Wednesday, September 19, 2007

HORSERACE

Are Republicans Ducking Debates? Or Are There Just Too Darn Many of Them?

The Washington Post laments that the major GOP candidates (Giuliani, Thompson, Romney and McCain) aren't attending the Morgan State University debate later this month, citing scheduling conflicts.

I like Tavis Smiley - he was a genial, pleasant moderator/referee for the earlier Democratic debate, but when he makes comments like this...

"When you reject every black invitation and every brown invitation you receive, is that a scheduling issue or is it a pattern?" he asked. "I don't believe anybody should be elected president of the United States if they think along the way they can ignore people of color. That's just not the America we live in."

...he has to know that makes GOP candidates less likely to attend, as they're more or less being accused of racism before they walk in the door.

And obviously, the big four on the GOP side aren't just turning down that debate. A reader complains that there wasn't sufficient coverage on NRO of the ValuesVoters debate Monday night. That debate wasn't even televised; it was broadcast through web sites and two Christian radio stations. The reach to voters, even socially conservative, devoutly Christian voters, was extraordinarily limited, even compared to the historically modest audiences for the televised debates so far. If there had been some amazing moment, some great answer, that might have changed the dynamics of the race, it would have gotten more attention.

As it was, the general sense was that on a stage that included Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, John Cox, and Alan Keyes, Huckabee won. Well, he's been the standout among those guys at all the previous debates; Monday night offered more of the same before a much smaller audience.

Both of these reflect that the debates started way too early this cycle, and the fact that there are just too many of them. (Also, one would probably try to avoid scheduling them near the end-of-the-quarter fundraising rush.) Ironically, ones that focused more on particular demographics or issues might be more interesting, since we're getting more or less the same questions from George Stephanopolous, Chris Matthews, Wolf Blitzer, etc.

09/19 10:05 AMShare