In an April 9 entry to his Politico.com weblog, Politico senior political writer Ben Smith asserted that Fox News can “confirm to its viewers that Democrats are ... cowards” after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) declined to participate in a presidential debate sponsored by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute. Smith wrote: “No word yet from [Rep. Dennis] Kucinich [D-OH] and [former Sen. Mike] Gravel [D-AK], or the other campaigns, or from Fox, which could presumably do an empty podium hour and confirm to its viewers that Democrats are, in fact, the cowards it's often portrayed them as. Sounds win-win to me.”

According to Smith, his blog covers “the contest for the 2008 Democratic nomination and all that revolves around it.” Smith also frequently writes articles for The Politico about the Democratic presidential candidates. As Media Matters for America senior fellow Eric Boehlert documented, Smith has written baseless and misleading articles alleging that “New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's 2008 presidential campaign has been burdened by unusually public discussion about his behavior with women,” and that Obama has a “Jewish Problem.”

Smith's entry was flagged by the Drudge Report, which, as Media Matters documented, has linked extensively to The Politico since the publication launched less than three months ago.