America 1982-Chapter 528 - 104: Professor Tommy’s Political Mini-Lecture_2
"Let politicians who are accustomed to courting traditional industry magnates understand that times have changed." Tommy adjusted his shirt, put on his suit, and walked towards Jeff’s front door.
The special election for the Democratic Party’s primary and the first round of candidate debates for the 18th District seat in the House of Representatives of Florida were held at WLRN-TV Station’s broadcasting hall on First Avenue in East Miami.
WLRN-TV is a secondary member station of the PBS public television network in the United State America. As a part of the American public television network, PBS is a nonprofit organization that must maintain neutrality without holding a political stance. Its programs are broadcasted for free to the American public, with revenue primarily coming from donations and program broadcasting fees paid by its member stations. With over 300 member stations, it is the only television network in America with stations in all American territories, including overseas possessions.
Whether it’s CBS, ABC, NBA, FOX, or Tommy’s BT, none of these commercial television networks can fully cover every state in the United States, let alone overseas territories such as Hawaii or Guam. It can be said that if you are on American soil with a television set, you might not receive other networks, but you can definitely watch PBS. Because of its nonprofit nature and the lack of political stance, PBS member station broadcasting halls host live broadcasts of political elections, and they broadcast candidate performances live to the electorate in their districts.
The 300 Democrats of the 18th District who received invitations will watch the debates and speeches live at the venue. After the conclusion of the primary debates, all registered Democrats will receive calls from a third-party professional survey company commissioned by the Democratic Party’s office. They will be asked which candidate they have decided to support after the primary, with the full process being recorded to prevent electoral fraud in the primary.
There are seven candidates who qualified for tonight’s primary debate. Those who did not qualify won’t even have their names mentioned, collectively referred to as ’others,’ just like Zack from last year’s election. The candidates featured in the live broadcast will have the opportunity to present themselves in front of all voters and even non-constituents, and how they present themselves will naturally depend on showcasing their charm, eloquence, and ability to stir up the audience.
The live debate will last ninety minutes, divided into three stages of thirty minutes each, revolving around a topic. Each candidate has two minutes to answer questions posed by the moderator. Once all candidates have answered, there will be a free discussion phase around the topic. That means the seven candidates will compete for the remaining sixteen minutes, trying to make startling statements to leave a lasting impression on the voters. Of course, opponents may interrupt at any time to disrupt the rhythm. If interjections are clever and rebuttals are sharp and meaningful, the interrupter can gain more impression points. However, they must consider the risk of backfiring, such as rude interruptions and empty statements, which may leave a bad impression of rudeness and vulgarity with the audience.
Strictly speaking, the seven candidates cannot know in advance what the three topics will be, as these are decided through discussions between the Democratic Party’s office and party stalwarts in the district, six hours before the broadcast begins, and then handed over to PBS. The station will then give the topics to the designated debate moderator, who will decide how to phrase the questions based on their understanding of the topics.
Indeed, the topics of the party primary are also battlefields where the two parties clash. One can infer what cards the opposing side will play during the final battle based on the topics from each other’s primary debates, guiding the tone of the campaign in a particular direction.
In reality, guessing the topics is not too difficult for those determined to do so. The election teams of the various candidates have been driving the agenda in line with their candidate’s slogans since the early stages of the election campaign.
For example, regardless of whether it’s the Republican or the Democratic Party, this primary’s topics will undoubtedly cover racial issues because the strongest candidates from both sides are of Cuban descent, all vying to become the district’s first Cuban-American member of the House of Representatives.
Secondly, tonight’s topics should include women’s issues since among the top three candidates in the Democratic Party’s simulated data rankings are two women, Rosario Kennedy and Joanna Peber.
Besides, public welfare, public security, and healthcare issues are likely to be chosen as well.
Tommy stood on the curb lighting a cigarette while Jeff’s African-American driver, Lance, was polishing the camouflage paint on the pickup truck. Jeff and his family were set to ride in this truck to the venue tonight.
He wasn’t concerned about what the topics might be because Martin’s staff had already prepared detailed speech drafts for all possible subjects. Jeff had reviewed them countless times, and he had read them carefully as well. He wasn’t worried about being faced with an unfamiliar topic and not knowing how to reply since it was improbable that the moderator would deviate completely and ask an odd question like why Florida is a land of outstanding people, which only God could answer.
The only thing he had to consider was how to deliver a swift and unexpectedly sharp retort within three seconds when Jeff’s speech was interrupted during the live broadcast’s free discussion phase, silencing the interjector.
The reason for the three-second window is that it’s the response time countless election teams have determined to be acceptable to voters through numerous live debate experiences. Although most American voters do not possess extremely quick response capabilities, it doesn’t stop them from judging candidates who take more than three seconds to respond as slow on the uptake.
