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Stage Looks Different; Politics Sound The Same

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By WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

On debt and taxes, Tampa accountant Gelray Gainey wants to see, "flexibility and thought from the candidates, as opposed to programmed answers."

On same-sex marriage, Clearwater Internet entrepreneur Cate Colgan wants, "their raw answers - yes or no, and why."

On involving young people in politics, Wharton High senior Alex Cobb, who will vote in his first election next year, just wants, "to actually get an answer from the politicians."

All three submitted YouTube video questions for tonight's CNN-organized Republican presidential debate in St. Petersburg. The hope and hype is that the new video format will bring town-hall style politics to the national stage.

But will it provide a more informative, substantive debate?

Unfortunately, the technology might be new, but it's still the same old politics, say experts on presidential debates. Political candidates are coached to cling so tightly to their rehearsed messages it might take more than a video to shake them off.

"Whatever the format, you still go with the classic adage: Answer the topic, not the question," said GOP strategist Brian Jones, who has been a debate prep coach for John McCain, Dick Cheney and others. "You still go back to your safe harbor statements, your core messages."

Real People Can Compel Real Answers
Candidate debates featuring questions from citizens, rather than TV anchors or panels of reporters, can yield a different, more revealing experience for voters, some experts say.

"The town-hall format has tended to do a better job of helping voters understand the personal qualities of the candidates," said Lynda Lee Kaid, a University of Florida telecommunications professor who specializes in campaign debates and advertising.

That happens when viewers see candidates react to individuals telling compelling stories, she said.

Mitchell McKinney, a University of Missouri political communications professor and expert on debates, said a citizen questioner standing just feet away makes it more difficult for the candidate to go off on a tangent.

Debate questioning by reporters tends to result in more conflict among the candidates, as questioners invite the candidates to differ with each other, Mitchell said. Citizens questions are less specific, but more policy-oriented and may require a more direct answer, he said.

Those are the goals of David Bohrman, CNN Washington bureau chief and creator of the format.

The dynamics are different from other debates, he said. "This makes it hard to get to the stump speech. This isn't the time for talking points."

Candidates should prepare, he said, "the way they prep for when they go to a farmhouse in Iowa with 20 people for coffee."

In the first YouTube debate, held in July with Democratic candidates in Charleston, S.C., CNN journalists used questions that included compelling personal stories.

In one, a New York woman took off her wig to reveal chemotherapy-induced baldness, as she asked about health care. In another, three questioners stood behind a crowd of small children at a Darfur refugee camp and said, "Imagine yourself the parent of one of these children."

But in the YouTube format, questioners aren't present, McKinney noted. Journalists select the questions that get asked of the candidate, and a journalist - CNN anchor Anderson Cooper - will direct them to candidates and ask any follow-ups.

Candidates Taught To Pivot To Message

Presidential candidates are intensively coached on how to stay on message regardless of the question, said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic strategist who has done debate prep work for Al Gore in 2000, Betty Castor's 2004 Senate race and others.

The technique is to give a one-sentence answer to the question, he said. "No dodging unless you have to," he said, "pivot off to the pat message."

The Democratic debate provided some obvious examples.

When one questioner asked whether the candidates favored reparations for the descendants of former slaves, Barack Obama turned it into a question on education.

"I think the reparations we need right here in South Carolina is investment, for example, in our schools," he said, launching into a description of dilapidated, poorly staffed schools and his own prescriptions for federal education policies.

Bohrman said CNN and YouTube have received more than 5,000 question videos, of which they will prepare 60 to 70 for use. In the Democratic debate, 40 were used.

One, on a national catastrophe fund, came from Gov. Charlie Crist.

Goal Isn't To Ridicule Candidates

He said questions intended simply to embarrass Republicans are being avoided. "We want to get to the issues that really are on the minds of the GOP voters," he said.

After the Democratic debate, some of the GOP candidates, including Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, initially refused to agree to a similar debate.

Citing a question on global warming asked by a snowman, Romney said, "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman." Both have since relented, and Bohrman said the question selection isn't being altered as a result.

"The snowman question was a great question" he said. "It wasn't disrespectful, it opened the door to a discussion of global warming that didn't begin on hydrocarbon emissions per liter or something like that."

Noting that he recently saw President Bush pardon turkeys on TV, he said, "There's room in a two-hour debate for something that may have a song or a sense of humor."

Reporter William March can be reached at wmarch@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7761.

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