Staying In Place: The NY Senate Debate
An often under appreciated aspect of voter's evaluation is the demand the candidate know their place. They want their loyalty in the sense of identifying with their voters and singing the praises of state geography and values. There is also another sense of place that sometimes factors in a debate, physical sense of presence on stage. The Senate debate between Hillary Clinton and John Spencer was about the former and constrained by the latter demands of Place.
In 2000 Hillary Clinton faced Rick Lazio in a race often revolving around accusation of carpetbagger. They postured in the debate about "who was the real New Yorker." Was it her place to occupy a senate seat in a state where she was a recent resident? By the time of the debate she has become enough of a New Yorker to be considered at least an honorary citizen, bolster by her knowledge and trip around the state. She had place.
Lazio, from down-state (Long Island) also needed to establish his state credentials up-state. He was young flashy and in the opinion of some did not know his place.
The problem of place (albeit a difference sense of the word) became a fatal flaw in their 2000 Buffalo debate (Spencer was admonished to keep his place in pre-debate coverage).
: NY-Sen, Hillary Clinton, John Spencer, carpetbag, Rick Lazio
Late in the encounter Lazio tried to get her to sign a ban on soft money contributions by striding across the stage thrusting a piece of paper into her hands asking her to sign.
Lazio: Well, why don't you just sign it?
Clinton: And you - and you did it very well.
Lazio: I'm not asking you to admire it. I'm asking you to sign it.
Clinton: Well, I would be happy when you give me the signed letters -
Lazio: Well, right here. Right here.
Clinton: When you give me -
Lazio: Right here, sign it right now.
Clinton: Well - well, we'll shake. We'll shake on this -
Lazio: No, no. I want your signature. Because I think that everybody wants to see you signing something that you said you were for.
He invaded her space literally and figuratively and paid a high price.
The Friday night debate in Rochester, NY was also largely about place. The national media's interest was not in terms of outcome of the election, hardly in question as the latest Quinnipiac University poll had Clinton leading Spencer 65 percent to 30 percent. They reported "analysts say the debates will be an important test for Clinton as she prepares to step onto the national stage." What to watch and why were packaged in such quotations as that offered by AP Political reporter Beth Fouhy writting the day before the debate.
"These debates are, in part, a dress rehearsal for presidential debates," said Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School. "She's going to come under some harsh fire, and what she says will be recorded, kept and played over and over."
Apparently the interested of the reporters asking questions at the hour long debate also was directed toward her future plans. Certain Spencer wanted to make an issue of who would "know their place" and stay I the senate for six years.
Helen Kennedy of the New York Daily News reported:
. . . nearly half the questions were about her possible presidential future instead of their Senate race.
"Obviously, people are talking about whether I will or should be running for President, and I'm flattered by that," Clinton said when asked why she wouldn't pledge to fill out her term if reelected. "If that is a concern for people, they should factor that into their decision in November. But I have made no decisions."
Moderator Dominic Carter continued to push the issue asking whether she thought she would do a better job than President Bush which she dismissed as "we only have one president at time."
Earlier they were asked if America is ready for a woman in the Oval Office. John Spencer said absolutely while Clinton said that's up to the American citizens, and offered noncommittal laughter, "I'm not going there."
Spencer worked hard to make the debate about place starting the debate. Again Kennedy reports:
"I'm the only one standing on this platform that wants to be a United States Senator for the people of New York for six years," the conservative former Yonkers, N.Y., mayor said.
"She was given a welcome mat and I believe she's using it as a doormat to get to the White House," he said in his closing statement.
In one lively exchange, Spencer was slamming Clinton for undermining support for the Iraq war by branding the President a liar and calling for the head of Donald Rumsfeld when Clinton interrupted to call again for Rumsfeld to get the boot.
"In the middle of the Civil War, the bloodiest war that our nation ever fought, Abraham Lincoln did not hesitate to change generals. We have a secretary of defense who is not credible anymore," she said.
"You're not President yet, Mrs. Clinton," Spencer shot back.
He drew headlines like:
Spencer Slams Clinton For Putting Presidential Goals Ahead Of New York.
Clinton did a very credible job (and I expect Spencer exceeded expectations). She also made moves that seemed to define her as a moderate candidate. She stressed, for example, the need for diplomacy on issues like the nuclear situation in North Korea but seemed to "out-right" Bush by saying the confrontation could justify the direct deployment of US troops, suggesting there are reasons we maintain an army in South Korea.
The Senator also on several occasions grounded her criticism of the Bush Administration with direct comparisons with the Clinton Administration, a move she audaciously avoided in 2000. The comparisons were dueling administrations, not just a senator offering congressional comment.
The New York Senate debate had echoes for 2000 in that PLACE had to do with who had the right to occupy the senate seat, this time not because she was the newcomer, but because she might abandon the seat. The debate about who rightly had place seems to be part of nearly all debates. It often takes various forms of absenteeism and overtones of carpetbagger such as home values, being out of touch, becoming too Washington, etc
