Newswise — If you watched the second presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 7, 2008, you saw a serious, substantive 90-minute exchange of ideas by Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, answering questions in a town hall format. Moderator Tom Brokaw, the undecided voters present, and other undecided Internet voters asked approximately eighteen questions, at least five on the economic crisis, six on foreign policy, and others on energy, the environment, health care, Social Security, and Medicare.
The debate you saw, and the debate discussed on television immediately afterwards were strikingly different. Senators McCain and Obama expressed compassion for the voters in the financial crisis and emphasized their own records and solutions. Senator McCain announced a new policy proposal, for the government to buy up the bad mortgage loans. Senator Obama attacked the Bush administration and McCain for their anti-regulatory policy. McCain pointed to his bipartisan record on many policies, and called for energy independence, using a variety of energy sources. Obama said energy independence would be his top priority. Both sounded confident and positive. "We can work together to solve these problems," declared McCain, drawing analogies to successful government action in the past, such as the base-closing commission, and the bipartisan work of President Reagan and Speaker Tip O'Neill on Social Security. Obama said that the president should "set a tone" in breaking the bad financial habits of government. He spoke admiringly of President Kennedy's promise to go to the moon in the 1960's, arguing that he would follow such a model to achieve energy independence.
Both men criticized each other, referring to their specific voting records. Both touched on their family backgrounds, McCain talking about his father's long absences in the military, Obama about his mother's death from cancer at age 53. Both used self-deprecating humor, McCain about someday needing a hair transplant, Obama about his wife having a long list of things he needed to learn about. They were well prepared and knowledgeable, constructing their images as competent and decisive and compassionate leaders.
This debate contained far more information about the candidates than any political advertisement or talk show, and allowed the viewer to make comparisons of the ideas, reasoning, language, and delivery of the two presidential nominees, four weeks before the election.
What a contrast between the debate you saw and the way it was covered on PBS, MSNBC, and FOX immediately afterwards. The media commentators, tightly constrained by time limits, generally turned to four expected narratives. First, they expected McCain to attack Obama hard, because he was behind in the polls, but they didn't find McCain very aggressive. Scott Horsley of NPR said McCain "didn't land any new punches." Mark Shields of PBS said he expected more aggression from McCain. Chris Matthews of MSNBC noted that McCain did not "stick it to his rival" on the issue of William Ayers, an issue emphasized by vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
A second narrative line is about who won, and whether the result would be a "game changer." Since McCain is behind in the polls, they are looking to see if the debate changes his position. David Brooks of PBS (and the New York Times) said he gave "the edge to Obama." Rachel Maddow of MSNBC declared Obama the winner, while Pat Buchanan thought "McCain won the debate." Chris Matthews said the debate was "not a game changer for McCain." Brit Hume of Fox said he heard no memorable moments. Fox dealt with the win-loss question by reporting post-debate poll results from Frank Luntz, saying that Obama won on "who touched you more," that there were mixed results on the economy discussion, with some positives for McCain, and that health care helped Obama with independents. In summary, most agreed there was no big gaffe or dramatic moment that would change the campaign and benefit McCain.
A third narrative was about the physical delivery of the candidates, the way the candidates looked and sounded. Brooks found Obama having a "calmness" about him, and Horsley of NPR found McCain showing "warmth" in manner towards the questioners. Matthews spoke of Obama's "wonderful smile," and said he was more "debonair."
A fourth media focus was on anything new. Brooks of PBS stressed that McCain's proposal of the government buying poor mortgages was new, and would be a news story for several days. Charles Krauthammer on Fox also noted that this new proposal to nationalize mortgages was McCain's attempt at a game changer.
The media fixation with whether the debate is a game changer is unrealistic. Few voters change support from one candidate to the other based on a single debate. Reinforcement of prior views, and gaining new information on the candidates are significant effects, however. And if there is a development in the debate which gets heavy media attention later (such as McCain's new proposal on mortgages, for example), that shift in attention can influence the campaign dynamics.
In the end, if you can watch the debate yourself, you will find much of the news media coverage immediately afterwards to be fragmentary, impulsive, partisan, and unsatisfying. Though the majority of campaign messages are short and superficial, the debates offer us a far more substantial way to scrutinize the contenders for our vote.
________________________________________SHORT BIO http://www.comm.umd.edu/faculty/kkendall.html Dr. Kendall's research focuses on political campaign communication, particularly in the presidential primaries and in presidential debates. She has produced a DVD/video on the primaries (Primaries: Defining the Battle in New Hampshire. Dr. Kendall has received awards for her teaching and scholarship from the Eastern Communication Association, and was a Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University in 1997. Representative Publications: Kathleen E. Kendall, Communication in the Presidential Primaries: Candidates and the Media, 1912-2000 (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2000). Kathleen E. Kendall, ed., Presidential Campaign Discourse (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. Kendall, who has trailed the candidates through New Hampshire since 1988, maintained a blog this past January. http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/sociss/release.cfm?ArticleID=1571
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