If the Democratic National Committee had had its way, the televised debate among the party?s eight 2008 presidential candidates held Monday night in Charleston, S.C., would have been the first in the lead-in to the next election cycle.
Instead, it was only the fourth of this pre-election year amid a host of other candidate get-togethers so far, in what has become a political Babel in both parties. For junkies who can?t get enough of this stuff, there?s no complaint, and voters who feel otherwise can simply tune out.
The new wrinkle of having voters ask questions via You Tube probably appealed to the younger set, but at a cost of often dumbing down, trivializing and turning into entertainment what should be serious business. The candidates gamely if unamusedly went along with the gimmick.
The DNC, perhaps aware that too much of a good thing can weary voters and consume candidates? time and travel schedules, had earlier stipulated that six debates be held, all in states holding early 2008 caucuses and primaries, of which South Carolina is one. But various television outlets and special-interest groups have conducted or scheduled debates on their own that the candidates have felt compelled to accept.
The bottom-feeders in the polls ? the so-called second-and-third tier candidates with low name recognition and limited campaign funds ? can?t get enough of this free exposure. So these debates, DNC-sanctioned or not, draw them like bees to honey.
But the well-heeled first-tier candidates ? right now Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Sen. John Edwards, and Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney ? have the ability to get their messages out in costly television ads, and are not so dependent on the free debates.
At this early stage for active competition, however, they can?t risk snubbing any of the debates, though they fret over being lumped in with the bottom-feeders, who take time away from them.
With eight Democrats and nine Republicans declared as candidates and former GOP Sen. Fred Thompson on the verge of making it 10, each one has very limited opportunity to expand on answers, and the pack is often obliged by news-media celebrity moderators to give short or even yes-or-no responses.
In one recent National Association for the Advancement of Colored People forum in Detroit, an open microphone caught Clinton and Edwards grousing over the mob scene on the stage and preliminarily discussing the possibility of smaller groups. Clinton was heard saying “we?ve got to cut the number” and that their aides needed to talk about it.
One of the third-tier candidates, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, strenuously objected and offered to debate both of them.
“John should be happy with this, since he wants a small group,” he said. Edwards later said he would suggest the eight Democrats be divided by random selection into two groups of four candidates in debates, but nothing has yet come of the idea.
The numerous early debates of all sponsorships result from the candidates? need to start campaigning and raising money so far in advance of the election year. It?s necessary to cope with the unprecedented front-loading of the delegate-selecting calendar, which will open with the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 14, 2008, followed by more than 20 state contests by the first week in February.
In past years, heavy campaigning and debate did not start until closer to the first caucuses and primaries. Then, the results of the early voting winnowed down the field in both parties, in the process reducing the lineup of candidates in the debates.
In 2004, in Kucinich?s first presidential bid, he got into a hassle when television celebrity Ted Koppel asked in one debate when he was going to drop out of the race. Kucinich told Koppel he was out of line and remained in the race to his party?s convention.
With so many caucuses and primaries bunched up in the first weeks of 2008, even the longest shots for the nominations should have enough money, along with all the debates, to hang in at least through the initial, small-state tests. Only thereafter is the winnowing likely to occur, to the relief of the survivors ? and perhaps the debate-watchers as well.
Jules Witcover, a Baltimore Examiner columnist, is syndicated by Tribune Media Services. He has covered national affairs from Washington for more than 50 years and is the author of 11 books, and co-author of five others, on American politics and history.
