Tag: Rick Santorum

Santorum v. Casey

Last night, santorum and casey had their second televised debate.

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Tags: PA-Sen, Bob Casey, Rick Santorum

Santorum Casey Debate

On October 12, PA senator Rick Santorum and challenger Bob Casey had their second debate.

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Tags: PA-Sen, Bob Casey, Rick Santorum, rules violations, bad debates

Casey/Santorum September 3 Debate Transcript

The transcript of the debate can be found at the "Meet the Press" website.  Moderator, Tim Russert introduced the debate by saying:

MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Only 65 days until the midterm elections. The Democrats must gain six seats to take control of the U.S.  Senate. This fall we will once again present debates between the candidates in some of the hottest Senate races across the country, and this morning we kick off our 2006 SENATE DEBATE series with one of the most closely watched races of the year, Pennsylvania, where incumbent Republican Senator Rick Santorum faces off against Democratic challenger, State Treasurer Bob Casey.

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Tags: PA-Sen, Bob Casey, Rick Santorum, Meet the Press, Debate Transcript

Casey/Santorum September 3 Debate Details

WHO: Bob Casey (D) and Rick Santorum (R)

WHEN: September 3

WHERE: Washington, DC - "Meet the Press"

SPONSOR: Meet the Press

SOURCE: Meet the Press

From MTP's website:

"Meet the Press" created its "Senate Debate Series" in 2002, hosting debates from Colorado, South Carolina and Louisiana. The series was well received and went on to win the prestigious USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Award for "Excellence in Television Political Journalism." In 2004, "Meet the Press" continued the Debate Series with much success featuring the Senate races from South Dakota, Oklahoma, Colorado and South Carolina.

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Tags: PA-Sen, Bob Casey, Rick Santorum, Meet the Press, Debate

Santorum Brings Instant "fact check: to Web

The best Santorum/Casey debate may be on their web pages.

The post debate spin following this mornings Meet the Press "debate" between Santorum and Casey shows considerable sophistication. There are predicatable blog defenses and attacks; the spin you expect campaign to provide reporters. But these sites do more, and do it quickly.

Rick Santorum's web site has a page of "debate facts", "documenting" the background of issues raised in the debate. If one were not skeptical the page could be seen as a way of introducing the evidence the candidates would like to bring up in an debate, but time precludes. Of course, the fact page is more likely the campaign way of speaking to reporters (and others). Some research may make harried reporters life easier . . .

An interesting question is: does posting the "facts" on the web page invite an opponent or others to "fact check the fact check?" The Campaign's  opposition research is, in part, made transparent. Is there a special political risk in defending your truth telling when critiquing the opponent's "truths?"

Bob Casey's web team appears less active in correcting the "facts" but does some internally in the "debate story."  What they do that is interesting is provide selected video "documenting" their debate story of Santorum's stagnation.

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Tags: PA-Sen, Rick Santorum, Bob Casey, Meet the Press, US Senate, spin, fact check

Casey v. Santorum -- the Campaign's spin

Yep. This is worth it's own separate story too.

Here is the Casey Campaign website's first spin piece.

Santorum's offical campaign website already has more than one statement.

This spin coverage is hilarious:

Democratic and Republican campaign committees, however, had no qualms declaring the victor, even before they could have watched the entire debate on television.

“IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE: CASEY BEATS SANTORUM IN MEET THE PRESS DEBATE,” the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee boasted in a statement, asserting that Santorum “looking unhinged.”

“Casey Jr. Overwhelmed In Debate,” countered their rivals at the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Santorum’s team also didn’t wait for the debate to end to start spinning. During a commercial break, Brabender said he was confused and questioned reporters about whether Casey actually answered host Tim Russert’s question about whether he would still vote for the Iraq war. Casey’s answer was no, based on what is now known about the lack of a threat that Iraq posed at the start of the war.

But Brabender and Santorum spokesman Robert Traynham didn’t stop there.

They accused Casey of not offering any specifics, continuing “slash and burn politics” and even “interrupting Sen. Santorum several times."

At this point, Casey spokesman Larry Smar did what else … he interrupted to interject that Casey had in fact offered a multi-part plan

I'm sure there is much more to be done with this kind of thread but I'm out of time for now.

Use the comments if you find links to more spin coming directly from the campaigns, including their press releases websites, etc.

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Tags: PA-Sen, Rick Santorum, Bob Casey, Meet the Press, Senate, campaign spin

Casey vs. Santorum -- The media coverage

OK. This is clearly yet another kind of thread that can start fairly soon after a debate and that can be updated somewhat frequently. Commenters can add links and whoever is in charge of that debate can see that it gets done.

The first report is from the AP's Kimberly Hefling (as noted on Santorumblog). For our purposes the end of the article was most useful:

The Casey campaign has agreed to three more debates, but Santorum has only tentatively accepted. Santorum has sought to have a total of 10 debates, including some in the state's smaller media markets. The next one is expected to be Oct. 13 in Pittsburgh.

Also interesting is the little bit of "expert analysis" Hefling included:

Santorum is known as a ferocious campaigner, and there had been speculation that Casey might fall flat standing next to him. But Casey talked back to Santorum, and looked him in the eye during the exchange.

"He held his own. He seemed to belong on the same stage as Santorum," said Steven Peterson, director of the School of Public Affairs at Penn State-Harrisburg.

Professor Peterson's CV (accessed here) shows that political communication is not his specialty, but he was also a "pundit" source for a recent Public Radio Capitol News story on Santorum's "Holy War" speech.

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Tags: PA-Sen, Rick Santorum, Bob Casey, Meet the Press, Senate, media coverage

Casey v. Santorum on Meet the Press -- blogosphere reaction

It looks like this would be a good kind of thread to start about many of the debates we cover.

This DailyKos thread has 56 comments on it, many of them are worthy of response. The Red State "thread" demonstrates the fact that there is a much less powerful community blog culture on the Republican side, but it does also link to the Santorum campaign's (not sure if it is official or just a blog of a supporter) liveblog of the debate.

Update [2006-9-3 16:29:10 by Ross Smith]: Santorumblog now has multiple posts on the debate, including the transcript, link to the video, and a reply to the Americablog's one-sided review mentioned below. Heck, they have two different blog round up threads that include links to and excerpts from primarily conservative blogs, but also "middle" and "left" blogs. If we collect the links to such threads and commentary on other blogs, then it would be a useful resource. Plus, there is much food/fuel for our expert commentary in these threads.

Update [2006-9-3 16:12:8 by Ross Smith]:There is now a front page DailyKos thread that echoes the Americablog take:

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, HERE'S THE QUICK & DIRTY: Santorum called George Bush a "terrific president," admitted to sleeping in Pennsylvania just one month a year, reiterated his support for privatizing Social Security, praised Bush's handling of Iraq and insisted there were WMD in Iraq even though the White House has acknowledged there weren't. Casey laid out a new direction, calling for the Iraqis to take the lead on their own security and detailing specific ways for enhancing the U.S. military. He outlined a plan to balance the budget and spoke about the need for Pennsylvania to have a Senator who will hold George Bush accountable for advancing an ineffective agenda.

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Tags: PA-Sen, Rick Santorum, Bob Casey, Meet the Press, Senate, blogosphere debate commentary

Meet the Press Amplifies Media Narratives

Philadelphia InquirerTribune-ReviewRick Santorum and Bob Casey met for the first of a series of Senate debates September 3, 2006 on Meet the Press. The lively forty minute exchange was punctuated by pointed questions from host Tim Russert framed with visualized quotations from news sources and clips from current and past-campaign political ads. The program is, of course, the embodiment of media intersecting with politics. Media asks the questions, utilizes the media as authoritative source framing questions advanced, and encapsulated the media narratives for "what matters." Russert controls the converstion with visual "gotcha."(Watch the program)

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Tags: US Senate, Rick Santorum, Bob Casey, media narrative, pre-debate media, spin, meet the press