The Commission on Presidential Debates announced today that they have picked Oxford, Miss.; St. Louis; Mo. Nashville, Tenn.; and Hempstead, N.Y., as sites for the presidential and vice-presidential debates next year. Leaders in New Orleans, one of the 16 finalists, have said they feel slighted by the selection, and that holding a debate there would have stood as a rebuke of the Bush administrations failures during and after Hurricane Katrina. But the Democratic co-chair of the commission told the Associated Press that "New Orleans did not measure up." Both Clinton and Edwards have already come out with statements criticizing the decision, noting that hosting the event there would both bring attention to the continued recovery efforts there and up the pressure to make sure those efforts continue.
While the bipartisan debate commission selecting the sites for the debate is not exactly comparable to how each party selects the host city for their national convention, if the Democrats are so concerned about New Orleans, perhaps they should have lobbied harder to hold the DNC there. In 2004, the Republicans selected New York to host their national convention, hoping to highlight the strength and character of the city and its efforts to revive the city after September 11. It was a publicity stunt, a rallying cry for conservatives, a plug for patriotism. For the Democrats, that could have been New Orleans next year -- a chance to draw attention to the site and use that to build upon the candidate's hopes for the future. But for the Republicans, the selection would probably raise some touchy subjects about race, class, and the Bush administration's blunders. I'm guessing the that made some on the commission uncomfortable, so on some level, it makes sense that they wouldn't select the New Orleans. But not so for the Dems.
But here's something even more interesting about the debates in '08:
This is the first time the bipartisan commission, which has overseen the debates since 1988, plans a format allowing the candidates to question each other. Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., the commission's Republican co-chairman, said that contrary to past experience, the candidates would not be allowed to change the format. "The candidates aren't going to dictate to us anymore," Mr. Fahrenkopf said.
I'm curious to see what that will look like. Last week's calamitous CNN debate in which the Democratic candidates were supposed to self-moderate got out of hand at several points. Despite the inanity we've seen at most of the debates this primary season, I still tend to prefer the debates where journalist and pundit types ask the questions, or, even more, when the audience gets to ask them (and preferably without the interference of the organizers).
--Kate Sheppard