CNN and YouTube: The Wrong Debate at the Wrong Time?

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

I previewed tonight's YouTube debate yesterday here (liveblogging starts here at 8 p.m.). I feel even stronger about my conclusion today - the right time for this debate was earlier in the year, not in the final five-week stretch before Iowa, when the real punches are starting to be thrown.

Right now, I'm not even sure you would need a moderator. Just put the GOP field on a stage and Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney will instantly go at it tooth and claw over spending, taxes, immigration, appointments, ethics, authenticity, cronyism, you name it. Thompson will point out that Huckabee's "a pro-life liberal." Huckabee will point out that his rise suggests that the GOP field has examined the other big four and found them lacking. Ron Paul will offer a view none of the other candidates will, and somebody will get into a big debate over fundamentals, probably on foreign policy. Somebody, probably McCain, will try to pin Romney down on what he's been saying about the possibility of Muslims serving in his cabinet.

CNN is sorting through the questions, and explains why:

For all the talk about online voter empowerment, the web is still too immature a medium to set an agenda for a national debate, says CNN senior vice president David Bohrman.
"If you would have taken the most-viewed questions last time, the top question would have been whether Arnold Schwarzenegger was a cyborg sent to save the planet Earth," says Bohrman, the debate's executive producer. "The second-most-viewed video question was: Will you a convene a national meeting on UFOs?"

There's probably going to be room for one or two wacky questions at the end. ("Diamonds or pearls?" Gag.) But there's less room for the what-the-hell-was-the-point-of-that-question? moments in this one. Quite a few folks felt the last debate on CNN didn't go well - claims of pro-Hillary applause, the candidates seeming to berate Wolf Blitzer, some professional Democratic questioners not identified, a report that CNN urged that lame question to Hillary about neckwear, etc. Some criticism was more justified than others, but CNN probably doesn't want two off-kilter debates in a row.

11/28 01:11 PM Share