WHERE ARE TODAY'S GREAT DEBATES?

October 12th 2006

Michael Smerconish

FRANK RIZZO made a critical mistake that probably cost him his 1987 rematch with Wilson Goode. I should know - I was Rizzo's political director.

The error was in ignoring the black wards. Virtually every one of our campaign events was in the Great Northeast, Center City, the river wards, South Philly or the northwest neighborhoods like Roxborough, Manayunk and Chestnut Hill.

The thinking was simple. Wilson Goode was going to grab the entire black vote, so we thought we might as well concentrate our time where we had support. Nothing racist, it was pure time management and politics.

Goode had a different strategy. He knew Rizzo would get the white vote (but not in the same proportion as he would get the black vote). But he nevertheless made many trips to the white wards, even after being poorly received. His strategy worked. He was victorious, not so much because he won people over in those trips to Rizzo's heartland, but because white liberals, whose votes were up for grabs, looked favorably on his effort.

That's my postscript on what was a watershed election in 1987. Larry Ceisler shares my view. He was doing the same job for Goode that I was doing for Rizzo, and has since become a close friend. We commiserate about it often. And we agree that it was a sign of what was to come politically: the overly scripted, focused, deliberative campaign.

Too much management, too little substantive dialogue.

Look around us right now. We have some local races with national implications. The national balance of power could be determined in the Philadelphia suburbs. Sadly, the campaigns around us have become too planned, too predictable, lacking in spontaneity. Voters suffer from seeing the candidates only in slick TV ads and in rehearsed, protected environments. Nobody seems to want to mix it up anymore. Too bad.

We need more of what we got in that Bill Clinton smackdown with Chris Wallace. Not only was it great TV, it was a terrific exchange. Points were made on both sides, and Americans got some insight. My hunch is that Wallace blindsided the former president with what would have been, in another context, a completely appropriate question: Why didn't you connect the dots pre-9/11? What made the moment unique was that Clinton was appearing on Fox News.

There's not enough of that. Instead, we have politicians trolling for friendly audiences. Denny Hastert is jammed up over the Foley Fiasco. So he goes to Rush Limbaugh. And we suffer.

Imagine how much more revealing an appearance on Bill Maher's "Real Time" would have been. When Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot his buddy, Brit Hume got the call. A good journalist, but more cherry-picking. Or take Santorum vs. Casey. In my view, Santorum cleaned Casey's clock in their "Meet the Press" debate. Obviously, the Casey camp agreed. Before tonight's debate, they went to great lengths to keep Casey off any stage where he ran the risk of appearing with Santorum. (As a matter of fact, they kept him off stages, period. Last week, he had no public events between Monday and Friday, and didn't allow media access when he hosted Bill Clinton.)

Worse, his strategy is working. Santorum seems stuck in the polls. Just being the "other guy" is proving to be enough for Casey.

Then there's Weldon vs. Sestak, one of the hottest House races in the country. When they finally mixed it up last weekend, the ground rules reportedly included no photos, no outbursts and no leaving the room during the debate. What were they afraid of?

As a radio host, I see lots of this unwillingness to spar. I've extended invitations for joint appearances to each of the combatants in the contested 7th, 8th, and 13th District House races. My politics are well known, and so I made a written commitment to play it down the middle. While Mike Fitzpatrick and Patrick Murphy did appear with me and had a great substantive clash on everything from Iraq to Terri Schiavo, they were the exception. The norm are candidates spending feverishly in the media to reach voters through scripted negative ads, but reluctant to accept my invitation for some free air time. I can get Joe Sestak to appear in my studio as long as Curt Weldon isn't present. Same with Lois Murphy, as long as Jim Gerlach is nowhere to be found. Ditto Bob Menendez. No interest in appearing with Tom Kean Jr.

Quality debate and discussion is virtually nonexistent. Out-of-town professional handlers assess where they think their candidate will be well-received, and only allow them to appear in those environments. And voters remain in the dark.

Michael Smerconish can be heard weekdays 5:30-9 a.m. on 1210/AM. Contact him via www.mastalk.com.