Bice had come under strong criticism from conservative media watchdog Media Trackers and conservative talk show hosts(including me) for his obviously unbalanced approach to coverage of the U.S. Senate race. Media Trackers reported that Bice said he was receiving a lot of tips on Thompson, hence the lopsided coverage. Trackers pressed him on what he didn't do enterprise reporting on Baldwin and not wait for stories to be handed to him and they reported Bice didn't have an answer.

Shortly after this criticism surfaced, Bice did a piece on the $60,000 Baldwin received from an organization opposing Iranian sanctions. I could be wrong, but that column seemed to me an obvious response to the criticism he had been facing.

This piece is clearly that product of Bice analyzing Baldwin's words and attempting to match them to her actions. And as he put it, they don't fit. Since Thompson earned the Republican nomination August 14, it's been hard to see Bice's column any other way the heavily favoring Baldwin. Perhaps the most ridiculous example was the coverage Thompson's son Jason received for a stupid comment at an event. Jason Thompson was responding to something a member of the audience said and while I don't defend the statement, Bice did a masterful job of making a mountain out of a molehill. 

I've always had a measure of respect for Dan Bice. I always felt his pieces tended to target the right more than the left, but I didn't think the disparity was extreme, until this U.S. Senate race. Maybe it was just laziness; maybe Bice was content to accept the low hanging fruit Thompson's opposition was offering. Maybe it was legitimate bias. And I don't know if Bice is finally exploring Baldwin because of the criticism or because it's the right thing to do, but I'm glad he's doing it.  But whatever Bice exposes about Baldwin from here to November 6, there isn't nearly enough time to even out the lopsided coverage he's provided so far. But I'll take what I can get. Well done Dan Bice.