Debaters Plan Carefully to Keep Foot Out of Mouth
By PATRICK HEALY and MICHAEL COOPER
New York Times
When John Edwards went into a debate recently, his aides were determined to move away from the news media’s fixation on the candidate’s $400 haircut. So when Mr. Edwards saw an opportunity to lampoon interest in such skin-deep matters, he needled Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton during the debate about not liking her coral-colored jacket.
But it fell flat, sounding more like a swipe at his rival. Mr. Edwards had been trying to be less scripted than he was during the 2004 presidential race, but this time he went too far; some of his advisers believed that he should have taken a more scripted poke at the news media.
With the proliferation of debates this campaign season, such moments are plotted and reviewed by campaigns. Even the stagecraft fixates the campaigns: Is Mrs. Clinton better off standing between her two main rivals? The camera is more often on her as a result, her advisers say, but it also means she has to maintain a poker face. (The campaign has no say in where she stands.) Does Rudolph W. Giuliani’s lack of planning hurt him, like when he was perceived to have bungled a question on abortion, or is his spontaneity his greatest asset?
Likewise, will Democratic interest groups or voters care that Senator Barack Obama announced Saturday that he would not appear at any debates or candidate forums, beyond those sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee and some he had already committed to?
Each candidate has a personal way of preparing, with an eye toward gaining an edge in the debates and, by extension, with the voters. Sometimes, the deliberations are over when to improvise, so their answers do not seem too canned, and they do that with varying amounts of success.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
When John Edwards went into a debate recently, his aides were determined to move away from the news media’s fixation on the candidate’s $400 haircut. So when Mr. Edwards saw an opportunity to lampoon interest in such skin-deep matters, he needled Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton during the debate about not liking her coral-colored jacket.
But it fell flat, sounding more like a swipe at his rival. Mr. Edwards had been trying to be less scripted than he was during the 2004 presidential race, but this time he went too far; some of his advisers believed that he should have taken a more scripted poke at the news media.
With the proliferation of debates this campaign season, such moments are plotted and reviewed by campaigns. Even the stagecraft fixates the campaigns: Is Mrs. Clinton better off standing between her two main rivals? The camera is more often on her as a result, her advisers say, but it also means she has to maintain a poker face. (The campaign has no say in where she stands.) Does Rudolph W. Giuliani’s lack of planning hurt him, like when he was perceived to have bungled a question on abortion, or is his spontaneity his greatest asset?
Likewise, will Democratic interest groups or voters care that Senator Barack Obama announced Saturday that he would not appear at any debates or candidate forums, beyond those sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee and some he had already committed to?
Each candidate has a personal way of preparing, with an eye toward gaining an edge in the debates and, by extension, with the voters. Sometimes, the deliberations are over when to improvise, so their answers do not seem too canned, and they do that with varying amounts of success.
(Continued here.)
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