Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's campaign on Sunday charged that an email it accidentally received from CBS News political analyst John Dickerson proves that the network's coverage of her campaign is being manipulated by "the liberal mainstream media elites." Responding to an email about including Bachmann on a CBS web telecast following Saturday's broadcast debate, Dickerson wrote, "Let's keep it loose though since she's not going to get many questions and she's nearly off the charts in the hopes that we can get someone else." CBS dismissed the Bachmann campaign's complaint, saying that Dickerson's email represented "a candid exchange about the reality of the circumstances -- Bachmann remains at 4 percent in the polls." On CNN's Reliable Sources , media commentator Howard Kurtz defended CBS's stance, noting that Dickerson was merely indicating that more questions ought to be directed at the candidates leading in the polls.