Of Expectations and Tiers
Watching the early pitch on NBC Nightly News is just like watching the Superbowl pre game show. Brian Williams and Tim Russert set up the "contest" as if a champion will be crowned at the end of the night. Russert has just laid out the expectations game that purports to define the standards that the media and pundits will use to determine winners and losers tonight. Russert puts Clinton, Obama, and Edwards in his "first tier." For these candidates, the focus is on not making mistakes. Hillary cannot appear aloof, Obama must show mastery of policy specifics, and Edwards must square his lifestyle with his concern for poverty (Russert).
Placed in the "second tier" are Richardson, who needs to show his executive experience, Biden, whose partition plan for Iraq needs to be shown to be the only realistic solution, and Dodd, who needs to emphasize his bipartisan, legislative experience (Russert). Again, all of these claims are according to Russert and become "conventional wisdom prior to the debate.
Do the democrats have a plan to beat the expectations game? Read more...
