BDN Shills For Collins

Yesterday, we noted that Sen. Collins was working to collapse any space between her and Rep. Allen on the $700 billion Bush bailout for Wall Street. And now, BDN is doing that work for her.

Check out this lede:

Maine’s U.S senators and representatives all share the same point of view on the $700 billion bailout plan and the Bush administration’s efforts to have it approved by the end of the week: The Congress should not act in haste.

It's true that all of Maine's reps are calling for deliberation. But it's completely wrong to imply that they've all responded to this crisis in the same way.

In fact, it's nearly the opposite of the truth.

Naturally, in its survey of the state's four representatives, BDN gives Collins the most--and most prominent coverage. Rep. Allen is quoted only once--in paragraph eight--after Rep. Michaud gets a chance to weigh in. (Collins is quoted in paragraphs four, 12 and 21--where she gets the last word.)

Biased coverage in BDN isn't unexpected or unusual. Far from it. But this piece is about as brazen as anything we've seen from them this cycle.