One of my former bosses in the advertising business--wise man, by the way--told me years ago that the secret to voting for the right person was this. The one the press hated the most was the one to vote for. Didn't matter what party.
That's interesting, because the MSM coverage of the 2008 Republican primaries was anti-Romney. Remember all those Boston Globe stories, like about illegal landscapers? Neither McCain nor Huckabee saw any hostile stories until McCain secured the nomination. The MSM is essentially an arm of the DNC, so we can look at the number of DNC hit piece press releases:
DNC Press Release Attack Summary:
Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) – 37% (99 press releases)
Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) – 28% (74)
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) – 24% (64)
Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) – 8% (20)
Governor Mike Huckabee – 2% (4)
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashhu.htm