last time he ran” with “his down-home rhetoric” having stayed the same.
Cordes also cited the most recent CBS News/New York Times poll which showed Huckabee as finishing in second place for who “Republicans say they’d consider voting for” and behind only Florida Senator Marco Rubio. In terms of his speech, Cordes noted that the former Fox News Channel host “saved his sharpest barb today, though, not for Hillary Clinton, but for President Obama.”
The CBS correspondent closed by mentioning his support among evangelicals and his stance on entitlements:
Huckabee's aides acknowledge he's going to have to broaden his base beyond evangelicals to win which is why, Scott, he began making a pitch today to seniors, arguing that unlike many of his opponents, he has no plans to tinker with Medicare and Social Security payouts.
The scant coverage on the part of ABC and NBC comes a day after all three networks devoted only small news briefs to the presidential declarations from fellow Republican candidates Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina totaling one minute and 10 seconds.
While ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News combined for 48 seconds of airtime on Huckabee, the same two newscasts spent eight minutes and 47 seconds fawning over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton when she announced her bid on April 12.
The relevant portion of the transcript from May 5's NBC Nightly News can be found below.
NBC Nightly News
May 5, 2015
7:07 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: In the Running]
LESTER HOLT: Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee, today became the sixth Republican to officially jump in the race for president, with strong support from evangelical conservatives. Huckabee won eight states in the 2008 Republican primaries. Today, he announced his second run for president in his hometown of Hope, Arkansas, which is also the birthplace of former president Bill Clinton.
(....)
7:09 p.m. Eastern
ANDREA MITCHELL: But when that other former Arkansas Governor, Republican Mike Huckabee, announced he was running for president today, he did it with a dig at Clinton.
MIKE HUCKABEE: I don't have a global foundation or a taxpayer-funded paycheck to live off of.
The relevant portion of the brief from ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir can be found below.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
May 5, 20156:40 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: In the Race]
MUIR: The race for 2016 a little more crowded now. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announcing he was running. He stunned the Republican field in 2008 with that upset of Iowa. A social conservative, who tonight, is pointing to his track record, taking on the Clintons back in Arkansas in the 1990s.
