Media Overkill Makes Debates Pivotal

Former Bush political strategist Matthew Dowd, now at ABC, made this fascinating observation today:

"(Dowd) "went so far as to suggest that Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama were wasting their money on television advertisements, and that they would be better off preparing for the coming debates. Those encounters, he said, are likely to be the only chance the candidates have at capturing the undivided attention of the public."

Said Dowd: "At this point, the ability to create and drive a message narrative is all but impossible. There's just so much stuff. The average person has 90 channels. They all get the dot-coms. They all get a newspaper. There is so much flow of information that they just to begin to discount it all."

As one who was at the heart of the Bush messaging machine in both 2000 and 2004, Dowd knows of what he speaks. Obviously the campaigns dare not cut back on the ad barrage, but I would agree that the debates will be pivotal this year.

-Richard Holcomb