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ByDavidBauder The Associated Press NEW YORK Opinion polls are one thing, but Nielsen numbers speak more loudly to television executives: Re- publican presidential front- runner Donald Trump's ability to pull in viewers makes him catnip for news programs and wins a level of coverage that feeds on it- self. NBC's "Meet the Press" had its biggest audience in more than a year for its Trump interview on Aug. 16, leading that show's big- gest competitors — ABC's "This Week" and CBS' "Face the Nation" — to feature phone interviews with the New York businessman this past Sunday. After CNN turned Jake Tapper's interview with Trump into a prime-time special last week and earned its best ratings at that hour in a month, the network repeated it two nights later. Two Trump interviews on Sean Hanni- ty's Fox News Channel show this month both brought in around 2.2 million viewers, well above his typical audi- ence. Trump is generally con- sidered the biggest reason why Fox reached a star- tling 24 million people for the first GOP presidential debate earlier this month — the most watched pro- gram in Fox News history. That instantly made him a big "get" for TV producers, and the media savvy ex-re- ality show host has eagerly played along. Keenly aware of his drawing power, Trump sug- gested in a Time magazine interview that he could ask CNN to pay $10 million to charity for his participation in the next GOP debate. "He's getting a lot of at- tention that he should get because he's doing so well in the polls and he's get- ting a lot of attention be- cause he's Donald Trump, and you never know what he's going to say," said Da- vid Bohrman, a television consultant and former CNN Washington bureau chief. "It's not negligence to cover him," he said. Aware of that drawing power, cable news outlets cover Trump events with an intensity the other 16 Republican candidates can only envy. A town hall meeting in New Hampshire last week drew live cover- age. CNN and Fox News both cast aside regular pro- gramming Friday to pick up Trump speaking at a rally in Alabama. Trump's unpredictabil- ity is a bonus. His criti- cal comments about Fox's Megyn Kelly for her debate questions, made during an interview with CNN's Don Lemon on what would nor- mally be a sleepy August Friday night, put that show in headlines for the entire weekend. Viewership during the seven call-in interviews that Trump has given to MSN- BC's "Morning Joe" since June 18 rose 22 percent from what the talk show averaged 10 minutes prior to his call, the Nielsen company said. On July 24, the size of the audience jumped 47 percent in only a few minutes when Trump spoke. Danny Shea, editorial director of The Huffing- ton Post, compared the at- tention news networks are giving to Trump to CNN's non-stop coverage of the missing Malaysian airliner last year. He was on "Morn- ing Joe" last week to defend HuffPo's declaration that it would only cover Trump's candidacy in its entertain- ment section, a decision that grows harder to defend with each new poll. "There's an open secret that (Trump's campaign) is a joke and a spectacle," Shea said, "and by going wall-to- wall on it you're just legiti- mizing it." Morning Joe co-host, Joe Scarborough, rejected the argument that Trump had more ratings than news value. During off-the- air meetings, "nobody ever says, 'OK, Donald Trump is great for ratings.' What we say is, 'what the hell is going on? Can you believe this? What is happening?' He is a very real story, and the longer he stays in front, the more of a story he's go- ing to be." 2016 CAMPAIGN TrumpdrawshighTVratings BRYNNANDERSON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to supporters during a campaign rally in Mobile, Ala., on Friday. RJ SANGOSTI — THE DENVER POST James Holmes, right, appears in court with defense attorneys Daniel King, le , and Katherine Spengler, for the sentencing phase in his trial on Monday at Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo. By Sadie Gurman The Associated Press CENTENNIAL, COLO. The judge who oversaw Colo- rado theater shooter James Holmes'trialgaveanimpas- sioned defense of the jury and the process Monday after the mother of one of the wounded said Holmes' life sentence showed more concern for Holmes than for the victims. "You can't claim there was no justice because it wasn't the outcome you expected," Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. said in an unusual speech from the bench during Holmes' for- mal sentencing hearing for the 2012 attack. Samour said the jury was fair and impartial and that he tried his utmost to be the same. "And that's how you know it was justice," he said. Samour spoke after Kathleen Pourciau tes- tified that her daughter, Bonnie Kate Pourciau, suffers constant, excru- ciating pain and terrible nightmares from the gun- shot wounds she suffered at Holmes' hand. Kathleen Pourciau said the sentence showed little respect for life. "The message is the state of Colorado values a mass murderer more than the lives of those he mur- dered," she said, speak- ing from a lectern facing Samour and occasionally turning toward the attor- neys and the packed gal- lery behind her. Afterward, she sat quietly and nodded but showed no other reaction as Samour defended the trial. Holmesmurdered12peo- ple and tried to kill 70 more when he opened fire during a packed midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises." His attorneys blamed the massacre on his schizo- phrenia and psychotic de- lusions, and experts testi- fied that it wouldn't have happened if he were not se- riously mentally ill. Jurors quickly rejected his insanity defense, con- victing him on July 16 of 165 felony counts. But they were divided on the sentence, with 11 favoring death and one favoring life in prison without pa- role. Under Colorado law, jurors must be unanimous to impose the death pen- alty, so Holmes automati- cally got life. Samour will formally hand down the life sen- tences for 24 murder con- victions — two for each victim — after a three-day hearing that began Mon- day. He'll also sentence Holmes on the 141 other counts, which include at- tempted murder and an explosives charge. The hearing won't change the life sentence but gives survivors a chance to share their har- rowing stories. At least 100 victims and witnesses are expected to testify. Holmes will also have an opportunity to speak, though he declined to do so during his trial. Holmes wore a bur- gundy jail uniform and sat shackled at the defense table Monday. He showed little emotion and twid- dled his thumbs as Pour- ciau and others described the physical pain, the grief and the despair his ram- page caused. Judge defends trial of theater shooter COLORADO By Ellen Knickmeyer The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Members of a mostly black women's book club say a luxe Napa Valley wine train kicked them off because of their race. The 11 members of the Sisters on the Reading Edge book club, all but one of whom is African Amer- ican, say the Napa Valley Wine Train ordered them off Saturday, mid-jour- ney. As debate built Mon- day on social media un- der the hashtag #laugh- ingwhileblack, wine train spokesman Sam Singer said train employees had asked the women to either quiet down or get off the wine train and accept a free bus ride back to their starting point. A manager on the train repeatedly told the women they were laughing and talking too loudly, book- club member Lisa Renee Johnson told San Fran- cisco television station KTVU. "We didn't do anything wrong," said Johnson, who chronicled the episode via cellphone videos. On Face- book, Twitter and Yelp on Monday, defenders of the women posted videos of other, past noisy groups cel- ebrating on the wine train, and they debated the wine train's action with its sup- porters. "We still feel this is about race. We were singled out," Johnson told KTVU. Wine-train employees marched the book club members through six rail- road cars before escort- ing them off the train, the women said. Employees of the Napa Valley Wine Train, which offers food and wine to passengers as they roll to Napa County wineries in updated Pullman cars, had asked the book club mem- bers to either be quieter or get off the train, Singer said Monday. On average, Singer said, individuals or groups are asked to get off the wine train once a month for one reason or the other. "It's not a question of bias," he said. 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