Media Criticism

Voters who had not read articles, watched TV ads or heard anything about the candidates for president in 2008 may have thought that Thursday’s Democratic debate was a reunion of old friends. Analysts on CNN spoke about Hillary Clinton’s subtle dig at the hope of Obama and the demands for change by Edwards in a vain attempt at finding a moment of contention. The strict format set forth by the venerable Iowan newspaper seemed to take the bite out of the candidates in their last effort to convince caucus goers of their qualifications.

There were a few great moments in the debate. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton shared a laugh over a verbal gaffe by Edwards. Obama came to the defense of Joe Biden regarding Biden’s past gaffes dealing with racial issues. Bill Richardson made a joke about a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight while Christopher Dodd asked voters to caucus the right way on January 3rd. It is impossible to say that any of these moments elevated the discussion or helped any reasonable voter in Iowa make a final decision.

CNN said that their small group of undecided Democratic voters overwhelmingly chose John Edwards as the winner of the debate. I think the debate is illegitimate in the sense that Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel were not given an opportunity to speak while Alan Keyes was able to set up shop in Wednesday’s Republican debate. There were few knockout punches thrown and Democrats seemed to follow Republicans in trying to paint a positive picture while mail pieces and radio ads allow opponents to cut each other up. I am excited to see if the hype around Obama and Huckabee manifest in a victory on January 3rd. Here are three projections for the Iowa caucuses:

1. The nature of the caucuses, namely the viability clause, will ensure that Hillary Clinton won’t win in Iowa. Obama will get the nod from voters with Edwards getting second because few people have Clinton as their second choice.
2. I think that Romney will narrowly win in Iowa though look for a strong second place finish from Mike Huckabee. Huckabee will get some momentum heading into South Carolina (forget New Hampshire) where he will likely win.
3. Ron Paul’s fundraising success will have an effect in New Hampshire but not in Iowa because his small core of supporters in Iowa will be more willing to sit out the vote than team with another campaign to achieve viability in the caucuses.

Most Americans probably didn’t see the Des Moines Register Republican debates this afternoon because they were at work. Since the final date of the Iowa caucuses was not determined until recently, the newspaper and the candidates for the Republicans and the Democrats weren’t able to finalize a date for the debate. The compromise for everyone involved was 1:00pm Central time on a Tuesday. If you haven’t seen clips from the debates yet, you don’t need to worry too much since there was little of substance that came from the debate.

You can blame two factors on the failure to get much out of the Register’s debate: the moderator and the format. Carolyn Washburn, the editor of the Des Moines Register, acted as moderator for a field of candidates including professional presidential candidate Alan Keyes. Washburn alternated between the weaknesses of past moderators like Anderson Cooper and an overly zealous approach to watching the clock when lesser known candidates were speaking. I am not a huge Fred Thompson fan but I loved it when he snapped back at Washburn for asking a question that asked grown men to raise their hands. Senator Thompson should be lauded for challenging this ridiculous trend in political debates. Ideas should be bandied about instead of relegated to silent nods and hand waving.

The format has been blamed by some pundits for encouraging sound bite responses by all the candidates. You could have any format in a political debate and have it fail miserably. If you give a politician 30 seconds and a microphone, prepare to hear an abbreviation of their stump speech. I like the format’s limitations on direct confrontations since civil discourse often turns into one-upsmanship.

There were a few good things that came out of Tuesday’s debate. Alan Keyes shows what a true 1990s family values conservative looks like and I can’t imagine more than a dozen voters will like the cut of his jib. Mike Huckabee’s frontrunner status finally exposes him to some criticism and critical analysis. I think the winner in this debate was Fred Thompson because he gave off the presidential vibe that many primary voters look for. You should all check back tomorrow for my look at the Democratic debate and a comparison to the management of the debate by the Des Moines Register.