Tag: Conrad Burns
Flawed Formats-Candidate Initiated Questions - Montana Senate 6th Debate
Debates aired on C-Span are increasingly using a flawed format, the segment where candidates are invited to ask one question of their opponent. The impulse is understandable as the interchanges are usually lively-sparks flying-energizing otherwise tedious debates.
A couple dozen debates aired on C-Span have used the practice. Although statistical validation awaits the luxury of post-campaign analysis I venture the following observations. Candidate questions tend to be:
* Imprecise, long accusatory exhortations by candidates, often interrupted by the moderator seeking to know just what the question is.
* Questions about scandal. Accusations raised elsewhere in the campaign are reintroduced, presumably for emphasis, but typically only solicit practiced answers and counter accusations
* Questions about campaign ads. Perhaps a majority of questions ask if they Stand by their ads, why they continue to air lies. Not surprisingly, the answer is to insist they are true and matched by the questioner's improprieties.
* Questions seem to be reflexive with horserace sensitivity, seldom an exploration of issues
* When questions address issues they often are designed to hoodwink, raising examples they presume the opponent will not have thought about or heard of before. Obscurity as strategy may reflect how "clever" some researcher is but doesn't seem to enlighten.
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: Sen-MT, Conrad Burns, Jon Tester, candidate questions, format, Gov-NV
Platitudes and Latitudes: Montana's 4th Senate Debate
It has been my experience when working in multi-debate campaigns that it difficult to predict the texture and feel of any given debate. Just as with a professor going from class to class, knowing what will transpire is often folly.
Jon Tester and Conrad Burns meet in Helena Montana for their latest Senate debate just three days after a Monday showdown in Bozeman.
How different the debates! In an entry below on debatescoop.org I was critical of Senator Burns indicating for several reasons why he lost at MSU. Tonight's debate illustrates the variability of debate to debate.
The more intimate affair at the Helena Airport brought out a different Burns. He was relaxed, with humor, and more than any of the other encounters made a sturdy case for incumbency. He even found ways to make a reasoned case for "earmarks" with the airport venue being exhibit one. (Specific evidence will be provided when transcripts are available.)
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: MT-Sen, Jon Tester, Conrad Burns
Too Many Debates?: Montana's Never Ending Senate Campaign
Republican Senator Conrad Burns met challenger Democrat Jon Tester before a large crowd at Montana State University in Bozeman Monday evening (Oct. 9). The debate aired live on C-Span As a MSU alum I watched the debate with nostalgia as both candidates sought to identify with the Bobcat audience.
I have followed the series of debates in the Montana Senate race (commentary on the first two below). The MSU debate was third in a series of six debates (and a seventh was held earlier in the year in Whitefish sponsored by the Montana Broadcasters- also on C-Span). The reason for six debates grows out of a Montana tradition for lots of debates. In one of Marc Racicot governor races debates numbers somewhere in the 30 range (but at that point who was counting . . . or listening). Another reason for so many debates is that Montana is a large state with many media markets and population centers that match the number of debates.
I watched the debate expecting to comment on the idea of can there be too many debates in a campaign. I predicted I would not learn much that was new from the Bozeman encounter. Surely two or three debates are enough in any campaign. That is not what happened. This debate diverged from the other two in important ways.
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: MT-Sen, Jon Tester, Conrad Burns, multi-party debates, libertarians, Stan Jones
Live Blog - Burns vs. Tester
Comment here to participate in our live blog on the Tester-Burns debate.
Update [2006-10-10 0:19:1 by Ross Smith]: Other liveblogs: IntelligentDiscontent and LeftIntheWest, both from the Dem side, but both have folks who have good debate experience and training.
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: MT-Sen, Conrad Burns, Jon Tester, live blogging
Reading About Debates: The 2nd Montana Senate Debate
Butte Montana, Sept 24 - Senate President John Tester and Senator Conrad Burns held their second of six US Senate debates before a more subdued audience than their first debate, returning to issues of Jobs and Corruption that have characterized the contest. (The Montana Standard, Butte).
Where would one turn if they wanted to learn more about the debate's content? Television ran some visuals, but relied primarily on visuals (video)
Newspapers provided more, with the AP story dominating state and National coverage. It was brief and generalized in only the broadest sense. It was picked up across the country appearing from the LA Times to the Washington Post.
If you really wanted to know the "themes" in the debate you would turn to more independent newspaper covering the debate. Reporter Gwen Florio, Great Falls Tribune and Leslie McCarney, The Montana Standard (debate's sponsor) both provide more information that the AP summary.
If one really wanted to know what happened in the debate it is time to turn to the major on-line newspaper (part blog, part Poor Richard Almanac, part Wikipedia for reporters) for some real substance. The on-line "newspaper" is NEW WEST: the Voice of the Rocky Mountains. Reporter Paul Driscoll writes "Lobbying Questions Fire Up Butte Burns-Tester Senate Debate." The article parallels a superior effort in the first Burns/Tester Hamilton debate by New West.
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: MT-Sen, Conrad Burns, Jon Tester, Media Coverage, On-Line newspapers
What is the Audience Role in News Coverage?
Jon Tester (D) a serious Democrat challenger took on Montana Senator Conrad Burns in a Debate last Sunday afternoon in Hamilton, MT. For the newspapers the dominant player in the debates was not Tester or Burns, but rather the audience.
The newspaper coverage in Montana while more diverse than three sources is nonetheless dominated by three: The Great Fall Tribune, the AP Capital Bureau and the Lee Newspapers (Billings, Helena, Butte, Missoula, etc.).
The pattern was a bit different for this debate with the Missoulian writing a long piece about the debate, being the newspaper of record for the Bitterroot Valley, whose heart is Hamilton. The Great Falls Tribune also ran a long piece and the Lee newspapers picked up the AP reporter's story.
I read the newspapers with interest, looking for indications that the debate was influenced by the day-before-coverage predicting that it would focus on US Policy in Iraq. Other than one truncated exchange buried both in follow-up reporting and the debate itself, the press predictions failed to materialize
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: MT-Sen, Conrad Burns, Jon Tester, newspaper coverage, audience, hamilton
Burns/Tester Audio via Debating Blogger
Poking around for information to help Allan with the Burns/Tester debate, I found Intelligent Discontent via a link from Left In the West, another of the powerful liberal blogs in Montana that helped the "netroots" push Tester through the primary.
An e-mail to the guys at Intelligent Discontent got a quick reply -- they would indeed be trying to make an audio file. The high quality audio can be found here.
I poked around at the Intelligent Design site and discovered that one of the bloggers, Don Pogreba, is a teacher who also runs Big Sky Debate. Small world.
Follow me below the fold for more interesting tidbits about the debate and the bloggers.
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: MT-Sen, Conrad Burns, Jon Tester, audio
Hot Montana Senate Race to hold Sunday Debate
One of the Nations hottest Senate Races to hold its second debate: the Ravalli Republic Forum Debate.
Conrad Burns, longest serving MT GOP Senator in Montana history is scheduled to debate State Senate President and Big Sandy farmer John Tester Sunday at 2 pm in Hamilton Montana.
The two candidates already held an early season debate hosted by the Montana Broadcasters Association in Whitefish MT.
Yellowstone Public Radio, Billings MT, has links to audio from the first debate and an interview series covering Montana politics.
Unlike some web pages the Montana Senate sites only contain small announcments of the debate. Burn's in a list of events, and Tester with an invitation to listen or attend in a front page story.
Reporter Rob Chaney sets the scene:
The slugfest for one of Montana's seats in the U.S. Senate comes Sunday to Western Montana when Republican Sen. Conrad Burns and Democratic challenger and state Sen. Jon Tester debate in Hamilton.
The exchange takes place at 2 p.m. in the Hamilton High School performing arts center. It will also be broadcast at 7 p.m. on KUFM radio
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: MT-Sen, Conrad Burns, Jon Tester, Yellowstone Public Radio
