Published: October 01, 2008 09:49 pm            

B-SIDES: Tonight’s the night to party as Palin, Biden take the stage

TERRE HAUTE — America deserves a break from this 24/7 focus on the financial crisis, taxes and the war.

Thank God for tonight’s vice presidential debate.

Last week, people welcomed family, friends, neighbors and co-workers into their homes for “debate watching parties” as presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain dueled on television. In advance of last Friday’s event, the Obama campaign sent out a three-step “Debate Watch Party Host Guide,” featuring a suggested agenda of things to do every 5 or 10 minutes. Not surprisingly, the Republicans favored less intervention, issuing no party agenda or exit plan. The McCain camp did, however, announce it had arranged 120 debate-watching parties in Indiana that night.

But for sheer entertainment value, tonight is the night to party. This should be fun.

Normally, listening to two wannabe vice presidents is about as enjoyable as a flu shot. And, granted, this is the undercard. Still, Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden is a matchup sure to entertain everyone, except maybe Obama and McCain. Palin may talk without actually saying anything. Biden may say anything.

In a heavily scripted election season, a little unpredictability sounds refreshing. A debate could break out at this debate. It could be rambling, inaccurate and incomprehensible, but a rare treat.

Last Friday, moderator Jim Lehrer urged McCain and Obama to address each other, in a more formal debate style, rather than speaking to Lehrer or the audience. They resisted. In fact, McCain dropped a great one-liner when Lehrer told Obama to look at the Republican while answering. The 72-year-old McCain asked, “Are you afraid I couldn’t hear him?”

Candidates veer toward rehearsed comments, and away from revealing arguments.

“There’s a tendency to make a speech about policy without directly addressing the question,” said David Worley, chairman of the communications department at Indiana State University.

That risk will be present at the VP debate, too, especially from Palin. The Republicans have sealed her off from the press like a “Dating Game” contestant in a sound-proof booth, giving this newcomer to national politics little chance to develop an understanding of what the public expects her to know. Daily exchanges with campaign reporters could sharpen her study of important issues.

Instead, Palin emerges for a handful of interviews with TV network anchors, making her appear like a Not Ready for Prime Time Player and perfect fodder for Tina Fey.

Expectations of Palin for tonight’s debate with Biden couldn’t be lower.

“If she doesn’t spit up on herself, McCain’s going to be able to declare victory,” said Jay Clarkson, an ISU assistant professor of communication. “It’s a sad day when ‘Saturday Night Live’ can use her speeches verbatim and have it be funnier than any script.”

Like Worley, Clarkson is a former college debater and debate coach, filling both roles at Cal State-Sacramento. Clarkson’s advice to Biden is “to let Palin do the talking.” As for the once-unknown Alaskan governor, he said, “She needs to try to keep the terms of the debate where she’s comfortable … which she has a chance of doing, given how deferential Biden has been and probably coached to be.

“Honestly, these debates generally lack specifics,” Clarkson added, “and that could play into her free-flowing rhetorical style.”

Tonight’s format favors briefly free-flowing, uh, rhetoric. In last Friday’s Obama-McCain debate, the candidates got 2 minutes each to reply to a question by Lehrer, followed by 5 minutes of open discussion between the two, in theory, at least. By contrast, Palin and Biden are supposed to get 90 seconds to initially answer questions by moderator Gwen Ifill of PBS, followed by a two-minute discussion. The VP questions won’t be restricted to a certain topic.

Still, Palin could drift into Russian surveillance, and Biden could ruminate about FDR’s nationally televised stock-market-crash speech.

Hopefully, your debate-watch party host has everything at arm’s reach during the broadcast. (What do you serve at a Sarah-Joe debate? Theoretically, it should be BYO for Republicans, and Democrats can share whatever’s in the host’s refrigerator. Lite cheesecake and fudge are a must, though.) Keeping the food close at hand, though, could be important. An extended hunt for sour cream could cause a debate viewer to miss a classic line for the ages.

Then again, we can always watch a virtual replay at 11:30 Saturday night.

Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

        

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