Campaigns and Elections II

Primary debates:

• Democratic Rules for 2020
• Republican Rules for 2020:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A rare memorable moment from a primary debate (2011):




He was on pain medication, which was painfully obvious 10 days earlier:



General Election Debates

• 1960:  special one-time law allows network debate
• 1964-1972: no general election debates
• 1976-1984:  League of Women Voters sponsor
• 1988- presdent:  Commission on Presidential Debates

General-election debates are not game-changers

• In 2008, Obama won all 3 debates with McCain
• In 2012, Obama won 2 of 3, but Romney won big in the first
• In 2016, Clinton won all the debates -- bigly

Conventions can go very wrong.

Beware ahistorical reporting on party platforms.

Internet usage and Internet Access




The Campaign Online

Early article on campaign websites

Howard Dean 2004 and the myth of the Dean Scream

Updated data on Twitter users