Sean Hannity, like his conservative talk radio brethren, doesn't mince words when describing coverage of the presidential campaign.

"The mainstream media, or journalism as we once knew it," he recently said by phone, "died in 2008."

If Hannity is right, his listeners won't be mourning its passing. The mainstream media -- that perennial whipping boy of the right -- is being knocked around even more this cycle by radio hosts convinced that the press holds a soft spot for Barack Obama.

The top talkers and their legions of listeners have countered with a harsher take. Long before fiery clips of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright made the rounds on YouTube or former Weatherman William Ayers was featured in a question in a Democratic primary debate, Hannity had been spreading the gospel against Obama on ABC Radio Networks' "Sean Hannity Show." Other talk radio hosts have played Obama's "bitter" comments on an endless loop, dissected his wife's comments for any hint of elitism or anti-American sentiment and expounded on how the Democratic candidate is the greatest Marxist since, well, Karl Marx.

Many hosts have also warned listeners that an Obama presidency, coupled with Democratic control of Congress, would mean re-establishment of the Fairness Doctrine -- and with it, they say, the end of conservative talk radio itself.

Until the FCC struck it down in 1987, the doctrine required holders of broadcast licenses to devote airtime to controversial issues of public importance and -- the kicker where right-wing radio is concerned -- to present differing views on them.

It's not clear, though, that talk radio hosts still have the same clout they enjoyed during the 1990s, when the talk radio message machine, led by Rush Limbaugh, took much of the credit for the 1994 takeover of the House -- and was even made an honorary member of the GOP.

After nearly a decade devoted to Monica Lewinsky and the Whitewater scandal, talk radio's power was affirmed by George W. Bush's win in 2000 and again in 2004, when talk of John F. Kerry's Swift-boating and flip-flopping moved quickly from the fringes into the mainstream.

But in the 2006 midterm elections, the Democrats seized control of Congress, and the Republican brand became tarnished by Beltway scandals, an unpopular president and seemingly endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leader of the conservative movement, said that talk radio hosts "sidelined themselves" in 2006.

"Talk radio ended up talking about Iraq and immigration, two issues that didn't move votes for Republicans," Norquist said.

Norquist said that the industry's strength wasn't on display during the Republican presidential primaries, either, because "if you had to pick the candidate who the talk radio show hosts were least excited or comfortable about, [it] was McCain." With hosts preoccupied with other candidates, Norquist said, McCain -- whose campaign had seemed to derail in 2007 -- stayed under the radar until his victory in the New Hampshire primary.

All of a sudden, talk radio's frustration with McCain entered the mainstream, and Newsweek devoted a February cover to the drama playing out on the airwaves. But a few weeks of hysterics didn't stop McCain.

Conservative hosts cut into their Barack bashing to recite the Republican's litany of offenses: supporting immigration reform and campaign finance reform, opposing Bush's tax cuts, and crossing the aisle to work with Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and other leading liberals. Limbaugh, who's now reluctantly supporting McCain, previously warned his listeners that if the Arizona senator became the GOP nominee, it could "destroy the Republican Party."

Such on-air laments prompted elder statesmen of the party to get involved. Former Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), in an open letter to the major talk show hosts that was published shortly after Mitt Romney ended his campaign, acknowledged that McCain had "faults" and "failures" but urged hosts to offer their criticisms in "measured ways that will not damage his ability to win in November."

With Election Day approaching, Norquist said the hosts will come around, because "Obama is completely unacceptable to every radio talk show host."

"McCain is not as conservative as Sean Hannity," Hannity said. "I say this to my audience all the time. There are going to be many occasions where Sean Hannity would be critical of a President McCain."

However, Hannity said, "I don't find that I ever agree with Sen. Obama."

So while McCain may gin up less enthusiasm than Bush, radio hosts still can use the election as a referendum on Obama, picking apart the candidate day after day.

And Hannity, whose audience of more than 13 million is second only to that of Limbaugh, is in a prime position to do so.

On July 31, Jerome Corsi, who co-authored the Swift-boat manifesto and anti-Kerry best-seller, "Unfit for Command," gave his first interview to promote his new anti-Obama book, "The Obama Nation," on Hannity's radio show.

With little play in the mainstream media -- except, of course, an appearance later that night on Fox's "Hannity & Colmes" -- Corsi's book shot to No. 1 on Amazon and soon grabbed the top spot on The New York Times' best-seller list. Within days, Hannity began touting David Freddoso's "The Case Against Barack Obama," and that book also quickly shot up Amazon's top-seller list.

During the Democratic primaries, everyone from Karl Rove to John Kerry noticed the success of Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos," where the host urged listeners to vote for (of all people!) Hillary Rodham Clinton in an effort to further drag out the hotly contested Democratic primary.

Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, said that talk radio clearly has influence and speaks to a very devoted -- and politically active -- audience.

Harrison said that, in a study, his magazine estimated that "over 70 percent of listeners voted in the last election," a higher percentage than that among devotees of other forms of media. "News talk radio is where the voters are," Harrison said.

"I don't set out to do the radio show to deliver an impact in terms of political decisions or votes," said Mike Gallagher, a conservative host who reaches more than 4 million listeners daily. "It should be evolutionary rather than revolutionary."

Gallagher said he uses the medium for spreading ideas, such as the need for offshore drilling, which often filter into the mainstream and then affect the political debate. Gallagher also zeroes in on Obama's stances that he perceives as far left.

"If you're any kind of conservative Republican, you would reject 99.99 percent of what Barack Obama stands for," Gallagher said, mentioning that he didn't know how "any self-respecting conservative could talk about never voting for McCain."

One prominent conservative talker, though, has done just that. Michael Savage, whose 8 million daily listeners trail Limbaugh's and Hannity's, repeatedly rants against Obama's "far left past, present and future" -- but he has yet to fall in line with the presumptive Republican nominee.

"I can keep McCain from being elected," Savage wrote in an e-mail to Politico. "My audience is not only enormous but highly motivated. If they do not come out in droves to vote for McCain, he cannot win. John is making a huge mistake in disregarding what should be his core base, i.e., conservative voters!"

Savage said that McCain hasn't accepted an offer to appear on his show; however, the candidate has been grilled by other conservative hosts, such as Hannity, Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt.

Michael Goldfarb, McCain's deputy communications director, said the campaign monitors talk radio and has a liaison working with the top shows.

"We obviously try and reach out to any audience that we think can be useful to our supporters," Goldfarb said, adding that the "interaction is not that much different than with the cable news channels."

But then again, CNN doesn't have a regular feature like the one on Hannity's show: "Stop the Radical Obama Express."

The Plain Dealer is a member of the Politico Network.