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No spinning allowed
The Catt Center's DebateWatch gave students a chance to voice their
opinions
You know the drill. Before the candidates can finish greeting their supporters,
the television networks are telling you just who won and lost in the latest
presidential debate between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George
W. Bush.
But for a group of Iowa State students the TV is off and discussion has
already begun.
"What we're doing is not about who won or lost the debate,"
said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women
and Politics, "but rather what we have learned about the candidates
and the issues."
The Catt Center sponsored a DebateWatch for each of the three presidential
debates. The last two were held in 302 Catt Hall where approximately 25
people participated in the event. Student members of the Catt Center's
two leadership development programs, the Legacy of Heroines Scholars and
Catt Associates, and other members of the campus and Ames communities,
participated.
The event is a nationwide program of the National Commission on Presidential
Debates (CPD).
"DebateWatch brings small groups of citizens together to watch the
televised debates; talk about what they learned, or didn't learn, from
the candidates; and provide their input to the CPD," Bystrom said.
"This process encourages citizens to talk with each other about the
presidential candidates, issues and important electoral decisions they
will make in November."
DebateWatch participants see no "pre-debate" commentary by network
broadcasters and the television feed is turned off immediately following
the debate before the political spin begins. CPD requires participants
to also watch the debates on either PBS or C-Span.
"We're focused on the learning process," Bystrom said. "DebateWatch
doesn't want us to concentrate on nonverbal or in the case of Vice President
Gore in the first debate - the verbal sighs - when the other candidate
is speaking."
Immediately following the debate, the participants suggest issues on which
they learned more about one or both candidates' views. The group also
discusses what issues weren't important to them that the candidates mentioned
and what they would like to hear in upcoming debates.
The responses of the Iowa State groups are then provided to the CPD, which
includes them in summary reports released the morning after the debate.
The summaries also are posted on the CPD web site (www.debates.org).
"After the first debate we were pretty much on target with the national
responses," Bystrom said.
In the discussion held after the second debate, the participants said
they learned the most about the candidates' stands on foreign policy,
gun control and the environment. Foreign policy also topped the list of
what issues discussed that weren't important to them.
The participants still want to know more about the candidates including
their policy stands on drugs, women and family issues, and the reason
for the apparent voter apathy this year.
Bystrom says she plans to use the discussions from the Iowa State DebateWatch
groups for a book she is co-editing on the 2000 presidential election.
Around LAS
October 23-29, 2000
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