Sneak Peek at Uncontemplated

The Art & Strategy Behind Candidate Debates

Oh my. This week a seemingly innocuous article on the debate style of Ron DeSantis written by Olivia Rubin and Will Steakin, both of ABC, escalated quickly.

"Ron always had a problem with letting attacks get to him and getting visibly shaken by them."

A few days before the article appeared, Olivia Rubin contacted me. As Ron’s name recognition has expanded outside of Florida, I increasingly get calls from both nationally known journalists as well as foreign correspondents. Sometimes I agree to comment. Sometimes I don’t. I was driving when Olivia caught me and I had a few minutes. Like they always do when calling about Ron, she said we can talk “on background,” which essentially means she won’t use my name in the article. Like the quote above provided by a “former advisor.” In 20 years of talking to journalists, they have only ever made that offer in reference to Ron. I’ll let you guess why.

I told her about Uncontemplated and my recent legal entanglements with the DeSantis administration. “If you still want to talk, I’ll talk and I’ll talk on the record.” She was keenly interested in what it was like to debate him. After all, only three people on the planet have ever had that experience. So that’s what we talked about.

"There was him in control, and then flashes of fiery temper."

Two days later, ABC announced it had a video of Ron’s 2018 debate prep. Two and a half hours of Ron et al formulating their “duck and cover” plan. How to frame issues. What to say and, more importantly, what not to say. How to be “likable” under the glare of hot lights and the unblinking camera trained directly on his very emotive face. Every single twitch amplified. Ron’s critics say the video makes him look whiny and temperamental. His supporters think it makes him look assertive and strategic. Naturally, political insiders decry the “leaking” of the video entirely. It’s an interesting question - do candidates for public office have an expectation of privacy? - but that’s for another time.

All I can tell you is debates are an out-of-body experience.

Kennedy and Nixon: The "Great Debates" of 1960 by CBS News

In 1960, when Senator John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon went head-to-head, America witnessed the first televised debate. The first of the four debates centered on domestic affairs and it changed debating forever.

Senator Kennedy was forty-three. Vice President Nixon was forty-seven.

If you were watching the debate, you likely favored the slightly younger, photogenic, sun-kissed Kennedy over Nixon, who appeared pale, clammy, and unshaven. It was hard to believe they were just a few years apart in age. But, there is more to the story.

As he entered the studio, Nixon re-aggravated a knee injury. He was in pain. He refused the help of a professional make-up artist. Nixon - at six foot tall - was only one inch shorter than Kennedy, but his light grey suit was the same color as the studio set and it made him look small. Mousey, even. Those were all unforced errors. Nixon’s own ego. Bad advanced work by his team. Errors that cost him his frontrunner status and handed Kennedy a three-point bump.

When polling showed that the majority of the radio audience called the debate for Nixon, Vice President Richard Nixon learned a lesson he would never forget. 

During the second debate, the Nixon team ordered the studio thermostat to be set at meat-hanging temperatures. Nixon arrived rested, tanned, and sporting a dark suit. Debates two and three went better for Nixon. Debate four was in Nixon’s wheelhouse; foreign affairs. With just days left, Nixon had cut Kennedy’s lead to a rounding error.

In November of 1960, there were sixty-eight million votes cast. Senator John F. Kennedy won the popular vote by just .2 percent. A mere 112,000 people gave us Camelot. 

Nixon refused to debate Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic nominee, in 1968. Still, he won the Presidency by an artificially close 500,000 votes. (Nearly ten million Americans voted for George Wallace, who was running on a segregationist platform, all of whom would have chosen Nixon over Humphrey.) In 1972, Nixon refused to debate George McGovern as well. To combat that, George, who was a very accomplished debater, purchased thirty-minute blocks of television time to speak directly to Americans.

So, you decide. Do debates matter? Do Americans have the right to demand a public airing of differences between candidates? Or has it all become so choreographed that only the most performative candidates benefit from participating in debates?