Presidential and Vice-Presidential Debates

For most of the 18th century in the United States, debates did not play a role in political elections because the public and newspapers frowned upon any campaigning or direct appeal for votes (CNN.com, 1996). In those days, candidates relied on newspapers, pamphlets and an occasional public meeting to explain their positions to the public, primarily because the public expected candidates to reserve their energies for the task of government (CNN.com, 1996). Today, on the other hand, presidential and vice-presidential candidates essentially conduct a public job interview for as long as one year before the election. And the public debate has become a central and perhaps even deciding factor in some presidential elections.

Presidential debates are a modern television age creation (CNN.com, 1996). Before their advent, the senatorial debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858 was considered the most significant debate of pre-broadcast elections. According to communications expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the debate was orderly and closely attended and both candidates were serious and articulate and addressed themselves to certain political concerns. Jamieson maintains that the debate advanced the issues, illuminating the areas of both agreement and disagreement between the two candidates (CNN.com, 1996). However, the nominees of the two major parties did not debate until 1960, when Republican Vice President Richard

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idate is an incumbent. Consequently, televised debates could offer the public its first and possibly only opportunity to scrutinize George W. Bush and Albert Gore side by side (Berke, 2000). The significance of the debates in such a situation, however, can also highlight one of the weaknesses of the televised debate as an electioneering tool. Where the debates serve as the public's only opportunity to study the candidates, there is no guarantee that the public's perception of the candidate will be based on deep policy considerations rather than on trivia. For example, Berke notes that a viewer's decision could be affected by a candidate who cannot keep his smirk in check or one who sometimes seems to verge on condescension (Berke, 2000). The 1960 debate can be offered as support. That debate was viewed by 60 million to 70 million people and introduced a young and virile John F. Kennedy to the nation while showing a flu-ridden, poorly made up Richard M. Nixon (CNN.com, 1996). Bob Dole, former Senate majority leader and 1996 presidential candidate recalls listening to that Kennedy-Nixon debate on his car radio and thinking that Nixon was winning. Only later when he saw the television replay did Dole realize that Kennedy ha
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