Who Should Be at the Debates?
As we prepare for the third and last Presidential debate, the debate over the debates is heating up. Specifically I've been hearing from the Green Party who wants Cynthia McKinney to be allowed on the stage. McKinney, Barr and Nader have taken their desire to debate McCain and Obama to VoterWatch, where they have posted responses to the Mississippi debate.
At the center of the debate is the last of the three "simple" rules that the Commission on Presidential Debates uses to determine who gets on the stage:
The CPD's third criterion requires that the candidate have a level of support of at least 15% (fifteen percent) of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recent publicly-reported results at the time of the determination.
I couldn't find evidence that any of the national polls even include third party candidates outside of "Other." Which begs the question, how are any third party candidate expected to get to 15 percent if no one knows they are running, including those who are being polled? But I admit that I didn't look at each poll, either. There sure are a heck of a lot of them!
On the other side of the podium is the moderators and their questions. Out of three debates we'll have three white men asking the questions. Of course, we saw Gwen Ifill ask questions at the vice presidential debate, but she didn't bring it in terms of women's issues as one might expect of the lone woman to ask any of the candidates questions. So why can't a woman or a man of color ask the questions to the big boys? At least there are a few ways for the people to get heard during the debates. For this last debate, the Women's Media Center asked people to submit questions for Bob Schieffer to use.
In the end, do the debates matter to you? Are they a spectator sport or do they serve a purpose in actually helping you decide who to vote for? As a highly partisan gal, it's all sport to me -- seeing who says what on which topic, etc. Do drinking games and bingo dilute the debates to merely entertainment? What would make the debates more informative for you as a voter?
add to del.icio.us
add to digg
add to yahoo
related at technorati
share on facebook
Check our most impactful articles and see how popular these opinions are with you.
Will others follow in your footsteps? Share your thoughts and ideas for changing the world.
I think the debates give people less a chance to weigh the candidates' positions on things, and more an opportunity to gauge their characters.
Much like a courtroom, where the jury is just as likely to analyze the lawyers' demeanor, looks, and voice as they are the evidence presented, the debate provides a forum for people to see how the candidates perform under pressure and with an adversary.
I guess this is the "sport" aspect you mentioned, but I wouldn't discredit its value in selecting a candidate, if one is still undecided. Character is important, and as we've seen with Sarah Palin's interviews, candid responses to difficult questions can be telling not only in what is or isn't said, but in how it's said (or not).