Many times my clients want to talk about debates. They look forward to them. They worry about them, In the end, they mean very little — as long as you show up and don’t get a bad quote or YouTube clip out of it.
The race between Assemblyman John Benoit and former Assemblyman Russ Bogh for SD 37 (Battin) will be one of the most contested primaries in the state next June. These two are already kicking each other and we have months to go.
I’m not advocating a candidate or an outcome in this election. My firm has no dog in this fight. I’m simply pointing out that this is a classic example of what to do and what not to do if you are a candidate or advising a candidate.
Marshall and Stone are hosts in the afternoon on KNEWS radio in Palm Springs. They often have local political figures into the studio to debate issues. They do a great job trying to keep things fair. Despite all of the efforts by the host to even the playing field it was obvious to me that one candidate knew exactly what to do while the other seemed to be determined to inflict as much damage on his own campaign as possible..
This weekend I read some of the regional blogs about this exchange and couldn’t believe that any rational person would conclude that it was not a slaughter. It simply was not close.
Some key points:
- The winner of a debate comes to the event with one or two points to drive home.
- The winner of a debate allows his opponent to bring up is own negatives — several times.
- The winner of a debate does not get flustered at any point. They remain calm and continue to drive the point.
- The winner of a debate defuses the offensive by his opponents and then bring the issue right back to the key points he was trying to make at the start.
- The winner of the debate is the one that has been beating his opponent around the head on an issue. Then, when the topic changes his opponent bring the same issue back up again so that the winner can beat him up again.
- When the debate is over the listener is able to remember the key points made by the winner.
A recording of the debate is below. It is large so it is broken into two parts. Make up your own mind but it seems pretty obvious to me.