Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Debate

July 24, 2007: Our Club was visited by two strategists who were heavily involved in the planning of Monday night’s Presidential Debate at The Citadel. Jenny Backus, a democratic strategist, and Elizabeth Wilner, former director of politics for NBC, were both able to provide insight into how debates work and all the factors that go into planning one. Both are heavily involved in this arena. Backus is a frequent guest on CNN, FOX News, CBS etc. and part of Wilner’s former job was to prepare Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams for interviewing politicians who appear on the Nightly News.

Backus gave a brief presentation prior to both speakers taking questions from our club. The planning of a debate can be broken down into 3 critical parts. Broadcast (what network will air it; who will moderate it; etc.), the Candidate Side (working with the candidates; addressing issues or concerns; probably the most important part of planning) and Community (a successful debate won’t happen if it doesn’t have the support of the community in which it’s taking place). Good news for us, according to both Backus and Wilner, The Citadel, and our surrounding community well exceeded expectations with our hospitality and support. The Citadel also received incredible exposure nationally by hosting the debate.

One of the highlights of their presentation was the question and answer session with our Club; some of the questions are highlighted below.

Q: The Candidates seemed uncomfortable at the beginning, warmed up in the middle, and looked frustrated at the end. Is that an accurate assessment?

A: Candidates didn’t know what to expect because of the You Tube component of the debate, so what you saw was probably just anticipation. They did warm-up in the middle as it allowed them to address questions from regular Americans that wouldn’t normally have such an opportunity. Candidates are always frustrated at the end because there is a time limit on questions, they may not have felt they got enough questions asked of them, didn’t like a question that was asked, and the list goes on.

Q: How are moderators selected, it seems some are better than others?

A: The host network picks the moderators as they are the ones that have editorial control of the debate they are airing. Most networks will put their “hottest cattle at the time” in the moderator chair and there is no doubt that some do better than others.

Q: How do candidates continue to participate in these debates, what are the qualifications as the number of participants seems to be pretty high?

A: There is no standard and one of the main reasons is networks, at this point in the election cycle, don’t want to exclude anyone just because they aren’t showing a strong following yet. They could risk angering the politician or in the worst case, getting sued. However, both speakers agreed that there should be criteria the candidates should be required to meet. They should have an open field office in the state where the debate is going on, have actively campaigned in the state prior to the debate and have raised a set amount of campaign funds (dollar amount doesn’t have to excessive or unreasonable).

All in all, their presentation was fascinating and made everyone realize that campaign mediums have changed immensely with the internet and the 24-hour news stations. The 2008 campaign is heating up, whatever outcome occurs, it’s going to be interesting to watch.

Reported by Darby Hand, Keyway Committee