But the "Fox & Friends" hosts have also produced controversy on their own. Last year, they triggered a rare public admonishment from network executives after discussing an article in a conservative magazine that claimed Obama had attended a madrassa in Indonesia as a child.
The report was quickly discredited and John Moody, Fox News' executive vice president of news editorial, said at the time that they should not have reported the piece without confirming its accuracy.
For many Democrats, the incident cemented the program's right-leaning reputation, a charge the hosts reject.
"You have to remember that the mainstream media is not fair and balanced," said Carlson, who, like her co-hosts, said she's a political independent. "I've worked there. And so we maybe look a little different because we're talking about issues that nobody else is."
Lately, "Fox & Friends" has focused on Obama's association with onetime antigovernment radical William Ayers and questionable voter registrations by the community group ACORN, which has endorsed Obama. Both stories dominated the program during the last week, underscored by on-screen captions such as "Stealing the Election? McCain Calls Obama Out Over ACORN" and "Up in the Ayers: Will Mac Mention Obama Terror Ties?"
"The notion of 'Fox & Friends' being 'fair and balanced' is about as credible as fried chicken being low-fat," said Stephanie Cutter, chief of staff to Michelle Obama, after a tense on-air exchange with the hosts Thursday about Obama and ACORN.
The anchors insist they're tough on both presidential candidates. After interviewing Cutter, they noted, they asked McCain campaign manager Rick Davis about McCain's praise for ACORN in 2006.
"People know that we're going to cover both points of view," Carlson said.
Sometimes, the tone gets personal.
In July, Doocy disparaged a New York Times reporter who had written an article about Fox News' ratings that he called "a hit piece." The screen displayed digitally altered photos of reporter Jacques Steinberg and his editor, Steven Reddicliffe, that their outraged colleagues said resembled anti-Semitic caricatures.
The hosts disputed that notion, adding that their executive producer at that time, David Brown, is Jewish.
Doocy called the segment "our chance to have a little fun, goof on 'em." When asked if he felt in retrospect whether it was a good idea, he replied: "It got their attention."
