NEWS
By Jules Witcover | December 2, 2013
One of the best features of our quadrennial presidential campaigns is the series of debates between the major party nominees, plus another between their running mates. Voters tune in by the millions and get a better look at them than they might at any number of staged political events, whether run by the parties or by news-media sponsors. On the theory that if it's not broken, don't fix it, for the last six cycles the debates have been organized and conducted by a bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.
NEWS
By JACK W. GERMOND & JULES WITCOVER | October 27, 1997
WASHINGTON -- When the Commission on Presidential Debates held a seminar here the other day reviewing the 1996 debates and looking ahead to 2000, much was said about diminished voter interest. Considering the relatively lackluster Bob Dole challenge to Bill Clinton, it wasn't any great surprise.Audience reactionAudiences for the debates, after increasing in 1992 for thethree-way exchanges among Mr. Clinton, George Bush and Ross Perot, slipped when Mr. Perot was denied participation and the other two contenders had it out between them.
NEWS
By David Zurawik and The Baltimore Sun | October 16, 2012
Two weeks ago, the conventional wisdom was that televised presidential debates weren't going to matter much this year. Then a TV debate took place in Denver on Oct. 3, and we are still talking about Big Bird being threatened, moderator Jim Lehrer getting steamrolled, President Barack Obama under-performing and the polls flipping from “done deal” to “game on” overnight. Voters knew the debates mattered, even as the media and political wise men and women were telling them they didn't.
NEWS
By RICHARD E. VATZ and LEE S. WEINBERG | October 11, 1992
"If Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered. . . ." That was the strange beginning of the most famous exchange of the 1988 presidential debates, an exchange between CNN's Bernard Shaw and Michael Dukakis in which Mr. Dukakis' impassive and clinical response defending his opposition to the death penalty sealed his fate in the election itself.That is the conventional wisdom -- but it is wrong.In fact, hours before that final presidential debate, ABC's Peter Jennings had reported that Mr. Bush's lead appeared to be insurmountable, in all likelihood regardless of what happened in the debate.
NEWS
By JACK GERMOND & JULES WITCOVER | October 24, 1997
WASHINGTON -- With no incumbent running in 2000, the Commission on Presidential Debates expects there will be debates the next time around, and also hopes that the commission will have a firmer hand on organizing them.Paul Kirk, the former Democratic National Chairman who is co-chairman of the commission, says the panel will be stipulating to all prospective nominees well in advance how, when and where the debates will be conducted, and asserting a lead role for the commission in debate negotiations.
NEWS
By CLARENCE PAGE | April 25, 2008
There may not be any more presidential debates between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, partly because of the bad aroma that ABC's interrogation before Pennsylvania's primary left behind in many noses. In fact, when you consider the rising risks that televised debates pose in the age of YouTube, especially for front-runners, we'll be lucky to see any more presidential debates at all. North Carolina's Democratic Party has canceled the debate that CBS had hoped to broadcast this Sunday, in advance of the state's May 6 primary.