30th
The Debate Results Are….In?
(reposted from http://rdevinhughes.blogspot.com/)
Interest in politics is high; last night, the lobby of my residence hall ended up having thirty people in it just to watch the debate. With such a large group, I figured there would be a heated post-debate discussion as to who won. However, after 90 minutes, everyone in the room seemed to feel very little impact from the debate. The consensus was that neither candidate had a shining moment or could be considered victorious. The debate really did consist of two candidates discussing ideas and explaining why their idea is better for America. We went about our evenings—it’s not like there has to be a consensus winner, right?
The media may disagree with us there. After the debate, a top headline for every major news outlet in the country was something like “Who Won?” ABC News had such a headline on their website, and also held a televised discussion amongst political experts asking who won. However, neither the article nor the video declares a winner; instead, inside we find a recap and analysis of each candidate’s answers. I am quite proud of ABC for this, and the McCain campaign has to be pleased as well. The network covered McCain’s answers without slanting them or giving biased analysis, effectively allowing McCain to get his exact message out to America. ABC News covered the candidates and the issues only; by comparison, CNN was so obsessed with declaring a winner that they conducted a poll revealing that Obama won…yet the respondents were mostly Democrats. What an incredibly useless poll—as a voter, if I had missed the debate, I would want to know what the candidates said so that I could decide for myself who won. ABC was even thorough enough to conduct a fact check on many of the points that were made in the debate.
That all said, in the video I linked to, ABC analyst George Will made a good point in saying that this debate was not a “game changer,” then going on to say that this was bad for McCain. The perception ABC gives off is that Obama is leading the national polls, so a draw in the debate is an overall win for Obama. If the public watches this video and agrees, then McCain ended up having a very bad night. If public favor is indeed currently for Obama, then the McCain campaign probably needed headlines of “MCCAIN WINS DEBATE IN LANDSLIDE.” The next debates between the two may not be as important—not all Americans are voting in November, remember. Absentee ballots will soon go out, and if the current polls are a good indication, the lead is in Obama’s hands right now.
So, is the McCain campaign happy with how ABC News reported the debate? Probably. ABC did not declare Obama the winner, and McCain’s responses are covered fairly and extensively. Now, should they be happy with the results? Maybe not. Maybe it is telling when you are happy just to tie your opponent. Analysists continue to point out that there was no “game changer” or “defining moment,” and in separate articles, polls show that Obama is winning. Therefore, subtly this is saying that McCain is the one needing the game changer. There is not enough on ABC’s website of McCain’s campaign explaining why they won. Sarah Palin was nowhere to be found; Joe Biden was giving post-debate interviews. By being apparently satisfied with a tie, the McCain campaign has allowed the election status to remain, for the moment, in Obama’s favor.
I encourage questions, debates, or feedback. Feel free to comment here or email me at rh312206@ohio.edu. See you next time!
