The Democratic National Committee has canceled the CBS Presidential debate scheduled for December 10th in Los Angeles. The reason? Candidates are refusing to cross the WGA picket lines.
John Edwards took the lead on this issue as he did earlier on health care. On November 16th Edwards carried a sign on the WGA picket line in front of NBC in Burbank - you can see the footage here. Hillary quickly followed suit, saying that though she hadn’t walked the picket line, she definitely would not cross it. Edwards then upped the ante canceling an appearance ABC’s talker, The View. This time it was Michele Obama who followed his lead, canceling her appearance on that show scheduled for December 5. Edwards kept his union label shining bright – and his phone lines to West Coast celebrity contributors wide open – by speaking at the WGA rally in Manhattan Tuesday. Wednesday, CBS and the DNC threw in the towel and canceled.
So who is winning from all this? It looks like everyone. CBS News loses showing off Katie Couric as debate host, but the CBS Network probably gains market share on the night in question. The Washington Punditry loses a chance to decide who won the now canceled game of gottcha, but they'll easily find something else to natter on about. With the air wars going briefly silent, the Dem front-runners in Iowa - now locked in a statistical dead heat – win a chance to focus on shoring up their core supporters, and Iowa will ultimately be decided by boots on the ground. The big winner may be the viewing public. It is hard to imagine that any but the most depraved political junkies will feel debate deprived.
And of course we at EOP are winners because we've been following both the campaigns and the debates and we absolutely love it when story lines finally come together. It is so picaresque.
Comments