Behind The Scenes In Baltimore

[undergroundrailroad]

Behind the Scenes in Baltimore
What you missed if you watched the Democratic debate on TV.
By Chris Suellentrop
Posted Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 9:09 PM PT

BALTIMORE—Can Fox News broadcast every Democratic presidential debate? Until the awful "Viewers' Choice" round (which didn't contain any questions from viewers), the panelists' questions at tonight's face-off, which was hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus, were interesting, unusual, and managed to get the candidates off their talking points for at least a portion of their answers. Suffice it to say that Jim Lehrer wasn't missed.

Some examples: Is it right to appropriate Iraqi oil to pay for a war that America started? (Why didn't war supporter Dick Gephardt challenge the premise of the question?) When would you support covert operations like the one the United States carried out in the 1970s against Chile? (Al Sharpton's answer wasn't clear.) Do you support a constitutional amendment to allow naturalized citizens to run for president? (Bob Graham does.) More typical questions were posed in a challenging, even confrontational manner, such as when Juan Williams asked John Edwards why his proposed regulations for the drug industry wouldn't put a drag on pharmaceutical research. (Edwards didn't have an answer—other than to recite his mantra, "I've been doing this my entire life"—it was his worst moment of an otherwise good night.)

Some things you missed if you watched the debate on TV:

1) The elephant in the room—other than Brit Hume, of course—was the question of how the largely African-American audience at Morgan State University would react to Joe Lieberman, who hasn't always had the best relationship with black leaders. Before the debate began, two African-American Democrats were less than enthusiastic about the Connecticut senator. Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that Lieberman's participation in 1960s civil rights marches—one of Lieberman's favorite topics during events like tonight's—wasn't all that relevant 30-odd years after the fact. Young African-Americans like Cummings' daughter, Cummings said, want to know what candidates are going to do for them now. And Donna Brazile said Lieberman's positions on the war in Iraq "will not resonate with the African-American community, who have an open distrust of this president."
<snip>

In the end, though, it's Dean who gets the biggest laugh after he uncorks the night's best line, in response to a question about how he can understand black voters when he hails from the nearly all-white state of Vermont: "If the percentage of minorities in your state has anything to do with how you connect with black voters, then Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King."

http://slate.msn.com/id/2087881/

[caledesi]

1. That's my man, Howard Dean.

HD was great tonight. He was relaxed and very effective in his responses.

Go Howard!