ANNOUNCER: This is the Washington Week Webcast Extra.
GWEN IFILL: Hello, I'm Gwen
Ifill.
And welcome to the Washington Week Webcast Extra, where we pick up
online where we left off on-air.
I'm joined by Eamon Javers of CNBC, Molly Ball of The Atlantic, Manu Raju of CNN, and
Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post.
Wednesday's primetime GOP presidential debate was a three-hour marathon, so there's lots
more to discuss.
We'll get to that, but let's begin with the first round of debates,
the so-called undercard.
It was just half - about half as long, 90 minutes, and only four candidates were on the
stage.
Did any of them break out of the pack, Karen?
KAREN TUMULTY: Well, if it were possible, Lindsey Graham I think most people thought
had a pretty good debate, if anyone saw it.
It was - I mean, he came out and really kind of articulated his sort of point-man of the
hawk pack position.
GWEN IFILL: Let's listen to what he had to say.
He actually did talk about war.
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): (From video.)
What I hope, Republican voters,
libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a
new direction, domestically but particularly on the foreign policy front.
President Obama is making a mess of the world.
What I am trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not
going to get fixed by insulting each other.
I have been there 35 times, to Iraq and Afghanistan.
I am ready to be commander in chief on day one.
GWEN IFILL: Now, that was as sober as Lindsey Graham probably was in that debate.
He was telling jokes.
He was saying, when I'm president there's going to be more drinking in the White House.
He's the kind of guy - you know from covering him on Capitol Hill - that lighthearted
kind of person.
MANU RAJU: Yeah, and this is why he's been so successful in politics.
And you know, he's run in South Carolina, and even though he's - he has won three terms,
even though he is moderate in a lot of key issues like immigration, things that are
really despised by the Republican base.
The reason why he's been so successful is because during his campaign he has that very
lighthearted, has self-deprecating jokes.
People really enjoy that folksy sensibility that he has on the trail, and you saw that
last - you saw that on Wednesday night.
But in August or in the Cleveland debate, that was a much different story.
He was very flat, and it really hurt him in the polls.
I'm not sure if this will actually propel him into the first tier of candidates - it
probably won't - but at least it shows voters kind of why he's been so successful
politically.
GWEN IFILL: Also on stage were Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, former Governor
George Pataki of New York, and Rick Santorum, the former Senator from Pennsylvania, who
actually won the Iowa Caucuses four years ago and now finds himself scratching to be
heard.
What is the chance that any of them were able to break out, like
Carly Fiorina did last time, and get onto the main stage?
KAREN TUMULTY: I just don't see it.
And I, quite frankly, am wondering if there's even going to be an undercard debate the
next time around.
GWEN IFILL: You think because of the numbers?
EAMON JAVERS: Well, the next debate happens to be on CNBC on October 28th, if I can get
a plug in for the CNBC debate.
(Laughter.)
Hi, boss.
(Laughter.)
MOLLY BALL: How many debates will there be?
GWEN IFILL: So many you can tell us whether there will be an undercard.
EAMON JAVERS: I'm not - I'm not at liberty to discuss any of the details of what we are
planning, but it's going to be fabulous, amazing.
It's going to be huge.
(Laughter.)
The ratings are going to be spectacular.
Everybody's should -
MOLLY BALL: Classy and elegant.
EAMON JAVERS: Classy and elegant.
GWEN IFILL: You're taking your cue from CNN over here on how to sell a debate.
EAMON JAVERS: That's right.
MOLLY BALL: But there was this weird imbalance in the
debate setup, right, where you had only four candidates in the happy-hour JV debate
because Jim Gilmore was polling too low and they promoted Carly Fiorina to the big
leagues.
So for an hour and a half you had only four candidates, and it was kind of
great.
You got a real sense of all of their personalities and what they all stood
for, a real contrast.
And then this chaotic and incredibly long, you know, three hours for 11 candidates,
where perpetually you're thinking there's somebody who's just fallen off the map or
fainted because I haven't seen him in an hour.
EAMON JAVERS: If you're one of the - if you're one of the candidates on the bubble, on
the margins, would you rather be out in the wings of the 11-person debate or at the
center of the four-person debate, where you get a lot more time?
GWEN IFILL: Well, I don't know.
If you're Chris Christie, you're on the wings and
you got 32 minutes where you didn't get to speak.
EAMON JAVERS: That's what I mean.
I mean, if you're - if you're on the big stage, it's you're on the big stage, but you
don't get any time and people kind of ignore you.
Whereas if you're on the small stage - MANU RAJU: Or if you -
KAREN TUMULTY: Oh, they will all take the big stage.
EAMON JAVERS: They want the big stage.
MANU RAJU: Yeah, they all - and if - you know, if you're one of the people in the
four-person undercard debate, and then you don't perform very well, then you look even
worse.
GWEN IFILL: Then you look even worse.
EAMON JAVERS: Right, right, right.
Then you're outside the hall protesting at the next debate.
MANU RAJU: That's right.
(Laughs.)
MOLLY BALL: Live tweeting it, like Jim
Gilmore.
EAMON JAVERS: Live tweeting.
Live tweeting from your couch.
GWEN IFILL: Hillary Clinton was asked about what she thought about what - how these
debates went and how it would help Democrats, especially when it comes to the economy.
Let's hear a little bit of what she said.
HILLARY CLINTON: (From video.)
I think if you look at the last 35 years - actually, if
you go back further - I think it's pretty indisputable that having a Democrat in the
White House is good for our economy, better for our economy than the alternative.
GWEN IFILL: Now, that's something which her opponents would agree with, including
Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland, who would desperately love for there to
be more debates, but seems to be losing that battle.
KAREN TUMULTY: That's right.
And he's - but he's waging that battle right now with the chairman of the party.
And that allows Hillary Clinton to say, oh, I'd love to have more debates, go talk -
talk about it with Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
(Laughs.)
GWEN IFILL: Do you see that happening?
MOLLY BALL: I don't have any inside information on this, but it definitely looks like
the Democratic Party has set the debate calendar in the way that they feel is most
favorable to the party's chances in the general election.
They have very little motivation to change it, especially when Martin O'Malley is at 5
percent in the polls.
Maybe if he had a real constituency and there were actual, you know, legions of O'Malley
supporters protesting the party.
But O'Malley hasn't gotten any traction yet.
This looks like just another -
GWEN IFILL: But Bernie, who does have - Bernie Sanders, who does have legions of
supporters, is not joining O'Malley in this quest, as far as I can tell.
MANU RAJU: Yeah, but I'm sure he would be happy for more national airtime as well, and
showing that contrast with Hillary Clinton.
I do think that the Democratic Party will have to reconsider if this race continues to
stay close, if Bernie starts winning some of these states, and this is going to be, you
know, a long campaign, and maybe if Biden gets in.
They'll have to consider adding debates on later in the calendar.
The pressure will only mount if this race continues to stay tight.
MOLLY BALL: Well, and the case that -
EAMON JAVERS: You wonder if the - you wonder if the Bernie Sanders surge is sort of
like early buyer's remorse among Democrats, who sort of - the party arranged to have
what's more or less a coronation of Hillary Clinton, and now there seem to be a lot of
Democrats who don't want to do that - as much as the party establishment, all the
professional Democrats here in Washington, did want to do that.
MOLLY BALL: Well, the case that O'Malley is making to the party is that it's better for
the party to - overall, to have some attention to their candidates.
So when 24 million are watching the Republicans debate on TV, that's airtime that the
Democratic Party is not getting to put their views across, to put their candidates
across.
GWEN IFILL: That's true.
MOLLY BALL: I think it's really an open question whether Hillary Clinton would benefit
from this kind of a setting, from more exposure like this to maybe take the edge off some
of her unfavorable numbers.
I think there's a case to be made that people might get tired of the email questions if
they heard them over and over again in debates instead of this fractured thing where
every time she answers one it blows up.
And so there is a case to be made that it would be good for the frontrunner, for the
party as a whole, to have more debates.
I'm not sure if that's a persuasive one.
GWEN IFILL: Well, the next big debate is October 13th, and it's the Democrats.
And we'll see whether this holds up or not.
Thank you, everybody, for - and thank you all for watching.
While you're online, check out Washington Week's new election initiative, 16 for 2016,
where you get the - where you, the voter, get to share your thoughts about the 2016
presidential election.
Find out more at PBS.org/WashingtonWeek.
And we'll see you next time on the Washington Week Webcast Extra.
