Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T19:01:39.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Debates Are for Losers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2008

Peter R. Schrott  and
David J. Lanoue
Peter R. Schrott
Affiliation:
Heilbronn University
David J. Lanoue
Affiliation:
University of Alabama
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

On the morning of October 30, 2007, Hillary Clinton led Barack Obama, her closest challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, by a comfortable margin in every significant national poll. That night, however, Senator Clinton, debating in Philadelphia, wandered into an ambush. Asked for her opinion of then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to allow illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses, she first seemed to support the idea and then, under withering attack from Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, almost immediately backed away from her tepid endorsement. Writing shortly after the debate, Mark Halperin (2007) of Time magazine opined that “[i]f [Clinton] loses the nomination, tonight will go down in history as the first step to her defeat.”

Type
Features
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 513 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benoit, W. L., and Wells, W. T.. 1996. Candidates in Conflict: Persuasive Attack and Defense in the 1992 Presidential Debates. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
“Face to Face.” 2004. Newsweek, November 8. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6420968/site/newsweek/.Google Scholar
Friedenberg, R. V. 2005. “The 2004 Presidential Debates.” In The 2004 Presidential Campaign: A Communications Perspective, ed. Denton, R. E. Jr. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Geer, J. G. 1988. “The Effects of Presidential Debates on the Electorate's Preference Candidates.” American Politics Quarterly 16: 486–501.Google Scholar
Hagner, P. R., and Rieselbach, L. N.. 1978. “The Impact of the 1976 Presidential Debates: Conversion of Reinforcement?” In The Presidential Debates, ed. Bishop, G., Meadow, R., and Jackson-Beeck, M.. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Halperin, Mark. 2007. “The October 30 Democratic Debate.” Time, October 30. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1678242_1678241_1678236,00.html.Google Scholar
Hillygus, D. S., and Jackman, S.. 2003. “Voter Decision Making in Election 2000: Campaign Effects, Partisan Activation, and the Clinton Legacy.” American Journal of Political Science 47: 583–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holbrook, T. M. 1996. Do Campaigns Matter? Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Katz, E., and Feldman, J. J.. 1962. “The Debates in the Light of Research: A Survey of Surveys.” In The Great Debates: Background, Perspective, Effects, ed. Kraus, S.. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Lanoue, D. J. 1992. “One that Made a Difference: Cognitive Consistency, Political Knowledge, and the 1980 Presidential Debate.” Public Opinion Quarterly 56: 168–84.Google Scholar
Lanoue, D. J., and Schrott, P. R.. 1989. “Voters' Reactions to Televised Presidential Debates: Measurement of the Source and Magnitude of Opinion Change.” Political Psychology 10: 275–85.Google Scholar
Lanoue, D. J., and Schrott, P. R.. 1991. The Joint Press Conference: The History, Impact, and Prospects of American Presidential Debates. New York: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Pfau, M. 2002. “The Subtle Nature of Presidential Debate Influence.” Argumentation and Advocacy 38: 251–62.Google Scholar
Schroeder, A. 2000. Presidential Debates: Forty Years of High-Risk TV. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., and Chaffee, S. H.. 1979. “Uses and Effects of the 1976 Debates: An Overview of Empirical Studies.” In The Great Debates: Carter vs. Ford, 1976, ed. Kraus, S.. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Steeper, F. T. 1978. “”Public Response to Gerald Ford's Statements on Eastern Europe in the Second Debate.” In The Presidential Debates, ed. Bishop, G., Meadow, R., and Jackson-Beeck, M.. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Yawn, M., Ellsworth, K., Beatty, B., and Kahn, K. F.. 1998. “How a Presidential Primary Debate Changed Attitudes of Audience Members.” Political Behavior 20: 155–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar