Everything about United States Presidential Election Debates totally explained
During
presidential elections in the
United States, it has become customary for the main candidates (almost always the candidates of the two main parties, currently the
Democratic Party and the
Republican Party) to engage in a debate. The topics discussed in the debate are often the most controversial issues of the time, and some have said that elections can be won or lost based on these debates.
Presidential debates are held late in the election cycle, after the political parties have nominated their candidates. The candidates meet in a large hall, often at a
university, before an audience of citizens. The formats of the debates have varied, with questions sometimes posed from one or more journalist moderators and in other cases members of the audience. Between
1988 and
2000, the formats have been governed in detail by secret
memoranda of understanding between the two major candidates; an
MOU for 2004 was also negotiated, but unlike the earlier agreements it was jointly released by the two candidates.
Debates are broadcast live on
television and
radio. The first debate for the 1960 election drew over 66 million viewers out of a population of 179 million, making it one of the
most-watched broadcasts in U.S. television history. The
1980 debates drew 80 million viewers out of a 226 million. By
2000, about 46 million viewers out of a population of 280 million watched the first debate, with ten million fewer watching the subsequent debates that year. In
2004, 62.5 million people watched the first debate, while 43.6 million watched the vice-presidential debate.
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History
While the first general presidential debate wasn't held until 1960, several other debates are considered predecessors to the presidential debates. In
1858, former US Congressman
Abraham Lincoln and Senator
Stephen Douglas toured Illinois and held a series of debates in the election for Douglas's Senate seat, which led up the presidential campaign of 1860 when both were nominated. In 1948, a radio debate was held in Oregon between
Thomas Dewey and
Harold Stassen, Republican party primary candidates for president. The Democratic party followed suit in 1956, with a presidential primary debate between
Adlai Stevenson and
Estes Kefauver. An immigrant and a naturalized citizen who had survived the Holocaust Fred A. Kahn, then a University of Maryland student and Vice-President of its International Club, proposed modern Presidential debates. The press wires carried his proposal nationwide. He received the personal endorsement of the late Eleanor Roosevelt as well as that of the late Governor of Maryland Theodore mc Keldin. The Student Government Association Council of the University of Maryland then invited both candidates to debate at the University of Maryland. At the time, the Baltimore Sun in August 1956 wrote an article headed "Ïmmigrant Urges Presidential Debates." Both chairperson of both parties were contacted and considered the suggestion which became, in fact, reality four years later with the televised Kennedy-Nixon debates.
Republican candidate
Wendell Wilkie had challenged President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt to a debate in 1940, but Roosevelt refused. The first general election presidential debate was held on
September 26,
1960, between Democratic nominee
John F. Kennedy and Republican nominee Vice President
Richard Nixon and televised on all networks. Nixon was generally considered to be the “loser” of that first debate, mainly because he didn't prepare for the possibilities and peculiarities of the medium of television. His poor makeup, haggard appearance due to a knee injury and hospitalization earlier in the month, and his grey suit, which blended into the backdrop of the set, contributed to Nixon's poor showing on TV, although his performance came across much better on the radio. While the consensus on the three subsequent debates was that Nixon clearly performed better and even won in some cases, his TV performance in that first debate haunted him for the rest of the season.
No general election debates at all were held for the elections of
1964,
1968 and
1972, although intra-party debates were held during the primaries between Democrats
Robert F. Kennedy and
Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and between Democrats
George McGovern and
Hubert Humphrey in 1972. It wasn't until
1976 that a second series of televised presidential debates was held during the general election campaign season. On
September 23,
1976 the Democratic candidate
Jimmy Carter and the Republican incumbent, President
Gerald R. Ford agreed to debate on television before a studio audience. A single
vice presidential debate was also held that year between Democratic Senator
Walter Mondale and Republican Senator
Bob Dole.
Since 1976, each presidential election has featured a series of presidential debates. Vice presidential debates have been held regularly since 1984.
The dramatic effect of televised presidential elections was demonstrated by two polls taken before and after the
1976 debate between
Gerald Ford and
Jimmy Carter were taken. Shortly after the second debate, more than half of those interviewed felt that Ford had won, whereas days later the majority felt Carter had won. The reason for this dramatic shift has been attributed to a comment made by President Ford. He said "There is no
Soviet domination of
Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration." For several days, it wasn't acknowledged that he might have said something wrong. In subsequent interviews, Ford has said that what he was trying to say during that debate was that the Russians will never dominate the spirit of the Eastern Europeans.
Moderators of nationally televised presidential debates have included
Bernard Shaw,
Bill Moyers,
Jim Lehrer and
Barbara Walters.
Washington University in St. Louis has hosted more debates than any other location, in 1992, 2000, and 2004. The University was also scheduled to host a debate in 1996, but it was later negotiated between the two presidential candidates to reduce the number of debates from three to two.
Debate sponsorship
Control of the presidential debates has been a ground of struggle for more than two decades. The role was filled by the nonpartisan
League of Women Voters (LWV) civic organization in 1976, 1980 and 1984. In
1987, the LWV withdrew from debate sponsorship, in protest of the major party candidates attempting to dictate nearly every aspect of how the debates were conducted. On
October 2,
1988, the LWV's 14 trustees voted unanimously to pull out of the debates, and on
October 3 they issued a dramatic press release:
» The League of Women Voters is withdrawing sponsorship of the presidential debates ... because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter. It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.
The two major political parties had their own loyalists ready to take over the debates and did so in 1988 under the name of the
Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). The two parties presented the 1988 debates and have done so every election cycle since. The commission has been headed since its inception by former chairs of the
Republican and
Democratic parties.
In
2004, the
Citizens' Debate Commission (CDC) was formed to challenge control by the Democratic and Republican parties and attempt to return the debates to control by an independent, nonpartisan, rather than bipartisan, body. Chief concerns include the CPD's exclusion of third party and independent candidates. This effort was unsuccessful in its first attempt, as the CPD again controlled the
2004 debates. Some critics believe that this was partially the fault of the LWV in becoming increasingly politically aligned with the Democrats on gun control issues, in a break with their tradition of non-partisanship.
Timeline
2008 Presidential Debates
Three
Presidential Debates have been scheduled for 2008:
September 26, 2008 at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi (External Link)
October 7, 2008 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee (External Link)
October 15, 2008 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York (External Link)
One vice-presidential debate has been scheduled:
October 2, 2008 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri (External Link)Further Information
Get more info on 'United States Presidential Election Debates'.
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