Erik Opsal recently commented, jokingly, on his blog (The Hippie Perspective) that Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and John McCain don't care about black people (an allusion to Kanye West) because they skipped the debate at the HBCU (historically black college/university) Morgan State University. Although this was meant as somewhat of a joke, there is quite a bit of truth in it.
James Q replied to Erik's comment, saying
"It could just be the message they aren't going to waste their time doing 10293984884849202 debates before the race has really heated up...Taking this as meaning they don't care about black people seems just a bit off base...something I would expect Drudge to say (concerning the Democrats, though)."
I disagree with James Q. Candidates do debates in specific locations or of varying flavors when they want to target a particular demographic. For instance, YouTube debates target that elusive 18-24 crowd...you know, the one who somehow survives without a land line or reading a daily newspaper.
Sen. Edwards proved the importance of reaching out to particular crowds by appearing on an MTV.com/MySpace forum. He catered to the young/hip who care about more than boxers or briefs (read: Clinton's MTV experience back in 1992).
An interesting new development for this election cycle has been Spanish-language debates. All but one major Democratic candidate participated in a debate that translated all of their responses to Spanish, airing on Univisión. The channel planned to also have a Republican debate in Spanish airing a week later, but that was canceled due to a lack of interest: only John McCain agreed to the debate. With Latinos as the largest minority group in the US, you'd think that the Presidential candidates would want these voters to hear them out.
And now, with the major GOP candidates skipping the Morgan State debate, they've marginalized the second-largest minority group in the US. Hosted by PBS, the All-American Presidential Forums are the first in prime-time with a panel exclusively of color, and they both took place at HBCUs (the Democratic forum was at Howard University). Again, the message the absent candidates are sending is one that doesn't prioritize the minority communities and specifically the minority voters.
If the defense is that candidates have so many other debates they're doing, then why choose Reagan's Presidential Library, FOXNews (in Columbia, SC), and FOXNews (in Durham, NH)? Apparently Romney, McCain, Thompson and Giuliani would rather talk to the same people twice than talk to folks at Morgan State or on Univisión.
In contrast, the Democratic candidates continue to prove that they are the ones who can "Build the House." Howard University, South Carolina State University (another HBCU), the NAACP convention, the YouTube/Google debate simulcast on CNN en Español (yes, another Spanish-language debate), the YearlyKos convention (They get it. Bloggers matter.), the AFL-CIO Working Families Vote forum, Logo/HRC (on LGBT issues), Univisión, and so on.
If the variety of debates weren't an issue - if every debate were created equal - do you think the Democratic candidates would be spending so much time diversifying their debate schedule? When Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, and McCain did not appear at the Morgan State University debate, it wasn't a question of time or a question of how many is too many. It was a question of priorities.
James Q replied to Erik's comment, saying
"It could just be the message they aren't going to waste their time doing 10293984884849202 debates before the race has really heated up...Taking this as meaning they don't care about black people seems just a bit off base...something I would expect Drudge to say (concerning the Democrats, though)."
I disagree with James Q. Candidates do debates in specific locations or of varying flavors when they want to target a particular demographic. For instance, YouTube debates target that elusive 18-24 crowd...you know, the one who somehow survives without a land line or reading a daily newspaper.
Sen. Edwards proved the importance of reaching out to particular crowds by appearing on an MTV.com/MySpace forum. He catered to the young/hip who care about more than boxers or briefs (read: Clinton's MTV experience back in 1992).
An interesting new development for this election cycle has been Spanish-language debates. All but one major Democratic candidate participated in a debate that translated all of their responses to Spanish, airing on Univisión. The channel planned to also have a Republican debate in Spanish airing a week later, but that was canceled due to a lack of interest: only John McCain agreed to the debate. With Latinos as the largest minority group in the US, you'd think that the Presidential candidates would want these voters to hear them out.
And now, with the major GOP candidates skipping the Morgan State debate, they've marginalized the second-largest minority group in the US. Hosted by PBS, the All-American Presidential Forums are the first in prime-time with a panel exclusively of color, and they both took place at HBCUs (the Democratic forum was at Howard University). Again, the message the absent candidates are sending is one that doesn't prioritize the minority communities and specifically the minority voters.
If the defense is that candidates have so many other debates they're doing, then why choose Reagan's Presidential Library, FOXNews (in Columbia, SC), and FOXNews (in Durham, NH)? Apparently Romney, McCain, Thompson and Giuliani would rather talk to the same people twice than talk to folks at Morgan State or on Univisión.
In contrast, the Democratic candidates continue to prove that they are the ones who can "Build the House." Howard University, South Carolina State University (another HBCU), the NAACP convention, the YouTube/Google debate simulcast on CNN en Español (yes, another Spanish-language debate), the YearlyKos convention (They get it. Bloggers matter.), the AFL-CIO Working Families Vote forum, Logo/HRC (on LGBT issues), Univisión, and so on.
If the variety of debates weren't an issue - if every debate were created equal - do you think the Democratic candidates would be spending so much time diversifying their debate schedule? When Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, and McCain did not appear at the Morgan State University debate, it wasn't a question of time or a question of how many is too many. It was a question of priorities.
1 Comments:
I'm assuming you read
"http://www.dailycardinal.com/article/213">this also Suchita. I wrote that column before they skipped this latest debate. They seem to have proved my point for me.
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