How Arizona's Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs Beat Crazytown

[DinahMoeHum]

Pundits slammed her low-key campaign and skipping debates with Kari Lake, the polished former news anchor—but look who’s laughing now.

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/11/16/how-arizonas-governor-elect-katie-hobbs-beat-crazytown/

Exactly one week before Election Day, Kari Lake, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arizona, held a boisterous rally with Steve Bannon, the indicted former Donald Trump aide whom Lake dubbed a “modern-day George Washington.” Local and national media outlets covered the event. On the same day, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Katie Hobbs, hosted a housing policy roundtable to draw attention to her affordable housing plan. Eleven people participated, including Hobbs. The event did not receive media coverage.

The contrasting campaign appearances capture the campaign dynamic. Lake wanted the spotlight. Hobbs wanted Lake to have the spotlight.

Hobbs was widely counted out after she refused to debate, saying, “It’s clear that Kari Lake is much more interested in creating a spectacle and having the spotlight than actually having a substantive discussion about the issues.”

Hobbs’s debate decision was based on a clear-eyed assessment of her own strengths and weaknesses. A high-profile media event benefits the candidate with superior media skills.

Such a gambit would not work if the public viewed a successful debate performance as equivalent to a job interview, a necessary bar to clear. But in my exploration of the debate over debates in (the Washington Monthly*) last month, I observed that modern debates are a far cry from Lincoln-Douglas. They are reality TV shows marked with soporific talking points and cheap insults. It’s not just that voters don’t care about debates. Voters have good reason not to care about debates. They are not especially useful at helping voters decide who is best suited to govern.

So instead of playing a game on her opponent’s turf, Hobbs changed the game.

* https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/10/14/do-voters-care-about-debates-katie-hobbs-is-going-to-find-out/



(boldface emphasis mine - DMH)

[SleeplessinSoCal]

1. Wisdom trumps appealing to lowest common denominator

[BannonsLiver]

2. I'm old enough to remember all of the irrational hot takes about her not debating here on the forum

[Demsrule86]

9. The same crowd who trusted GOP polls was outraged...I thought she was smart.

There is a subset who is always willing to go after the Democratic elected and our candidates.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. tv debates rarely educate the electorate on anything

Rules are convoluted and unequally enforced. Manners and etiquette are completely dispensed with.

[TheRickles]

5. Debates were much more productive and informative when they were run by the League of Women Voters.

At least the Presidential ones were, back in the day, but that was before corporations and big media took over and turned them into ratings spectacles.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. Yes!

[Demsrule86]

10. I do think Fetterman despite all the naysayers helped himself by debating. He got his point across

and showed he was up to the job...of course, he also got Oz to make a fatal abortion comment.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. Yes, that's one of the exceptions -- Fetterman showed he could fight; Oz exposed himself.

[Doc Sportello]

4. I always thought she made the right decision

Hobbs is a good public servant and decent person but she is not a dynamic speaker or great on tv. Lake is a viper who would use her tv skills to take over the debate. The people who derided Hobbbs for her decision were wrong.

[grantcart]

7. Good article and I posted many times that Hobbs shouldn't debate

but she isn't a strong public campaigner and her job was to be vanilla not make any mistake and let Kelly/Fontes pull het across the finish line.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

8. Katie Hobbs won the race.

Her strategy proved to be a success.