While there's no denying that two candidates did engage in a vigorous tussle for a few moments in last Wednesday's Republican debate in New Hampshire, the event with that momentary bang nonetheless ended with a whimper as all the candidates struggled to answer the "what do you do?" hypothetical question concerning Iran that ended the evening. The final segment of the debate produced little direct clash (except between the questioner and some of the candidates), and the answers were riddled with inconsistencies and other ambiguities. Which is hardly the candidate's fault - hypothetical questions tend to have that sort of an effect.
Pundits have been saying that in spite of the extra long campaign season this cycle, the real game will be on once we pass Labor Day.
If the ratings for Wednesday's GOP presidential primary debate at the University of New Hampshire on FOX News are any indication, the pundits have a point.
The debate, hosted by Fox News, drew 3.14 million total viewers and 854,000 viewers in the adults 25 to 54 demographic. The network's performance easily topped nine previous presidential debates held this year, including the 2.2 rating and 2.42 million households ABC posted for the Aug. 19 Democratic debate.
As I find them I have been bookmarking viewership reports at del.iciou.us. Just go there and do this search to see all of the articles: debatescoop viewership.
The format of the FOX News debate last night, 90 minutes, eight candidates, 60 second answers, 30 second "rebuttals" has been criticized as not really a debate, more an extended forum.
Last night a debate broke out:
How refreshing. Does it not leave you (whatever side you are on) wanting more? Does it not reveal the principals and the abilities of these two better than the regular format does?
There are liveblogs galore if you know where to look (go to del.icio.us and use the search "debatescoop liveblog").
Many are play-by-play, others seem to have little relation to the debate being watched, some are from partisans on blogs, and Ana Marie Cox's at Swampland are hilarious (add humor to the search above for the older ones). Cox's liveblog of tonight's debate is here.
Tonight I will use this one as an experiment for the special purpose of DebateScoop: I will pose potential research questions or story ideas for those of us most interested in better analysis of political candidate debates.
Read the comments and add to them yourself for the liveblog discussion . . . .
Aired during the FOX News debate Fred skipped in favor of the Leno Show.
Paraphrase:
Future of planet at stake. Details will have to wait until tomorrow. Now back to the debate.
Click me to go to the video. Update [2007-9-5 23:6:24 by Ross Smith]:It was just a matter of time (and not very much of it) before the video made it to YouTube to its embed here:
