Primary Politics with NPR's Don Gonyea
In South Bend, Indiana yesterday, Senator Hillary Clinton challenged her Democratic opponent Senator Barack Obama to join her in a one-on-one "Lincoln-Douglas-style" debate, "I think that would be good for the Democratic Party," Clinton said. Senator Obama declined the offer, saying in a statement "Over the next 10 days, we believe it's important to talk directly to the voters of Indiana and North Carolina." NPR's Don Gonyea joined Liane Hansen to talk about primary politics AND last night's White House Correspondents' dinner.
LIANE: Are you wearing your tuxedo from last night's White House Correspondents' dinner?
GONYEA: (laughs) I did not sleep in my tuxedo this year, and I've learned that you feel better about yourself in the morning if you don't sleep in the tux.
LIANE: This year. This year!I love that. Listen. Let's talk politics first about Indiana, certainly. Do the people there want another debate?
GONYEA: Well, don't you love it when you ask someone a question, and they respond with this, "it depends who you talk to."
LIANE: Uh-oh. Nice -- thank you
GONYEA: No, it's -- I can tell you, I haven't seen any polling on the debate question, though there's a pretty good chance somebody's asking those questions today. But supporters of Hillary Clinton will tell you, "We need a debate. She needs a debate. Indiana deserves the right to see these two candidates on the stage squaring off, talking about the issues." And that's the pitch for the Lincoln-Douglas-style debates that Senator Clinton made yesterday. Senator Obama, who was none too happy with the way the last debate went in Pennsylvania, where he got roughed up. But he also made the point in subsequent events that it took 45 minutes before there was a substantive question about Iraq or Iran, or the economy. So he thought it trivialized the whole thing. He is not inclined to debate. And their response to Senator Clinton's challenge is, "There have been 21 debates this primary season.Twenty-one nationally televised debates. Four of them have been Obama versus Clinton, one-on-one, people know what our positions are. It's important for Sen. Obama to be out there holding rallies, town-hall meetings, speaking directly to the people." So his supporters will tell you exactly that -- a lot of them have the talking points down.
LIANE: Yeah. And the contest then goes on with these town meetings, and keep talking. Let's talk about the Republican nominee -- the presumptive nominee, John McCain. Is it too soon to talk about a running mate? He was out with his former rival Mike Huckabee in Little Rock, Arkansas.
GONYEA: And we've see him out in recent weeks with Mitt Romney, and there's a lot of talk about him possibly being a number two on the ticket. Here's the deal with the McCain campaign right now: The Obama-Clinton show, or the Clinton-Obama show, call it what you will, is his favorite TV show these days (laughs). He's, you know, not doing too many events. He's doing just enough to kind of keep his name out there, and meet people, and get a little press coverage, and not cede everything to them. But I can picture him with a big bowl of popcorn, just watching them slug it out -- cause that is, Republicans feel, good news for him. So, naming a vice-president nominee in the middle of all this would suddenly put all the focus back on him, and then there'd be vetting of that person, and there'd be critical articles, and all kinds of things. He's not in any hurry for that. So I would say no sooner than June.
LIANE: Sure, he can stay in the headlines from now until the convention about that kind of speculation -- our speculation, media speculation. Alright, we buried the lede. You went to the Whitehouse correspondents' dinner last night. President Bush was there, and here's a clip from him.
PRESIDENT BUSH: "Senator McCain is not here. He probably wanted to distance himself from me a little bit. You know, he's not alone -- Jenna's movin' out, too. The two Democratic candidates aren't here, either. Sen. Clinton couldn't get into the building because of sniper fire. And Senator Obama is at Church."
GONYEA: And that was kind of the tone of the president's. What he did is he basically walked through the eight of these that he has done. Eight of these he has done, and this was his last time. And he lamented that a little bit. Probably the most memorable moment, though -- again, it's his valedictory -- he ended it, they brought the Marine Band on stage, and he took up a baton, and he conducted the Marine Band doing "Stars and Stripes Forever." And you could tell he was having fun with it, and it was a nice moment -- a good way for him to say farewell to all of us. Even though we're going to be buggin' him for another eight months.
LIANE: Sure. Well get some sleep. NPR's Don Gonyea. Thanks a lot.
9:25 AM ET | 04-27-2008 | permalink
