By GottaLaff
Palin's not taking da-bait. Gramm-pa made sure she wouldn't look as unprepared and flummoxed as she did in her interviews:
At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
The wrangling was chiefly between the McCain-Palin camp and the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which is sponsoring the forums.
Commission members wanted a relaxed format that included time for unpredictable questioning and challenges between the vice-presidential candidates. Last week, it rejected a proposal from advisers to Ms. Palin and Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, for few if any unfettered exchanges. Advisers to Mr. Biden say they were comfortable with either format.
The presidential candidates had only minor issues to work out, no biggie:
The negotiations for the three 90-minute debates between the men at the top of the tickets, were largely free of brinksmanship. [...] Mr. Obama successfully sought to flip the proposed topics for the first and third debates, so foreign policy is now coming first and economic and other domestic issues come last. [...]
The debate commission had proposed that the first debate be on economic issues, and the third on foreign policy — in part, people involved in the process said, because the first debate is usually the most watched, and many voters rank the economy as their top concern.
Mr. Obama wanted foreign policy first to show viewers that he could provide depth, strength, and intelligence on those issues, his advisers said, given that Mr. McCain consistently wins higher ratings in opinion polls as a potential commander in chief. Mr. Obama wanted domestic issues to come last; advisers say that they believed even before the start of the financial crisis that the election was most likely to turn on the state of the economy and that he wanted the final televised exchange to focus on those concerns. He has argued that Mr. McCain would continue the economic policies of President Bush.
Mr. McCain also wanted foreign policy topics to come first in the debates, his aides said, in the hope of capitalizing on his positive reputation on national security issues across party lines.
Mr. McCain wanted limits on the original format for the first and third debates, which had been nine topics with 9 minutes of free-flowing debate on each one. Mr. Obama went along, though his aides did insist that at least several minutes of open-ended debate occur in each bloc of questioning, because they believe Mr. Obama does well in that format.
Now each presidential candidate will give 2-minute statements on each topic, followed by five minutes of them openly debating and questioning each other.
About that anger issue:
Mr. Obama’s advisers have been reviewing Mr. McCain’s debate’s with George W. Bush from the 2000 Republican primary, studying in particular his temperament and mood and looking for potential flashpoints of anger.
A few more fun facts:
Mr. Obama’s aides have been studying those debate performances to address one of his biggest shortcomings: his ability to delivering a tight answer. Already, his campaign is trying to diminish expectations for Mr. Obama’s performance. [...]
The campaigns had no say over the choice of moderators — Jim Lehrer of PBS, Tom Brokaw of NBC, and Bob Schieffer of CBS for the presidential debates, and Gwen Ifill of PBS for the vice-presidential debate.
Okay, those weren't fun, but they were facts. And sometimes we just have to face the facts. That's the difference between Democrats and Republicans. We don't make up our own.
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