Early debates offer risks and revelations

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

WASHINGTON - Early presidential debates always include some candidates who, one can be reasonably certain, won’t be president of the United States.

A long-shot contender such as Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., best known for his hard-line stance on illegal immigration, can use a debate to challenge the front-runners on an issue they might prefer not to define in stark terms.

In order for voters to discover who he is, a maverick needs to take risks in a debate, such as Thursday's Republican face-off at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., broadcast at 8pm ET on MSNBC.

In last week’s Democratic presidential scrum on MSNBC, former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio showed the effect, both disorienting and invigorating, that maverick candidates can have on the more risk-averse front runners.

“Some of these people frighten me — they frighten me,” Gravel blurted out, referring to his fellow Democratic contenders.

Gravel's jarring effect
“When you have main-line candidates that turn around and say that there's nothing off the table with respect to Iran, that's code for using nukes, nuclear devices,” said Gravel, who last held elective office in 1981 and, until now, hasn’t been well known even among Democratic activists.

Gravel’s mention of “nukes” was a jarring reminder, amid carefully phrased statements from the other contenders, of how dangerous the U.S.-Iran confrontation is.

A few minutes later, given an opening by Gravel’s statement on Iran, Kucinich got into a scrap with Sen. Barack Obama, telling the Illinois senator, “You're setting the stage for another war.”

Obama sought rebuttal time and said, “I think it would be a profound mistake for us to initiate a war with Iran.”

He added that Iran “potentially can place a nuclear weapon into the hands of terrorists” and “that is a profound security threat for America and one that we have to take seriously.”

A mutually beneficial skirmish
This exchange may have benefited both Obama and Kucinich: Obama got to display a sober and hawkish foreign policy approach, and Kucinich got attention, a precious commodity for a lesser-known candidate.

Just as the Kucinich-Obama spat was potentially useful to both men, a similar dynamic was at work in a 2000 debate among five Republican contenders a few days before the New Hampshire primary.

Again, it was the long-shot contender who rhetorically shook his fist in the face of a top-tier candidate, as conservative orator Allan Keyes provoked Sen. John McCain to anger.

McCain had said that if his 15-year old daughter became pregnant, that he, his wife and his daughter would decide whether she should get an abortion.

“If your daughter came to you and said she was contemplating killing her grandmother for the family inheritance, you wouldn’t say let’s have a family conference,” Keyes chided McCain.

McCain fires back at Keyes
The Arizona senator shot back, “I will not draw my children into this discussion.”

He was offended enough by Keyes to revert to the topic later in the debate. “I want to tell you something,” he said to Keyes. “I’ve seen enough killing in my life. I know how precious human life is. And I don’t need a lecture from you.”

The clash allowed McCain to underscore his appeal to libertarian-minded Republicans, independents, and cross-over Democrats, who could re-register and vote in the New Hampshire GOP primary.

McCain was, in effect, saying that while he opposed abortion, he also valued family privacy and the right of parents to take part in a fateful decision for their daughter.

Apart from the opening that that mavericks can give front-runners to convey messages to voters, there’s another reason to play attention to early debates.

MORE FROM THE DEBATES

The debates Section Front

Final debate a lagging indicator of reality McCain goes on attack in final debate Analysis: McCain puts Obama on the defensive Fact check: Candidates again twist truth 'Plumber' says he has no plumbing license Fineman: McCain stock souring in New York? Can John McCain still win? Newsweek: Don't buy the "comeback" script Dan Rather has no kind words for the debates Schieffer to moderate last debate The debates Section Front   Add The debates headlines to your news reader: