Two Ehrlich-O'Malley Debates on Same Day Pose Unusual Problems
After weeks arguing over if and when, Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich and his Democratic challenger, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, ended up debating twice on Saturday, October 14. O'Malley had been calling for many debates; Ehrlich had been demanding that debates not occur in the campaign's last weeks. As a result, a second debate was added to the one previously scheduled for the 14th. Having two debates in a day and the odd television scheduling of the two created some problems for the candidates.
: Gov MD, Robert Ehrlich, Martin O'Malley
The debate that took place on Saturday afternoon in the studios of WJZ-TV in Baltimore will be televised Monday at 7 p.m. The debate that took place on Saturday evening at the studios of Maryland Public Television was televised live that evening.
The candidates therefore could not, when debating in the evening, refer to comments made in the afternoon, since the substance of the earlier debate will be known only to some in the media. So, even though they refered to the evening debate as "the second half," they had to ignore "the first."
They also had to decide whether to wear the same clothing in both debates as well as in which debate to use their better lines. The latter decision might well be premised on when they expected the larger audience, Saturday evening or Monday evening.
Perhaps most interesting, they knew that the media would cover both debates Saturday night and Sunday. As a result, those viewing on Monday evening would already have read about the debate and, therefore, be viewing it with expectations about its content. Much research discusses how media coverage after a debate can affect the public's "take." The situation in Maryland Monday represents a twist on that: media coverage after the debate but before the public sees it might affect the public's "take."
