After just one senatorial debate, Democrat Joe Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey have distanced themselves, even calling each other “extreme.” But according to some, that’s exactly what they should keep doing — including during tonight’s debate in Pittsburgh.
Annenberg School for Communication professor Alvin Felzenberg explained that debates typically don’t sway voters’ decisions. “If both people stay in character and don’t do anything foolish, they don’t change minds — just reinforce them,” Felzenberg said. He compared a debate to a baseball game: “The Yankees and the Mets aren’t going to convince you, but the enthusiasm of the teams will.”
Penn Democrats President and College junior Emma Ellman-Golan agreed that the first debate won’t change minds. “I think the people who watch debates already have an opinion about the election,” Ellman-Golan said.
But according to Penn College Republicans Treasurer and Wharton junior Charles Gray, the debates will be “pivotal.”
“I think Toomey won the debate,” he said, but added that “conventional wisdom” is that Toomey’s campaign hasn’t been doing well as of late. He cited recent polling data indicating that the race is tightening, but took issue with the accuracy of such polls.
Tonight, Toomey should “show his composure and ability to bring the focus back on important issues like jobs and the economy,” said Gray, a former Daily Pennsylvanian columnist.
Much of what determines the enthusiasm behind candidates is how they present themselves to the public, Felzenberg said, rather than what is actually said during the debate.
“No one can tell you what was said during the Kennedy and Nixon debate,” he said. “But they talk about how Kennedy looked calmer and snazzier than Nixon.”
According to Ellman-Golan, what Sestak needs to do tonight is “continue his message of representing working families and basically everyone who’s not a multimillionaire,” she said.
“I think Sestak has done a good job putting Toomey on the defensive,” Gray said, adding that “Sestak mischaracterized [Toomey], portraying him as someone not on the side of jobs.”
The only thing Toomey was better at during the last debate, according to Ellman-Golan, “is being meaner and making snide remarks. But I think Joe rose above it.”
Felzenberg said media coverage following the debate will have more impact. “Like an opera, more people will see the reviews the next day than the actual performance.”
A large part of the media narrative, according to Felzenberg, is the portrayal of Sestak and Toomey as ideological opposites.
“It’s like two pure political strains,” Felzenberg said. Long-time senator Arlen Specter, who Sestak defeated to win the Democratic nomination in May, was “a centrist, but we don’t have that now. We have a Democrat with a populist streak and a very conservative Republican.” What is interesting, he said, is that while nationally many Democrats and Republicans have become more moderate, “Pennsylvania is an exception.”
