Election Debates
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Better get used to silent audiences if you want to beat Obama
Ray D’Cruz Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich honed a key message since the South Carolina debates: only he can beat Obama in the presidential debates. Until last night’s debate, the message worked well. It combined one of Gingrich’s perceived strengths (debating) with the issue that matters most to Republicans (beating Obama). But the case for his superior … Continue reading
Republican debates fail to find the real issues
Opinion by Ray D’Cruz The Republican primary debates have been a disappointment to any serious observer. With a few exceptions, they have consistently failed to debate the issues that might allow an intellectually curious Republican voter to discern the best challenger for President Barack Obama. How is this possible? There have been 15 debates since … Continue reading
Goff wins Third NZ Leaders’ Debate
Winner: Phil Goff Scores: Goff 81 | Key 79 Judge: Ray D’Cruz The third and final debate of the 2011 NZ election saw opposition leader Phil Goff (Labour) edge prime minister John Key (National). Mr Goff won some critical arguments in the heart of the debate, and used the tactic of direct questioning to his … Continue reading
Goff wins Second NZ Leaders’ Debate
Winner: Phil Goff Scores: Goff 79 | Key 76 Judge: Ray D’Cruz Opposition Leader Phil Goff (Labour) won the Second NZ Leaders’ Debate of the 2011 election by gaining an advantage over Prime Minister, John Key (National) in several important arguments. (View it here) This debate was very different debate to the first one, with fewer issues … Continue reading
Key wins First NZ Leaders’ Debate
Winner: John Key Scores: Key 79 | Goff 77 Judge: Ray D’Cruz New Zealand Prime Minister John Key (National) edged opposition leader Phil Goff (Labour) in the First Leaders’ Debate. He won for two reasons: first, he was more consistent; and second, Mr Goff failed to show that New Zealand needs a change of direction. … Continue reading
Election Debates’ Verdict: Harper wins Canadian Leaders’ Debate
Winner: Stephen Harper Scores: Harper 80 | Ignatieff 77 | Layton 73 | Duceppe 70 Judge: Ray D’Cruz Three years, it seems, is not a long time in Canadian politics. The three returning speakers picked where they left off: Stephen Harper (Conservative) used every opportunity to talk about the economy, Gilles Duceppe (Bloc Quebecois) steered … Continue reading
Telling stories and asking questions: lessons from Ireland’s RTE debate
Opinion by Ray D’Cruz Questions feature in every debate, and usually the main point of interest is who gets to ask them. The questioner ranges from moderator to media panel to live audience to virtual audience – or a combination of these in a single debate. The recent set of English-language Irish debates featured two … Continue reading
Election Debates’ verdict: Gilmore wins fourth Irish leaders’ debate
Election Debates has awarded the fourth and final Irish leaders’ debate to Eamon Gilmore (Labour). The debate featured the three major party leaders: Micheal Martin (Fianna Fáil), Enda Kenny (Fine Gael) and Mr Gilmore. The debate was hosted by Miriam O’Callaghan of RTÉ’s Prime Time. Colm Flynn, former chair of the World Universities Debating Championship, said “…in terms … Continue reading
Flynn: Gilmore wins fourth Irish leaders’ debate
Judge: Colm Flynn Winner: Eamon Gilmore Scores: Gilmore 82 | Kenny 81 | Martin 76 This was the long awaited three-way debate between Enda Kenny (FG), Michael Martin (FF) and Eamon Gilmore (Labour). After some fairly bland opening statements the debate moved into a number of sections. Economy: At times this felt like it was going … Continue reading
Flynn: Kenny wins Second Irish Leaders’ Debate
Judge: Colm Flynn Winner: Enda Kenny Scores: Kenny 75 | Martin 73 | Gormley 72 | Gilmore 71 | Adams 69 To me the format was a problem. The questions at times were not clearly thought out and the result was that the moderator Pat Kenny had to guide the debate more than I would have … Continue reading
