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Debate Has Poignant, Creative, Silly Moments
by Heather Greenfield
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Democratic presidential hopefuls took blunt questions via online video here at the Citadel on Monday night at the CNN/YouTube debate.
Usually the questions were serious -- such as when a father who had lost a son asked when the Iraq war would end, and when a 36-year-old woman with breast cancer pulled off her wig while asking a question about healthcare reform. But other questions veered to the silly, such as when a talking snowman asked about global warming and whether the future would be safe for his little snowman son.
Some of the videos posed questions that people often discuss privately but that do not get asked in the more traditional debate formats. One questioner asked Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, "Are you black enough?" His video then followed with a question to Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York: "Are you feminine enough?"
Obama joked about trying to get a cab in Manhattan, but addressed what some might consider the liability of his race, saying, "I do believe in the core decency of the American people, and they want to get beyond our racial problems."
Clinton downplayed her gender in her answer: "I'm not running because I'm a woman but because I think I'm the most experienced person." Later, when asked if she could interact with other countries that treat women as second-class citizens, she said it would be appropriate for her to deal with Muslim nations.
But Clinton played up her gender in the 30-second video that her campaign produced for the an interlude in the debate. The video highlighted Bush administration failures with questions such as the number of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq (zero) and the number of days it took to evacuate the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina (four). It ended with the message, "Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman."
In his campaign video, John Edwards poked back at critics who have made fun of his expensive haircuts and his hair-primping in a candid YouTube video set to the music "I Feel Pretty." Edwards' video for the debate was set to the tune "Hair," the title song from the 1960s hit musical.
Obama's video, meanwhile, featured sweeping video shots of both devastation around the world contrasted with hope for change at political rallies. And Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio repeated the phrase "Text P-E-A-C-E" over and over again in his video, urging voters to text-message Congress that one-word appeal about the Iraq war.
The Iraq war was a key topic in the debate: Candidates compared their plans to end it, with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson -- a former United Nations ambassador under President Bill Clinton -- vowing to bring troops home immediately and begin negotiations. But Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, declared, "Let's tell the truth," while contending that a quick pullout is not logistically possible.
DuBose Kapeluck, a political science professor at the Citadel, said the pithy format will attract more viewers and that the personal experiences of those asking the questions made it tougher for candidates to dodge them.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who sought the party's presidential nomination in 2004, told Technology Daily after the debate that it is different answering questions from voters. Dean said that when reporters ask a question, they may be playing "gotcha," but that citizens just "want to know the answers."
"I liked the format," Biden said afterward. "I have a tendency to be straightforward and answer the questions, so it really didn't impact how I answered the question."
A CNN poll asking viewers who won the debate awarded the night to Obama, followed by Biden and then Edwards
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