Only a handful of "serious news organizations" deviate from "herd mentality" political coverage, ABC News political director Mark Halperin told a Harvard Institute of Politics audience last week.

Halperin said that only his own network, The New York Times, the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times completely succeed at what he called journalism's "core mission":  to hold public figures accountable and to explain events' real meaning. He gave "half credit" to CNN and the Boston Globe and said that the rest of the media has succumbed to the pressure to make money.

He said a great weakness of political reporters is their unwillingness to let presidential candidates "grow and change" as they campaign for nomination. "Give them a chance."

Halperin called the White House beat "no longer the pinnacle of American journalism" and said correspondents there "don't have nearly the breadth of experience" of their predecessors.

He said, "One of the biggest changes in the last two years is that Republicans used correctly to believe that the press was liberally biased. Now, the Democrats believe the press is biased against them."

Halperin, who covered Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and first 20 months in office, said Clinton was held to "way too high a standard — coverage was way too tough." He added that the ex-president "doesn't have a clue" about the media.

By contrast, he said, "Coverage of Bush has been disgraceful, weak by any objective standard. Bush is really smart about the media — a genius." As an example, he cited his preference for photo ops to full-length press conferences.

With photo ops, Halperin said, Bush can avoid follow-up and "gotcha" questions by leaving when he gets a tough query.

Halperin defended the much-maligned "horse race," the who's-ahead-who's-behind coverage of presidential candidates, saying, "This IS a horse race. It's the original reality show."

Halperin, prime author of "The Note" on the ABC website, says that the blog's compendium of analysis, polls, and candidates' schedules gives himself and staffers greater visibility and a daily presence, which translates into more sources and news tips.