Tag: format
Experimenting with the Fall Presidential Debates
The media is at work offering the candidates advice for the fall debates. In particular, the Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau's Jim Tankersley weighs in with a list to guide the traveling road show proposed by McCain. Some of the ideas have merit; others would raise more debates among the campaigns and the media.
The meta-message of this advice is: (1) the Commission on Presidential Debates is not a factor, never even acknowledged in the post and (2) despite careful wording the campaigned is framed as a two man race, the proposal implicitly "assumes" McCain vs. Obama.
Specific suggestions from the entry "Traveling debates for McCain, Obama? Here's how."
The "road show" format could change that with a few simple guidelines that wouldn't favor either candidate - only voters.
- Let the candidates pick a number of debates in advance and promise to stick to them - no calls for more debates later if someone is trailing in the polls or media exposure. We'll use 10 for our example, but it could be any number the campaigns decide on.
- Draft venues. Ten debates? McCain picks five sites, the Democrat picks five sites. No objections allowed. If they wanted to get fancy, they could each have to pick a site in one of five regions - the Northeast, the South, the industrial Midwest, the Southwest and the West Coast.
The Swamp's suggestions continues below the cut
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: format, road show debates, media advice, CPD
How Democratic are the YouTube Debates?
[Editor Note -- The following study was undertaken by Alex Lamballe, a junior varsity debater at Wake Forest University. His study examines the questions used in two CNN/YouTube debates. He assesses if the purportedly democratic format fulfilled it purpose.]
Democracy should be about more than great television. And it doesn't end with our ability to ask more vibrant and compelling questions. It also includes strengthening our ability to get real answers. (Sifry 2007)
The CNN/YouTube debates produced a great deal of political excitement from the day that they were announced. Most of the excitement was focused on the idea that the inclusion of YouTube video questions in the debate would make the presidential debate process more democratic and deliberative by bridging the gap between the general public and the candidates for the 2008 presidential election.
Unfortunately, the excitement over the potential of the new debate format to produce democratic change noticeably dulled just after the first of the two debates. Many people did not find the debate to be as revolutionary as they believed it would be and were generally disappointed with the inability of the CNN/YouTube debate to produce a discussion much different than that heard in past debates.
Indeed, the trend carried over into the second CNN/YouTube debate, which similarly failed to produce a dramatically innovative debate. The current controversy surrounding the debates frequently centers on the concern that CNN chose the questions for the debates. Indeed, much of the failure of the CNN/YouTube debates to produce a more educational and deliberative political discussion can be explained by CNN's role in selecting the questions for the debates.
paper continues below cut
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: YouTube debates, questions, format
Debates in Pennsylvania? Lincoln/Douglas Revisited.
Will there be more debates in primary season? Pressure on the campaigns to debate in the long lull before the Pennsylvania primary will be forthcoming. An opening salvo was issued by Bill Whalen in the San Francisco Observer today.
This fall marks the sesquicentennial anniversary of the fabled Lincoln-Douglas debates - a series of seven one-on-one encounters across the state of Illinois which, for two months in 1858, settled not only a very contentious Senate contest but also catapulted Abraham Lincoln into the subsequent presidential race of 1860. Why not do the same for the Pennsylvania primary and get Clinton and Barack to stop fussing and feuding and instead talk abut real issues?
Whalen offers a schedule of seven debates for the seven Pennsylvania markets, paralleling the seven encounters in Illinois.
He also suggests formats and content. For example, "Keep the national media off the stage and let local reporters ask the questions." Breaking the stranglehold of 24/7s "debate ownership" seems unlikely in the short term, but is a laudable goal.
I would add: why not hold one or more of these debates in North Carolina and Indiana. Together there are more delegates at stake than in PA.
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: primary debates, Lincoln-Douglas debates, Pennsylvania, San Francisco Observer, format
Two Iowas - When Debates Are Not Debates
Two hours, two debates, two disappointments: The Des Moines Register Debates from Iowa will push pundits to find a lead for their new stories and blogs. The format/moderator, which led yesterday's GOP no-news debate won't be enough today. The format didn't fundamentally change and results were similar -- muted repetitions of known candidate positions; so what's the news? The format of linear "interchange" again throttled at least some of the characteristics we'd like in debate, simply stated: DEBATE. [In fairness, the moderator had some flashes of personality today]
Candidates are often advised in debates to recognize that many viewers are first-timers who will hear their stance. Certainly that's good advice since even in the three main-stage presidential debates, after months of coverage, large numbers of "yet to be informed" are reached.
This advice, however, seems a misread of what was needed with the Iowa Register debates. They were more repetitions of candidate stump speeches than fresh information; and that is just not enough for these debates.
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: democatic debate, Iowa, format
Flawed Formats-Candidate Initiated Questions - Montana Senate 6th Debate
Debates aired on C-Span are increasingly using a flawed format, the segment where candidates are invited to ask one question of their opponent. The impulse is understandable as the interchanges are usually lively-sparks flying-energizing otherwise tedious debates.
A couple dozen debates aired on C-Span have used the practice. Although statistical validation awaits the luxury of post-campaign analysis I venture the following observations. Candidate questions tend to be:
* Imprecise, long accusatory exhortations by candidates, often interrupted by the moderator seeking to know just what the question is.
* Questions about scandal. Accusations raised elsewhere in the campaign are reintroduced, presumably for emphasis, but typically only solicit practiced answers and counter accusations
* Questions about campaign ads. Perhaps a majority of questions ask if they Stand by their ads, why they continue to air lies. Not surprisingly, the answer is to insist they are true and matched by the questioner's improprieties.
* Questions seem to be reflexive with horserace sensitivity, seldom an exploration of issues
* When questions address issues they often are designed to hoodwink, raising examples they presume the opponent will not have thought about or heard of before. Obscurity as strategy may reflect how "clever" some researcher is but doesn't seem to enlighten.
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: Sen-MT, Conrad Burns, Jon Tester, candidate questions, format, Gov-NV
