You know those little lights Kerry and Bush had on their podiums last night? Kerry’s campaign, at least publicly, acted like they were going to cause a problem for their candidate. As it turns out, the opposite was true.
Yesterday afternoon, the AP reported that this had become a major point of last-minute contention.
Democratic candidate John Kerry’s campaign demanded Thursday that the lights signaling when a speaker’s time has expired during debates with President Bush be removed from the lecterns because they are distracting, but the commission hosting the debates refused.
An angry exchange between representatives of the Kerry campaign and the Commission on Presidential Debates took place just hours before the candidates were to meet at the University of Miami for the first of three debates, The Associated Press learned. Kerry’s team threatened to remove the lights when they visit the debate site with Kerry later in the day.
“We’ll bring a screwdriver,” said a Kerry aide familiar with what several people called an angry exchange. The commission did not return a call seeking comment.
It appears the podium lights were the Bush campaign’s idea. They were a little annoying at first — making the candidates appear like they were competing on a game show — but in all the years I’ve been watching Kerry, I’ve never seem him more disciplined than he was last night.
One of the common criticisms of Kerry’s speaking style, which is not altogether unfair, is that he tends to be a little long winded. Just like my own writing style, he’ll prefer 10 words when two will do. Presumably, Kerry’s campaign didn’t want the lights on the podium because they didn’t want viewers to see that he was speaking beyond his allotted time.
It’s a relatively minor point, but these annoying little lights did amazing job of keeping Kerry focused. Every 90-second response was tight and ended on a solid but simple note.
Consider each of these Kerry comments from last night:
* “The president relied on Afghan warlords and he outsourced that job too. That’s wrong.”
* “We didn’t need that tax cut. America needed to be safe.”
* “I will bring fresh credibility, a new start, and we will get the job done right.”
* “That’s not a grand coalition. We can do better.”
* “The president is the one that said, ‘We can’t allow countries to get nuclear weapons.’ They have. I’ll change that.”
* “There was a right way to disarm him and a wrong way. And the president chose the wrong way.”
* “I can do better.”
Short, tight sentences. No ambiguities, no meandering rhetoric.
Each of these comments were perfect and each were delivered when Kerry saw a red light warning him that he only had five seconds left. For a candidate who likes to expand on his thoughts and elaborate on his positions, that stupid podium light kept him more focused on a simple, direct message than anything I can even imagine.
It paid off. Big time.