Structured format adopted for Palin-Biden TV debate
The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to a free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin on Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a more structured approach for the questioning at the vice presidential debate, advisers to both campaigns said yesterday.
At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska and her Democratic rival, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for freewheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
The wrangling was chiefly between the McCain-Palin camp and the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which is sponsoring the forums.
While the debates between presidential nominees are traditionally the main events in the fall election season, the public interest in Palin has proved extraordinary and a large audience is expected for her debate debut.
Both the McCain and Obama campaigns have similar concerns about the vice presidential matchup in St. Louis: that Palin, as a new player in national politics, or Biden, as a loquacious and gaffe-prone speaker, could commit a momentum-changing misstep.
The negotiations for the three 90-minute debates between Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic nominee, and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee, were largely free of brinksmanship. Neither side threatened to pull out, and concerns about camera angles and stagecraft were minor.
Obama successfully sought to flip the proposed topics for the first and third debates, so foreign policy is now coming first and economic and other domestic issues come last.
There is a second debate, in the format of a town hall meeting, in which the candidates will take questions from the audience and Internet users on any topic.
Obama wanted foreign policy first to show viewers that he could provide strength on those issues, his advisers said.
McCain also wanted foreign policy topics to come first in the debates, his aides said, in the hope of capitalizing on his positive reputation on national security issues across party lines.
The campaigns had no say over the choice of moderators. 