Posted on 10/02/2006 12:52:16 PM PDT by weegee
AUSTIN - Can the four major candidates for Texas governor debate each other for an hour on live television without being seen or heard?
Probably not, but Belo Corp., sponsor of the only such gubernatorial showdown this fall, will test that possibility Friday night, both with its restrictive distribution rules and the time slot.
Originating in Dallas, the debate will be carried live on the company's WFAA flagship; Belo affiliates in Houston (KHOU-Channel 11), San Antonio and Austin; Belo's Texas Cable News (TXCN) and will be streamed live on their Web sites. TV stations in smaller towns outside Belo markets can air the debate live, but most other TV outlets will be restricted to airing recorded segments later.
Even without those limits, the 7-8 p.m. airtime is awful, at least from a public standpoint, although Gov. Rick Perry is doubtlessly delighted.
Millions of Texans will be at high school football games, with the governor's race far from their minds. Even in Big D, which will be celebrating Texas-OU weekend, the real drama will not be over which candidate fires the zingiest one-liner but over how many revelers find their way back to their hotels without landing in the hospital or jail.
The restrictions and distractions, however, make it the perfect setting for Perry to minimize potential injury while appearing on the same stage with three opponents. Libertarian James Werner wasn't invited, and neither was a studio audience. (Werner or the Libertarian Party may sue Belo to be included.)
Televised debates usually represent more potential harm than benefit for an incumbent, and that is particularly true this year. If, as it appears, Perry is headed for re-election with less than half the vote — while Democrat Chris Bell and independents Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman trail in a pack — he has little to gain.
He needs to deliver his well-rehearsed spiel, his pat answers to mostly predictable questions and avoid embarrassing misstatements that could haunt him later in headlines, TV news clips, replays on C-SPAN (which has a contract with Belo) or the Internet (where most of the debate audience may end up.)
The Strayhorn and Bell camps blame the debate date on Perry's campaign.
"I think they want as few people as possible to be watching," Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders said.
Perry spokesman Robert Black wouldn't discuss the negotiations. WFAA station manager Mike Devlin said the distribution rules are Belo's but also declined to discuss any give and take over the debate time.
"It was the only date we could get all candidates together," he said, likening the scheduling process to "herding cats."
Bell probably has the most to win from a successful performance because he has been the overlooked candidate. Unlike Perry and Strayhorn, he hasn't been able to afford extensive advertising to deliver his message and, unlike Friedman, hasn't drawn attention to himself with outrageous remarks.
The Bell campaign is the only one to admit scheduling rehearsals this week. State Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, endowed with "good hair" like Perry, will portray the governor for the Democratic nominee.
A consortium that includes Texas Monthly magazine and KERA-TV, Dallas' public television station, proposed airing the debate this Thursday night. Their proposal was rejected in favor of Belo, and no one seems to know why. Or they aren't saying.
"Somebody doesn't want somebody to see this debate," said Texas Monthly Editor Evan Smith, adding that it was "outrageous" for Belo to restrict distribution.
Devlin said he didn't know why the candidates were able to agree on Belo's proposal and not the time offered by Texas Monthly and KERA. But he predicted that more people will view the debate on commercial TV, even on a Friday night in the middle of football season, than on a Thursday night on PBS.
Different states Jesse Ventura, the former pro wrestler who favored pink boas and former third-party governor of Minnesota, came to Texas to help boost independent Kinky Friedman's gubernatorial campaign.
They share the same strategist, Dean Barkley. But the same magic that worked in Minnesota isn't likely to work here. For one thing, Minnesota, unlike Texas, has public financing of elections, and Ventura got about $300,000 in tax funds to pay for TV ads. That $300,000 went a lot further in Minnesota than Friedman has been able to stretch his privately raised campaign dollars.
Minnesota also allows voters to register on Election Day, which maximized the effectiveness of Ventura's ads and sparked a huge voter turnout to sweep him into office. The voter registration deadline in Texas is Oct. 10, four weeks before the election, making it more difficult for Friedman to keep his traditional nonvoters engaged.
PAC picks The Texas Parent PAC, a new group that helped defeat House Public Education Chairman Kent Grusendorf of Arlington in the GOP primary, will endorse former Clear Creek school board member Sherrie Matula of Houston this week. Matula, a Democrat and retired teacher, is challenging Republican state Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, the budget and oversight chairman of the House Human Services Committee.
The group recently endorsed the Democratic opponent, Ellen Cohen, of another Houston Republican, state Rep. Martha Wong. And it endorsed former Harlandale school trustee Joe Farias, a San Antonio Democrat, in the race to succeed state Rep. Carlos Uresti.
Houston/TEXAS PING
I plan to record it for later viewing.
It should be fun to watch them all gang up on Gov Hairhelmet. ;)
We'll be partying in Port A this weekend. Politics will not be on my mind during beach time. Football, that's another story.
They will?
Hehehehe.....wishing you were of them, ehh?! (At least I'll be at Bingo.)
I cannot believe a significant portion of voters are occupied with it
to the point of missing a debate. Even if they were, we have this cool new
technology called VCR which folks have had 20 years to learn how to program.
Smart ones might even know about TiVo.
I think I fall into this category personally. I'll be recording it on my TiVo since I too won't be at home on Friday night either (No, I won't be at any ball game either).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.