Crashing the Party - Sparks Fly BEFORE 2nd Nevada's Governor Debate -- And Texas Too
In case you missed the C-Span broadcast Nevada Governor Debate from Bally's in Las Vegas last night (Oct. 10) the drama that colored coverage occurred as the MC took the stage to introduce candidates Dina Titus (D) and Jim Gibbons (R). (Video-C-SPAN) Chris Hansen stormed the stage shouting his demand to participate in the debate. After the awkward moment, in which candidates shifted uneasily at their podiums, and the moderator admonished the intruder, security bodily removed Hansen from the stage.
Print reports addressed the debate's issues, reporting mid-story the altercation (e.g. most widely distributed coverage was AP story), but TV stories favored the visual drama, placing the flag clothed candidate as their lead (e.g. KVCB Las Vegas).
The second Governor's debate begins with one of the candidates for the state's top job getting kicked out of the building. Independent candidate Christopher Hansen ran onto the stage at Bally's, demanding that he participate.
There is an ongoing debate about the wisdom of excluding third party candidates from debates. Typically hosting authorities invoke some level of polling support to legitimize
: NV-Gov, TX-Gov, Dina Titus, Jim Gibbons, Multi-party Debates, Kinky Friedman, Candidate Questioning
participation (often 5%), effectively limiting late election cycle debates to two candidates. Occasionally multi-candidate debates occur, as with the circus that posed as a serious political exchange Saturday (Oct 7) with the
Texas Governor debate (Video on
C-SPAN). Four candidates (R-Rick Perry, D-Chris Bell and I-Kinky Friedman and I-Carole Strayhorn; a fifth, James Werner, a Libertarian, was excluded) qualified and engaged in an entertaining exchange (
Win Houston ratings), albeit more heat than light. Frankly it was as mess, in part, because there were too many speakers for one hour, but certainly Kinky's odd performance both made and undermined the spectacle. The
New York Times reflected the "elevated" discussion.
Mr. Friedman, laying a 20 percent upsurge in crime in Houston to evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, called for spending $100 million on more police officers. But he was condemned by the others for remarks that some called racially offensive and that he defended as parody.
"Words matter," Mr. Perry chided.
Mr. Friedman was unrepentant. "Sure, everyone's ganging up on me," he said. "Tackle the guy carrying the ball."
He was also asked if, as governor, "will you have a cigar in your mouth so children will see you?"
Mr. Friedman said, "Yeah, I'll definitely smoke cigars."
Kinky's performance, by default, elevated the other candidates.
Back to Nevada . . . The first Nevada Governor debate featured a segment of growing popularity where candidates ask each other questions. The result, all too typical was a fiery-bitter-personal-accus
atory exchange, one of the nastiest I have witnessed in a major candidate debate. It may be good theatre, but . . . almost always candidates questioning each other as a format choice is fraught with invited bickering and seldom enlightens. The second debate by contrast was much more substantive, measured in tone (someone realized the first debate exchange was over the top). Part of the reason may have been that candidates were provided the questions ahead of time and responded with many instances illustrating their policies. The trade off may be an exploration of the "quality of mind" that debates supposedly explore.
From my perspective Titus controlled the debate with more personality and the often repeated refrain as reported by the Las Vegas Sun.
"He may have forgotten, but I believe Nevada remembers. . ."
