Democracy in Action P1992: Race for the White House - Feb. 16, 1992 CNN/LWV Democratic Primary Debate

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Democratic Primary Debates

Sunday February 16, 1992. CNN. (Co-sponsored by the LWVEF). Moderator: Bernard Shaw.
St. Anselm College in Goffstown, NH. 90 minutes. (8-9:30 p.m. EST).
Participating: Brown, Clinton, Harkin, Kerrey, and Tsongas.

After Bernard Shaw's introduction, the debate opened with a series of 45-second "video position papers." Each began with footage of the candidate and voice-over by a reporter and then went on to a graphic and narration highlighting the candidate's positions.

Next Dr. Susan Lederman, President of the LWV, and Ken Bode, CNN special assignment reporter, asked each candidate questions for about five minutes. Each received a different set of questions.

The second "more open, less formal" part of the debate lasted about 50 minutes. Shaw posed questions to all the candidates, encouraging them to leap in with their responses and engage in direct exchanges.

This was the only Debates '92-coordinated debate with an outside participant -- the LWVEF. League debates have always had live audiences because the League believes "that the voters have the right to view candidates firsthand." In this case, however, the League acceded to the unanimous request of the candidates that there be no in-studio audience.

From Bernard Shaw's introduction:
"...Our topic for the next ninety minutes -- the economy, the pocketbook. The proceedings will be divided into three segments. We want to give voters an opportunity to understand the candidates' positions on economic issues, to gauge their leadership qualities and to assess their abilities to summarize the principles for which they stand and their White House campaigns stand.

"During the course of the next hour and a half, the candidates will face questions about economic issues and the candidates will also have a chance to ask questions directly of one another. The intention: to generate some genuine give-and-take.

"We begin with a presentation of a series of video position papers, a summing up of the key points of the economic policies each candidate espouses. The candidates have had an opportunity to review the scripts... "