President Obama may have defeated Sen. John McCain in the 2008 election, but the Arizona Republican can take comfort in his total domination of Sunday talk shows.
Since 2009, McCain has appeared more than 97 times on the five news shows that air Sunday mornings — more than any other lawmaker, administration official, journalist or pundit. By comparison, Obama has sat down on the shows just 12 times.
The numbers come from researchers at American University, who studied the more than 1,500 people who have appeared more than 9,000 times on “Meet the Press,” “Face the Nation,” “This Week,” “Fox News Sunday” and “State of the Union” since January 2009, when Obama was inaugurated.
One of McCain’s frequent allies on foreign policy issues, Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C., came in second on the most-frequent guests with 85 appearances, followed by former Obama strategist David Axelrod, with 83; Obama ally Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., with 78; and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., with 66.
The list excluded regular panelists who work for the respective show’s networks or have contracts with the shows. David Axelrod made all but six of his appearances before he became an NBC contributor in February 2013.
