At Tuesday’s inauguration of the Dole Institute of Politics, Bob Dole and his colleagues spoke of the “bipartisan spirit in which we gather today.”

They certainly weren’t referring to the national network news coverage of the event, which proved plenty partisan.

Of the big three contenders (ABC, CBS and NBC), only one chose to give more than a cursory nod to the dedication festivities and all its political and camera-op significance.

Why? Probably because NBC News anchor and managing editor Tom Brokaw was the master of ceremonies for the dedication.

This was most hilariously illustrated by the morning show coverage displayed by the non-Brokaw networks.

Sure, the Jessica Lynch homecoming and Baylor basketball player disappearance served as lead items. But ABC and CBS had THREE HOURS to fill Tuesday and did everything they could to avoid hyping some affair with which their competition had a vested interest.

CBS couldn’t find room to send a reporter to Lawrence, but it did ship “Early Show” co-host Renee Syler to Miami for a hard-hitting report on beach exercise. After her first segment, she signed off with a tease to an upcoming story about “a shoe you can actually live in.”

It’s good to know CBS had its priorities straight about which building was newsworthy that day.

Only NBC devoted a lengthy segment to the occasion, which Lawrence viewers might have predicted after the Dole Institute closed its doors for an hour Monday afternoon to give “The Today Show” unrestricted access.

Video reports¢ 6News video: Dole Institute officially dedicated¢ 6News: NBC’s Brokaw begins Dole dedication ceremony¢ 6News video: Hemenway offers welcome to dedication visitors¢ 6News video: Brownback leads dedication invocation¢ 6News video: Kansas governor speaks of inspiration offered by Dole¢ 6News video: Rice offers tribute to Dole¢ 6News: Carter speaks at Dole Institute dedication¢ 6News: Dole says new institute to be monument to Kansas¢ 6News video: McGovern offers WWII memories¢ 6News video: Weekend filled with remembrances of bygone timePhoto gallery¢ Tuesday event photosDedication remarks¢ U.S. Sen. Bob Dole¢ Former President Jimmy Carter¢ Robert Hemenway, Kansas University chancellor¢ Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas¢ Condoleezza Rice, U.S. national security adviser¢Letter from President BushArticles¢ Where conviction, civility co-exist¢ Director’s efforts lauded¢ Friendship thicker than politics for Dole and McGovern¢ Grateful Dole works crowd at conclusion of dedication ceremonies¢ National coverage of dedication suffers from network partisanship

In the segment’s intro pitch, host Matt Lauer explained NBC was given “the first public tour of the institute” — and a “Today Exclusive” bug was layered onto the top left of the television screen to prove it. Never mind that the network had in reality been trumped by C-SPAN in that claim. Perhaps NBC meant it was the “first public tour” in relation to its corporate rivals.

As roving reporter Jamie Gangel walked the institute’s halls with Bob and Elizabeth Dole, the journalist asked the retired senator, “What’s your goal for the institute?”

“Maybe we can start at the University of Kansas to get a lot of young people interested in public service, government — not politics like Democrat or Republican, but in the generic sense,” he said.

Between stops at the World Trade Center beams and the Richard Nixon display, the conversation eventually became less about the institute and more about the married couple.

“How much do you both talk about (politics) when you come home from work now?” she asked.

Elizabeth replied, “We both need an oasis away from that.”

Aside from an establishing shot in front of the institute’s facade and a few inserts of random displays, NBC presented what amounted to a fairly prosaic one-on-two interview. Gangel elicited some good quotes but delivered very little with regard to the political or regional impact of the Dole Institute.

As in-depth as this seven-minute package was by network standards, the most comprehensive attention was provided by cable’s CNN and C-SPAN.

Tuesday night’s edition of “Larry King Live” was the most high-powered in terms of celebrity contributions. Entertainers such as Jay Leno rang up to offer a mild roast (“In your honor tonight we’re having a Bob Dole cake with Viagra icing”). Even Bill Clinton called to needle his frequent sparring partner.

Admirably, CNN didn’t shy away from network-affiliated guests. NBC’s Brokaw and weatherman Willard Scott made contributions, as did CBS’s Mike Wallace via a satellite hookup.

Sprinkled throughout the recollections was footage of some of the pop-culture highlights from the senator’s career, ranging from his Pepsi commercial with Britney Spears to the uproarious “Saturday Night Live” parody of “The Real World” which featured Norm Macdonald as Dole. (When forced to room with six teenagers, the faux statesman angrily vents, “Nobody eats Bob Dole’s peanut butter without asking.”)

Despite the circus-like atmosphere, King did a superb job of redirecting the conversation back to the Dole Institute and the KU festivities of the day.

Even more focused was that of public affairs channel C-SPAN.

Brian Lamb, the CEO of C-SPAN and its most recognizable on-air face, devoted two hours to the institute Monday morning. On his live call-in show “Washington Journal,” the commentator divided the hours into separate interviews, the first featuring institute honcho Richard Norton Smith, who spoke mainly to the financial and organizational aspects of the locale.

When Dole took his seat next to Lamb in a high-backed director’s chair, it gave the proceedings an “Inside the Actors Studio” vibe; it was about as Spartan as a TV interview should be allowed to appear.

Lamb proved adept at wrangling the callers — who ranged from a Georgia high school teacher to a Serbian immigrant — few of whom wanted to ask Dole an actual question. They instead burned up time by heaping laudatory praise on the politician or talking exclusively about themselves. (Maryland caller: “I’m a Democrat, but if there was one Republican I would vote for it would certainly be you!”)

C-SPAN could use a new call screener.

Fortunately, Lamb rerouted the stream-of-consciousness phone-ins into conversations with his guest.

“What do you want people to get out of this place?” the host asked.

“I want them to be motivated, if possible — particularly young people,” Dole responded. “It’s got my name all over it, so I assume people now think it’s about me. But it’s about public service, and in one case what one guy from Russell, Kansas, was able to do.”

Lamb also managed to give a shout-out to the local media, holding up the front page of Monday’s Lawrence Journal-World and the Kansas City Star’s Metropolitan section. Rather than analyze the regional coverage, he used the publications’ headlines to transition into further questions.

After the taping I asked Lamb what he thought the national media’s role was when reporting on the Dole Institute event.

“We’re all part of the national media, but our slice of this is really small,” he replied. “Our part is the broad-based stuff. For viewers, the networks are going to set up and cover the highlights, where you’ll see on the nightly news 10 seconds of George McGovern all the way to the two hours we’re doing.”

Lamb confessed that in terms of coverage, “We got exactly what we were looking for.”

Unfortunately, that’s not what Kansas residents received from the national coverage of this once-in-a-lifetime event.