Just ask us to debate. Please ask us to debate.
That was the message the Clinton campaign sent to the MSM this afternoon. During a conference call with reporters, Mark Penn, the campaign’s chief strategist, and Howard Wolfson, its communications director, called for at least one debate a week between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the next month. They announced that the Clinton campaign has already accepted invitations from ABC News (this Sunday), Fox News (this Monday), CNN (February 27), and MSNBC (February 28). “It’s critically important we continue the debate,” Penn remarked.
Obvious point alert: The Clintonites believe Clinton does better than Obama during the debates. They’re probably right. He beats her on oratory. His rallies are bigger and better. But she can talk policy details well. At the debates, she demonstrates she’s in command of facts and ideas. Usually, it’s the trailing candidate who demands debates during a campaign, for he or she needs the attention. But in this case, the Clinton campaign is most likely looking for an insurance policy. If Obama happens to surge after Super Tuesday, each debate will give Clinton a chance to slow him down. And if a whole series of debates are scheduled, he will have to spend time off the campaign trail prepping for the face-offs–that is, there will be less time for those impressive, inspiring rallies.
“A lot will depend on the one-on-one debates,” Penn commented. Such debates, he added, “will determine some of the outcomes” of the big states coming down the road, such as Ohio and Texas (March 4). The voters, he suggested, need and deserve them.
So, the Clintonites signaled to the big media outlets, just get those debate invitations in ASAP, we’re willing to say yes to almost anything. (“ESPN3 Presents the Democratic Presidential Debate.”) It’s a smart ploy for the Clintons. And it will be hard for Obama to say no.
