Tag: democratic primary
The Best and Worst Questions?
Cross posted at Huffington Post's Off the Bus pages (but this DebateScoop has new info unavailable earlier).
Jack Muse reported that Monday's first YouTube debate "has been widely praised in all corners of the media" because of the one respect in which it really differed from previous debates, the use of citizen generated video questions.
But what is a good question? Which of the questions in Monday's debate were better and which worse? Our students and faculty at the Ben Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Initiative and the Wake Forest University Debate program set out to answer just that question and we have some interesting, albeit preliminary, answers.
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: debates, debate, 2008 elections, democratic primary, YouTube, questions
Inside the Richardson Debate Prep Room with Jeff Parcher
I am privileged by having a long friendship and professional relationship with Jeff Parcher, Senior Communications Advisor to the Richardson campaign. Like some of my (few) regular readers, I first met Jeff when he was a national caliber debater for Western Washington University and I was a judge. Jeff went on to be the Debate Coach at Georgetown University where his team was always one of the best prepared in the nation and won the National Debate Tournament in 1992.
Jeff will do another interview with us comparing and contrasting candidate debate prep with the college debate activity after the non-stop intensity of preparing for tomorrow night's CNN/YouTube debate, but for now we are grateful he found the time to tell us about the unique challenges posed by prepping for a debate in which all of the questions are viewable in advance and are submitted by the public:
The interview is below the fold. . . .
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: YouTube, debate, debates, Bill Richardson, Democratic primary, 2008 elections
My Question for the YouTube Debate
Even though Ana Marie Cox has dissed next Monday's CNN/YouTube Democratic primary debate I went ahead and submitted a video of my question and have been successful at persuading some students from the U.S. and Europe at the summer program I am helping teach to submit their questions, too.
Odds are my question won't be featured in the debate itself. There are over 1000 questions already submitted at the submission site. And, unfortunately, there is no grassroots or netroots input into the selection of the questions, a fact that diminishes the debate's claim to "revolutionize" the process as TechPresident's Joshua Levy argues.
Nevertheless, the argument I used to persuade myself and others to submit questions in spite of the odds and the criticism goes as follows:
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: debate, debates, Democratic primary, 2008 elections, YouTube
Liveblog of Howard U. Debate
Use the comments to discuss the debate as it unfolds.
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: 2008 elections, Tavis Smiley, democratic primary
Preview of tonight's debate
This is a quick set of things to think about and look for tonight.
- Format. Will the format, that equalizes opportunity to answer questions, help some of the lower tier candidates seem to be more impressive? As Dodd's Talk Clock showed us, previous debates were so tilted to Clinton, Obama and Edwards that the debates further diminished those not in the top tier.
- What are the best questions for issues most relevant to African Americans? Health care and jobs are of concern to all, of course, as is Iraq. Recent statistics show a 30% plus drop in African American military enlistment attributable largely to Iraq, for instance.
But trade is an issue that has not been dealt with in previous debates and immigration, following today's Senate rejection of a bill, are economic issues that may deserve more attention than they have received in earlier Democratic debates.
I would ask about the nation's drug laws. Our drug laws are share a great deal of the responsibility for the fact that a huge percentage of African American males are now or have been in prison. It's been called "The New Jim Crow."
After today's Supreme Court decision rejecting the integration plans of the Louisville and Seattle schools, there is likely to be a question about the educational needs of African Americans.
A reparations question would be great. The answer, whatever it is, would require the candidate to speak in a principled way.
Affirmative action, affordable college loans, access to health care are all too easy and do not really expose distinctions among the Democratic candidates.
- Will Edwards continue to try to act like Obama and Hillary are somehow too timid? Edwards has his poverty agenda and often uses a passive/aggressive approach ("hope is not enough") to try to assert himself. In the last debate the attacks on Obama and Hillary did not seem to have much effect and may have helped Obama.
- Is extra pressure on Obama to prove that a) he is "really black" and b) that he can debate well? My guess is no an yes, respectively. The consensus is that Obama improved from the first debate to the second. The "authentically black" question seems to have disappeared.
- How can Hillary best cash in on the "first black president" reputation of her husband?
- Fun stuff. Will Richardson still remind us in every answer that he is a governor? Will Biden embarrass himself? Will Dodd sound at all presidential? Who will seem least relevant, Kucinich or Gravel?
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: Tavis Smiley, democratic primary, 2008 elections, minorities
Tavis Smiley Hosts Dem "Debate" Tonight
We're back in the nick of time with news of (and some coverage later) tonight's debate from Howard University at 9pm Eastern on PBS.
The debate, hosted by Tavis Smiley with questions all posed by minority journalists, will be "focused on issues of importance to African American voters," according to the brief write up in the Washington Post.
The debate has an element of fairness that previous ones did not: each candidate will get to answer each of the 12 questions.
Media Matters and others have questioned the fairness of post-debate commentator and pollster Frank Luntz both because of his Republican ties and because of his past ethical lapses. One does wonder why PBS could not find someone perceived as more neutral.
This debate has had very little coverage, perhaps because of the subject matter, perhaps the non-commercial outlet, or perhaps because it is summer and the end of quarter fundraising news is easier.
For ourselves, we were just distracted.
Time to get back to work!
Update [2007-6-28 17:17:12 by Ross Smith]: PBS has a website for the debate and you can watch it via streaming video if you are not near a TV.
Check back here for a liveblog at 9 and commentary after.
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: debate, debates, minorities, democratic primary, presidential primary, 2008 elections
LiveBlog - Dems in NH in June
Join me in commenting on the debate tonight as it unfolds . . .
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: liveblog, debate, debates, New Hampshire, democratic primary, 2008
SC Dem Debate Liveblog
Use the comments below to add your reactions as the debate unfolds (and immediately before and after).
No TV? Here is the link to MSNBC video.
In addition to a liveblog and post-debate analysis, tune in to the debut of our Blog Talk Radio Show. We'll air at midnight EDT after Thursday's debate. Can't be earlier since new shows there are blocked from the 7-midnight slots. Nevertheless, it's good for all the night owls and those in the west. Plus we'll have time to digest the post debate spin and coverage before going on air.
Just click the nifty button and you're on your way.
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: liveblog, debate, debates, South Carolina, democratic primary, 2008
