2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: After watching the Republican debate, I'm floored the Democrats aren't starting their debates. [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)You don't need a debate to figure out where two or three candidates stand on issues. That's usually what they're for--to sort out differences.
You want to play gotcha, I think--but you might not get what you expect if you play that game.
Debates are useful to see who can take the heat, but it's not like we've got 17 fools clamoring for our attention. There are two people running, and a spare who appears sincere but isn't breaking out in the polling. The others are just farting around, looking for attention. The longer we wait, the sooner they might just toddle off, because they aren't serious.
IA and NH are more important contests for the GOP because the electorate in those states more closely reflects Republican voters. They aren't viewed as must-wins for Democrats (in fact, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton didn't come first in NH on their first outings in that state--Bill Clinton took under three percent of the vote in the IA caucuses on his first try, thanks to a favorite son run by Tom Harkin). Our electorate is more diverse than the populations of those states, so super Tuesday is more indicative of our voter bloc. It's not indicative of "inconvenience," it has more to do with timing messaging so it's reaching the greatest number of likely/possible Dem voters at an optimal point in time.
That mess last night wasn't about framing--it was about The Donald bloviating, and a really good down and dirty fight between CC and Randy Paulbot. Most people would call that unprofessional clusterf-ck a "hot mess." A lot of people like Big Time Wrestling, just not on the debate stage.