Crashing the Party - Sparks Fly BEFORE 2nd Nevada's Governor Debate -- And Texas Too
In case you missed the C-Span broadcast Nevada Governor Debate from Bally's in Las Vegas last night (Oct. 10) the drama that colored coverage occurred as the MC took the stage to introduce candidates Dina Titus (D) and Jim Gibbons (R). (Video-C-SPAN) Chris Hansen stormed the stage shouting his demand to participate in the debate. After the awkward moment, in which candidates shifted uneasily at their podiums, and the moderator admonished the intruder, security bodily removed Hansen from the stage.
Print reports addressed the debate's issues, reporting mid-story the altercation (e.g. most widely distributed coverage was AP story), but TV stories favored the visual drama, placing the flag clothed candidate as their lead (e.g. KVCB Las Vegas).
The second Governor's debate begins with one of the candidates for the state's top job getting kicked out of the building. Independent candidate Christopher Hansen ran onto the stage at Bally's, demanding that he participate.
There is an ongoing debate about the wisdom of excluding third party candidates from debates. Typically hosting authorities invoke some level of polling support to legitimize
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: NV-Gov, TX-Gov, Dina Titus, Jim Gibbons, Multi-party Debates, Kinky Friedman, Candidate Questioning
Too Many Debates?: Montana's Never Ending Senate Campaign
Republican Senator Conrad Burns met challenger Democrat Jon Tester before a large crowd at Montana State University in Bozeman Monday evening (Oct. 9). The debate aired live on C-Span As a MSU alum I watched the debate with nostalgia as both candidates sought to identify with the Bobcat audience.
I have followed the series of debates in the Montana Senate race (commentary on the first two below). The MSU debate was third in a series of six debates (and a seventh was held earlier in the year in Whitefish sponsored by the Montana Broadcasters- also on C-Span). The reason for six debates grows out of a Montana tradition for lots of debates. In one of Marc Racicot governor races debates numbers somewhere in the 30 range (but at that point who was counting . . . or listening). Another reason for so many debates is that Montana is a large state with many media markets and population centers that match the number of debates.
I watched the debate expecting to comment on the idea of can there be too many debates in a campaign. I predicted I would not learn much that was new from the Bozeman encounter. Surely two or three debates are enough in any campaign. That is not what happened. This debate diverged from the other two in important ways.
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: MT-Sen, Jon Tester, Conrad Burns, multi-party debates, libertarians, Stan Jones
