Tag: Senate
Webb and Tester Meet the Press - Does Russert Treat Newcomer's Differently?
Interesting. This week on Meet the Press, Tim Russert welcomed Jon Tester and Jim Webb, the two freshman Democrats whose elections took the longest to call but who together delivered the Senate to the Democrats. Analyzing this week's debate from an argumentation perspective, we see that Russert's treatment of the two is decidedly less aggressive than his treatment of McCain and Lieberman a week ago. Two possible explanations for this lighter treatment exist: 1. Russert is biased in favor of the Democratic takeover and the basic approach of Democrats to the war in Iraq, the economy, and corruption, OR 2. Russert treats newcomers differently than the experienced insiders who frequently visit his show. I will puzzle out that question a bit at the end, but let's begin this analysis by clearly illustrating the softness in Russert's approach.
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: Webb, Tester, 2006 Election, Senate, Meet the Press
Michigan Senate Depate - 10/17/06
By
scooper 10/19/2006 09:40:07 AM EST
Mike Bouchard seems to only be able to respond to the arguments Sen. Stabenow makes. His repeated platform is on the need for result, but he does not provide many practical steps for reaching such results. It is in her advantage to be able to refer to the way she has voted in the past. Bouchard seems to have to resort to mudslinging more in order to defend his platform.
I thought it was interesting when one of the questioners brought the mud-slinging issue to the forefront. Stabenow did a great job of showing her commitment and a mutual attribute of he opponent. Bouchard was much less effective.
Bouchard seems to keep dodging the questions in order to rehearse a brief speech in which he continues to repeat. Bouchard develops better arguments and more powerfully controls her rhetoric. However, I think one of Bouchard's best assertions is that Stabenow is ranked 95th out of 99 Senators because "she is not effective". In my opinion Sen. Stabenow focuses more on policy and plans for the future; as a result I think she won the debate.
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: Michigan, Senate, Debate
Arizona Senate Debate
By
rebajc3 10/18/2006 11:42:35 PM EST
This is from the Senate debate in Arizona on October 15, 2006.
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: Arizona, Senate, Jon Kyl (R), Jim Pederson (D)
Connecticut Senate Debate - 10/16/06
I chose this debate because of the current nature of the debate (it happened on Monday afternoon), and Joe Lieberman's decision to run as an Independent is very interesting to me. Since Lieberman has been a senator for so long as a Democrat, I find it to be enthralling that he has decided to withdraw himself from the political parties. This decision was very clear during the debate, and his political career is also outstanding in comparison to his two contenders.
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: Connecticut, Senate, Lieberman, Schelsinger, Lamont
Virginia Senate Election: New Revelations and Mis-steps Keep Everyone Watching
The Virginia senate election continues to tighten as the final debate approaches on October 9. Continued mis-steps, personal revelations and cross party finger pointing make the election between incumbent George Allen and challenger Jim Webb a close - and interesting - race to follow.
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: George Allen, media coverage, Senate, VA-Sen
"Meet the Press" - Allen / Webb debate analysis
Thought thin on some details, the debate was a vigorous exchange between Senator George Allen and former Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb on Meet the Press Sunday September 17. Both men defended their public statements on race and gender, but the war on terror and hostilities in Iraq took center stage.
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: VA-Sen, Jim Webb, George Allen, Senate, Meet the Press
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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: 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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: 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.
Americablog has video "highlights".
The conservative blog take is no less one sided . . .
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: PA-Sen, Rick Santorum, Bob Casey, Meet the Press, Senate, blogosphere debate commentary
