During tonight’s GOP presidential debate in Florida, both former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney tried to run away from their past more liberal positions. In fact, Fox News moderators Chris Wallace, Brit Hume, and Carl Cameron repeatedly asked Giuliani and Romney to prove their conservative credentials. And while the mainstream media allows the GOP to cater to its conservative base and ideology, political pundits don’t extend the same privilege to Democrats.

As the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has pointed out, the mainstream media often pulls Democratic candidates to the right and suggests that representing liberal causes or “catering” to progressive organizations like MoveOn.org will lose them the election.

Media advocates of centrism typically call on Democrats to reject their natural supporters, often denigrated as “special interests”: liberals, unions, civil rights and feminist groups, and environmental and consumer rights organizations. Meanwhile, corporate-friendly policies and conservative-leaning “moral values” are presented as the road to electoral success. Many political pundits say going centrist is not only the right thing—it’s the only way Democrats can win.

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