Inside the Debate Strategies

[mourningdove92]

Inside The Debate Strategies
In a close race, Bush and Kerry know the little things can matter most. A guide for those scoring at home
By KAREN TUMULTY AND JOHN F. DICKERSON | WASHINGTON


Sunday, Sep. 26, 2004
When a race for President gets this close, no detail is too small to leave to chance. Which is how it happened that a man who once oversaw Middle East peacemaking found himself haggling last week with one of Washington's most storied power players over the matter of ... colored lights. The proposal: to allow the millions of Americans watching this Thursday's first presidential debate to see the warning signal whenever George Bush or John Kerry has exceeded his allotted time to answer a question. It was a transparent gambit by the President's representative, former Secretary of State James Baker, to raise the famously windy challenger's chances for embarrassment. "Undignified," sniffed a Kerry strategist. "It's like a game show."

But Kerry's negotiator, lawyer Vernon Jordan, gave in—just as he had to Baker's earlier demand that the lecterns be an unimposing 50 in. tall and that they be placed fully 10 ft. apart, making it less likely that the 5-ft. 11-in. Bush will look miniaturized in comparison with the 6-ft. 4-in. Kerry. After Jordan and Baker finally came to an agreement at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, putting their heads together over a laptop to approve the official announcement, they headed for the bar.

That both men were in a celebratory mood might reflect the fact that each camp came away convinced it had snookered the other. Their 32-page "memorandum of understanding," which may still be revisited because of objections by the commission that sponsors the debates, stipulated everything from equivalent-size dressing rooms to a preapproval process for the pens or pencils Bush and Kerry will use to take notes. The Bush camp, knowing television viewership falls off after the first debate, made sure this week's matchup would focus on foreign policy, which they feel is the President's strong suit. Team Bush has studied old videotapes of Kerry's 1996 Massachusetts Senate re-election campaign debates to the point where advisers like Karl Rove can recite portions from memory. As a result, Bush's negotiators insisted on banning nearly all the stagecraft Kerry had used to devastating effect against his G.O.P. opponent, Governor William Weld, such as roaming from the lectern and asking direct questions. What Kerry's camp got were three debates rather than the two that Bush's campaign initially said it wanted. Getting three contests "was much more important to us than any detail of the format," says Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. A challenger always wants as many chances to stand on the same stage as the sitting President and take some shots, and Kerry thinks the debates are a place where he can shine.

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http://www.time.com/time/election2004/article/0,18471,702075-1,00.html

[Gin]

1. shrub is little no mater how they stage him.....he is a small man....small

in every aspect...not just stature......you can't make a pig into a prince no matter how he gets the makeover treatment.

I hope Jordan was a good choice for negotiator.

[Kierkegaard]

2. I don't think it matters who negotiated.

As long as the agreement excluded use of a script, an earpiece and Kerry will be allowed to use words from the English language, he will mop the floor with Bonzo.

I thinkk Kerry got what he really wanted anyway; it looks like he conceded on a few points to get the town hall back on the agenda. That's where Kerry will really do the damage.

[Gin]

4. I hope you are right......I look forward to seeing Kerry in action...and

shrub being blown away like a tumbleweed.

[Kierkegaard]

5. The only thing Kerry has to fear is

the dreaded media spin. If Bonzo lives or is without any visible lacerations or broken bones, it might be 'too close to call.'


Regardless the outcome, at least we here at DU will take some satisfaction in seeing Squeek get disembowelled on national TV.

[Cocoa]

3. "Undignified", sniffed a Kerry strategist

straight from the whore script on Kerry, I'm shocked this isn't Jodi Wilogren that wrote this.