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Tough
Year For Live Debates
By Edward E. Turner
The highest form of public
service in the political arena, in our humble opinion, is a public
debate between candidates. We see their families only in passing,
usually not until the end of the program, unlike seeing them as
a main element of an information-free ad. If mud is to be slung,
the recipient is there to either defend himself or at least sling
some right back.
Almost always, there are reputable
journalists asking questions, and ideally the candidates have no
idea beforehand what questions are coming (although if they are
worthy of office they should have a good idea what's coming). 2006
has brought a confluence of three events which can potentially make
the live debate format at the very least unusually interesting.
One is the new 325K fine for
an egregious incident of broadcast indecency. Second is the page
scandal swirling around ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL). And third, the
ugly war in Iraq. The debate surrounding who knew what when has
guaranteed that the topic's geographical footprint goes far beyond
the Florida border. And it has led some candidates to look for embarrassing
sexual content in their opponent's public or not-so-public records.
And debates offer the kind of forum where these findings may be
brought to light, and potentially threaten a broadcasters wallet
and clean record with a hefty indecency fine.
For example, a recent Associated
Press headline read, "Sex talk dominates N.C. election debate."
The War in Iraq should provide spirited exchanges given which side
the incumbent landed at the start of US involvement or whether or
not they have chosen to entrench themselves there.
Democrats
Respond To Big Republican Media Buys
By Aquina Gonzales
After national Republican campaign
organizations were reported making huge one-day cash bombings in
multiple congressional districts from coast to coast, reports have
surfaced that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has
spent almost 12M in one day, spreading it out amongst 32 candidates
in 17 states. According to website TPM Cafe, a little less than
half of the cash, over 5M, was dropped into three Pennsylvania races,
with another 107K plunged into a fourth PA race. 778.5K went to
three Ohio contests, and almost 650K went to three more in Indiana.
TPM Cafe reports that the scope of the buys is expanding as more
seats appear to be coming into play. On top of that, reports say
that the Democratic National Committee is actually taking out loans
in order to feed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which
is trying to tip enough close races to get the net seven-seat gain
it needs to add chairman to the name of its committee leaders. Finally,
operatives are said to be putting the squeeze on likely 2008 presidential
candidates who are sitting on cash reserves they don't need yet.
Republican committees and administration officials are also actively
bringing in more cash for the final push. Meanwhile, reports note
that the Republican National Senatorial Committee exit from Ohio
hasn't left Ohio Republican Mike DeWine high and dry. The Republican
National Committee is said to have pumped 700K into the race. Reports
still placed that amount as "scaled back," but noted that
it showed the Republicans have not given up on the campaign there.
THI
Observation
Democrats obviously smell blood
in the water. The problem is that even though they've done a better
than usual job of accumulating cash, they've also been spending
it, and have been widely reported to be at a disadvantage going
into the last three weeks of the campaign. The bottom line is that
the more success they have scrounging for cash to match that the
Republicans are already planning to spend, the more cash will flow
to providing even more clutter on our airways and into print mediums.
Another important point is that the strategy being pursued will
spread the battlefield, bringing campaign cash to places that were
completely off the national radar a few short weeks ago. The stakes
at this juncture are extremely high as prime committee chairmanships
are being held in the balance.
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