He may have lost much of his campaign staff in recent weeks, but down-on-his-luck presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich can still count on Fox News to help him through these rough times. During a June 27 interview with Your World host Neil Cavuto, the network advertised the candidate's website, which invites visitors to “donate” and “get involved.”
And Gingirch had no reason to worry about whether his Fox platform would disappear. In March, only two days after the network suspended Gingrich's contributor contract because of his impending presidential run, Fox hosted him anyway. Gingrich appeared on the March 4 Hannity, where the program helpfully promoted his exploratory committee's website.
So who's winning the Fox Primary? Each week at Media Matters, we watch the interviews, crunch the numbers, and tell you what Fox is up to in the presidential campaign.
Last Week's Results
Total time: 4:01; Total appearances: 30
Most Total Airtime on Fox: Herman Cain (1 hour)
Most Total Appearances: Herman Cain (6 appearances)
Fox Show with the Most Total Candidate Airtime: Hannity (1 hour and 8 minutes)
Fox Show with the Most Candidate Appearances: Fox and Friends (6 appearances)
Longest Candidate Interview: Hannity (23 minutes with Michele Bachmann)
Softball Question(s) of the Week: Host Sean Hannity's July 1 interview with Michele Bachmann gave the Minnesota representative an easy opportunity to paint herself as a victim of the media's “unfair” scrutiny regarding her comments about the founding fathers and slavery.
HANNITY: Why do you think you have become such a lightning rod? I mean, Governor Palin obviously has become a lightning rod. There's certain people: Donald Trump -- you mentioned him -- has become the focus of attacks. Over the last couple of years in particular, I used to refer to you as the second-most hated Republican woman in the country --
BACHMANN: Or loved.
HANNITY: -- or the second-most loved. So, I stood corrected. But what do you think it is? Why does venom -- I'll give you one example: Recently you were giving a speech, you made a mistake about history. And the media just pounced on you.
BACHMANN: Well, I think part of that is because they're nervous and they're worried that maybe she'll catch on. Maybe she'll be the nominee. And of course, I think that we all know -- it's no secret -- a lot of people in the press have been really rooting for Barack Obama all these years. And they want to take anyone that they might see would be a formidable competitor and take them down and take them out of the equation. And I just don't square very easy.
HANNITY: Well, do you think this is what it's about? You raised more money than any member of Congress in the history of Congress.
BACHMANN: In the history of Congress. That's right. And that's thanks to a lot of beautiful, generous people who, by the way, gave an average donation of 45 dollars or less. And people believed in me because I wasn't spinning them. I was telling people the truth. And people wanted a fighter. Somebody who'd really stand up for them.
(A table of the June 27 - July 4 data is available here.)
The Numbers Since June 1
Total time: 16:03*; Total appearances: 117*
Most Total Airtime on Fox since June 1: Herman Cain (1 hour and 54 minutes)
Most Total Appearances since June 1: John Bolton (23 appearances)
Fox Show with the Most Total Candidate Airtime Since June 1: Hannity (3 hours and 5 minutes)
Fox Show with the Most Candidate Appearances since June 1: Fox and Friends (18 appearances)
Longest Candidate Interview since June 1: Stossel (40 minutes with Gary Johnson)
(A table of all the data since June 1 is available here.)
Previous Fox Primary Reports
June 1-5
June 6-12
June 13-19
June 20-26
Methodology
Media Matters searched the Nexis database for appearances on Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, and Fox News Sunday for the 15 declared and potential presidential candidates in question: Michele Bachmann, John Bolton, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Thad McCotter, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Donald Trump.
For programs where a transcript was unavailable, Media Matters reviewed the raw video.
Changes to the reports
Media Matters added McCotter to the data beginning on June 20.
*Correction: We have dropped all DeMint data from the report. During Laura Ingraham's June 14 show, DeMint told the conservative talk radio host that he is “not considering” a run for president in 2012. Media Matters regrets the error.