Democratic Party (United States) presidential debates, 2008
Encyclopedia
The 2008 Democratic Presidential Debates were political debates prior to and during the 2008 Democratic Primaries
. The debates began on April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, South Carolina
.
, making them formal candidates for the Democratic Nomination and the Presidency. The candidates who attracted the most media attention included Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
, and John Edwards
. Other candidates included Dennis Kucinich
, who has withdrawn, and Mike Gravel
, before he defected to the Libertarian Party
. Tom Vilsack
, one of the earliest candidates to announce a campaign for President, withdrew before participating in any debates. Christopher Dodd
and Joe Biden
dropped out of the race following the Iowa caucuses, and Bill Richardson dropped out after the New Hampshire primary.
Key: denotes candidate participated in debate; denotes candidate was not invited; denotes candidate absent but was invited; denotes candidate was out of the race.
April 26, 2007 – Orangeburg, South Carolina, South Carolina State University
The first Democratic debate was in the evening of April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, South Carolina
, at South Carolina State University
. State party chairman Joe Erwin said that he chose South Carolina State because it is a historically black college, noting that African-Americans have been the "most loyal" Democrats in the state. The debate was 90 minutes with a 60-second time limit for answers, and no opening or closing statements. It was broadcast via cable television
and online video streaming by MSNBC
.
The debate was moderated by Brian Williams
of NBC Nightly News
. Franklin Pierce University in Rindge
, New Hampshire
sent two students to cover the debate on location who gained spin room access.
The major issue discussed was the Iraq War, with all candidates strongly criticizing President George W. Bush
. Although there was some initial hype, the debate was seen by pundits as unspectacular, with no single "breakout" candidate. A poll of 403 South Carolina debate watchers indicated that they believed Senator Barack Obama
won the debate with 31% to Clinton's 24%. However, Tom Baldwin of The Times
and Ewen MacAskill of The Guardian
both reported that Clinton appeared to retain her frontrunner status.
Political pundits such as Chris Matthews
, Howard Fineman
, Keith Olbermann
and Joe Scarborough
declared that Clinton was the most "presidential", in that her appearance and answers were succinct, within the time limit and thorough, leaving no second-guesses. They effectively called her the winner.
With regards to the solid third-polled candidate Former Sen. John Edwards
(D-NC), pundits varied, with some asserting that his performance was weak and not the usual energetic performance that he portrayed in 2003, when he first ran. Howard Fineman
also opined that questions regarding his $400 haircut and his "Two Americas" theme are under fire because of severe discrepancies, threatening his main campaign theme.
June 3, 2007 - CNN 7:00pm EDT - Manchester, New Hampshire, Saint Anselm College
WMUR-TV
, CNN
, and the New Hampshire Union Leader
hosted both Democratic and Republican debates in the Manchester, New Hampshire
area, at Saint Anselm College
. The Democratic debate was Sunday, June 3, starting at 7 PM EDT and lasting two hours, commercial free. The moderator was Wolf Blitzer
, host of Late Edition
and The Situation Room
. He was joined by Tom Fahey
of the New Hampshire Union Leader
and Scott Spradling from the local NH television station WMUR. The first half of the debate was a directed question and answer, with candidates at podiums, as in the first debate, responding to questions from Fahey and Spradling. Participating candidates were Barack Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, Christopher J. Dodd, Bill Richardson and Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
For the second half, candidates sat in chairs, while audience members in New Hampshire, mostly undecided Democratic and independent voters, asked questions which were then deflected by Wolf Blitzer to specific candidates.
June 28, 2007 - PBS - Washington, D.C., Howard University
PBS
held and televised a debate at Howard University
, a historically black college
. The moderator was Tavis Smiley
. All eight candidates discussed various topics including education, poverty, unemployment, racial discrimination, and health in the black community. The debate drew a record crowd of who's who celebrities such as Harry Belafonte
, Al Sharpton
, Dorothy Heights, Jesse Jackson
, Terry McMillan
, Judge Hatchett
, Mark Ridley-Thomas
, amongst other celebrities.
This was the first debate to give equal time to all the candidates.
This was held during the NAACP convention. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton were overheard—on stage, over microphones—talking about weeding out non-frontrunner candidates from participating in future debates.
July 23, 2007 - CNN - Charleston, South Carolina, The Citadel
CNN
and YouTube
held this debate on the campus of The Citadel
. All questions were selected from, and posed as videos submitted via, YouTube by members of the public; the debate was moderated by Anderson Cooper
of Anderson Cooper 360. YouTube and Google
streamed the event live. It was also simulcast on CNN en Español
.
, DailyKos Contributing Editor /Fellow Joan McCarter and author and blogger Jeffrey Feldman moderated. The debate was broken down into Domestic Policy, Foreign Policy, and Philosophy and Leadership. Candidates were alloted 90 seconds for each question with 45 second rebuttals, although the time limits were not strictly enforced. After the debate, breakout sessions were held where convention goers could question each candidate individually.
Working Families Vote Presidential Forum was held at Soldier Field
in Chicago, Illinois in front of approximately 15,000 union members and their families. The questions in the debate will be used to determine if and whom the AFL-CIO will endorse in the Democratic primary. MSNBC host Keith Olbermann
hosted the debate, which featured seven of the candidates. Mike Gravel was excluded because he failed to submit a written questionnaire by the August 6 deadline. Gravel claimed that the questionnaire "fell through the cracks" and requested to be invited to the debate anyway, which was rejected by the AFL-CIO. Questionnaires were also sent to Republicans but no candidates responded.
hosted this debate focusing on LGBT
issues, moderated by Human Rights Campaign
President Joe Solmonese
and singer Melissa Etheridge
. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel participated. Mike Gravel was originally to be excluded from this debate, it being cited that his campaign had not raised enough money to qualify for participation. Rallying from Gravel's supporters reversed this decision. Dodd and Biden both stated scheduling conflicts prevented them from attending. Logo invited the Republicans presidential candidates to a similar debate, but all the candidates declined.
in conjunction with the Iowa Democratic Party
held a debate streamed on This Week
moderated by George Stephanopoulos
. ABC has been accused of spinning the results of the debate due to extreme differences in the time alloted to candidates. ABC also deleted poll results when they showed Dennis Kucinich in the lead.
September 9, 2007 – Coral Gables, Florida, University of Miami
Univision
hosted a forum, Destino 2008, in Spanish at the University of Miami
's Bank United Center in Coral Gables, Florida and moderated by Univision's anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas
. Joe Biden did not participate in the debate.
Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd objected to the debate being conducted in English with simultaneous translation in Spanish. Both are fluent in Spanish but it was perceived to cause an unfair advantage for the two. The TV audience of 2.2 million was also the debate season's youngest, at an average of 36 years old.
, produced a "mashup" debate with Charlie Rose
interviewing the candidates. Segments were recorded on September 12, with the "mashups" posted on September 13.
held a forum focused on domestic issues, specifically health care and financial security. It was moderated by Judy Woodruff
, and was a joint venture between IPTV
and AARP
. Obama rejected PBS's invitation, and Gravel and Kucinich were excluded from the debate because they did not have at least one paid staff member or office space in Iowa.
September 26, 2007 – Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth College
MSNBC
held a debate at Dartmouth College
in conjunction with New England Cable News
and New Hampshire Public Radio
. The moderator was Tim Russert
.
October 30, 2007 - NBC 9:00pm EDT - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Drexel University
The debate was held at Drexel University
and was televised by NBC News
. All candidates except former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel
attended the debate. It was announced on October 19 that Senator Gravel did not meet the polling requirements for the debate, though the DNC did not specifically say what the requirements were; Gravel has suggested that GE, which owns NBC and is a "war-profiteer," conspired to exclude him from the event after, during the previous debate, he questioned Hillary Clinton's signing a resolution that would possibly facilitate entering war with Iran. Instead of attending the debate, Senator Gravel staged an event at the nearby World Cafe Live.
Seven Democratic presidential candidates participated in a two-hour debate starting at 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday (0100 GMT Wednesday) and telecast on MSNBC
and streamed live on msnbc.com. The moderators of the debate were Tim Russert
and Brian Williams
. Nielson Ratings estimated the debate attracted 2.5 million viewers.
Democratic rivals focused their attacks on Senator Clinton, and were particularly critical of her response to a proposal from New York Governor Eliot L. Spitzer
which would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. After the debate, moderator Tim Russert was criticized for asking a misleading question to Senator Clinton regarding the release of her records as first lady. Tim Russert raised the issue of a letter which Bill Clinton wrote in which the former president ordered "a ban" on the release of his records by the National Archives. However, it was later revealed that Tim Russert misrepresented the letter, as it turns out that President Clinton was actually requesting for the National Archives to speed up the release of the records, despite the National Archive's backlog.
hosted a Democratic debate aired on CNN
. The moderator was Wolf Blitzer
. Former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel
was excluded from the debate, and so held a debate alternative, online at www.ustream.tv where a TiVo
system is used to screen the official debate simultaneously. According to Nielsen Media Research
, the debate drew a record Cable TV audience for a presidential primary debate, an estimated 4.04 million viewers.
The candidates present at the debate were Joe Biden
, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich
, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
, Chris Dodd, and John Edwards
.
Some commentators have attacked CNN for the debate, calling it biased and poorly handled. Their accusations include claims that the final audience question was planted, that moderator Wolf Blitzer was overly favorable to Hillary Clinton, and that the use of James Carville
, a long-time adviser to the Clintons, as a debate commentator was biased.
, hosted a "radio-only" Democratic Debate. NPR hosts Steve Inskeep
, Michele Norris
, and Robert Siegel
moderated the debate. The debate broadcasted from the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines to NPR stations around the country and was streamed online. All of the major candidates were present other than New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson who was attending the funeral of a Korean war casualty.
Senators Obama and Edwards were given the most speaking time; Senator Gravel, the least.
and Iowa Public Television
hosted a Democratic debate in Johnston, Iowa
. Six of the eight candidates were invited. Dennis Kucinich was excluded because he had not rented office space in the state. The Register determined “that a person working out of his home did not meet our criteria for a campaign office and full-time paid staff in Iowa.” Mike Gravel was excluded for presumably the same reason.
January 5, 2008 - ABC 8:45pm EST - Manchester, New Hampshire, Saint Anselm College
ABC News
, WMUR-TV
and Facebook
jointly hosted back-to-back Democratic and Republican debates from Saint Anselm College
on Saturday, January 5, just three days before the official first-in-the-nation primary the following Tuesday, January 8. Charles Gibson
moderated. According to Nielsen Media Research, the debate drew the largest televised audience of the primary season with an esimated 9.36 million viewers.
At 8:47 p.m. EST, between the two debates, Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Bill Richardson joined the Republican candidates on the stage at St. Anselm College in greater Manchester. This was the first time all of the major candidates from both parties had been together on stage, as defined by ABC News. ABC News eliminated Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from the debate because they did not place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys.
Major topics were introduced with a short news-clip-style video produced by ABC and the candidates were encouraged to interact with each other. One question, "...how much you would spend with the programs you've proposed and the promises you've made.", was inexplicably withdrawn by Gibson at the last second after its introductory video had been shown. Aside from that, the debate ran smoothly. There were commercial breaks before and after each debate. The candidates were seated during the debates.
During the debate, Obama, Clinton, and Edwards all battled over who best exemplified the buzzword of the campaign, "change". In one noted exchange, Edwards said that Clinton could not bring change, while he and Obama can. "Any time you speak out powerfully for change, the forces for status quo attack." He made clear that he was referring to Clinton, adding, "I didn't hear these kind of attacks from Senator Clinton while she was ahead. Now that she's not we hear them." Clinton passionately retorted: "Making change is not about what you believe; it's not about a speech you make. It's about working hard. I'm not just running on a promise for change. I'm running on 35 years of change. What we need is somebody who can deliver change. We don't need to be raising false hopes." Obama replied that "The truth is, actually, words do inspire. Words do help people get involved."
At another point in the debate, when one moderator asked Clinton why polls showed she was less "likeable" than other candidates, particularly Obama, she joked tongue-in-cheek
, "Well that hurts my feelings ... but I'll try to go on."
Gibson was criticized as "out of touch" and misleading for his claim during the debate that the proposals of Obama and Clinton to allow the Bush tax cuts
to expire for incomes of over $250,000 would increase the taxes of a family of two public school teachers. This inaccurate claim was met by laughter from the audience.
in Las Vegas on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.
Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama took part in the debate. Dennis Kucinich was originally invited to the debate after meeting publicly announced criteria, but the invitation was retracted after NBC changed its criteria shortly before the event. Kucinich sued for the right to participate in the debate, but after lower courts sided with Kucinich, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in favor of MSNBC.
hosted a debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
at 8:00 pm EST. This debate set another record for a Cable TV audience with an estimated 4.9 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals Ratings.
The participants were Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
and John Edwards
. The debate, chaired by Wolf Blitzer
, had an unusual format; for the last forty minutes the candidates sat down and the debate took a much more casual tone.
, The Politico
, and CNN hosted a Democratic debate in Hollywood, California, at the Kodak Theatre
. The debate set another Cable TV viewing record for a presidential primary debate, with 8,324,000 million total viewers.
This was the final Democratic party-specific debate before Super Tuesday
on February 5, 2008. This debate included two candidates, Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton, and started at 5 PM Pacific, ending at 6:30 PM. Topics in this cordial debate included health care, the Iraq War, and immigration.
and Myspace
hosted a cross-party debate Live on February 2, 2008 at 6PM EST/3PM PST on MTV. Barack Obama
, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul
, and Mike Huckabee
attended the debate. John McCain
and Mitt Romney
were invited but did not attend. Mike Gravel
was not invited to attend due to little support in the state primaries and caucuses.
February 21, 2008 - CNN 7:00pm CST - Austin, Texas, University of Texas at Austin
CNN
, Univision
and the Texas Democratic Party
jointly hosted a debate between Obama and Clinton on February 21 at 7:00 CST on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin
. The debate was rebroadcast at 10:30 in Spanish. Questions focused heavily on illegal immigration and the economy, among other issues.
February 26, 2008 - MSNBC 9:00pm EST - Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland State University
NBC News
held a debate between Clinton and Obama on February 26 at the Wolstein Center
on the campus of Cleveland State University
. The debate was broadcast live at 9:00 EST on MSNBC. It was moderated by Brian Williams with Tim Russert. CNN had proposed with the Ohio Democratic Party a debate on February 27 which was cancelled.
April 13, 2008 - CNN 8:00pm EDT - Grantham, Pennsylvania, Messiah College
Clinton and Obama appeared at the Compassion Forum, discussing faith, values, and religion on April 13, 2008 at 8PM EDT at Messiah College
in Grantham, Pennsylvania
. The forum was a question-and-answer session in which CNN commentator Campbell Brown
and Jon Meacham
of Newsweek
as well as select members of the audience, posed questions about faith and politics to Clinton and Obama. Both appeared separately. The forum was broadcast live on CNN
. The event was organized by the religious organization Faith in Public Life.
. The debate was nationally televised at 8 PM Eastern and Pacific (tape delayed) and 7 PM Central/Mountain (tape delayed). This was the second debate shown nationally on over-the-air television.
Moderators Charles Gibson
and George Stephanopoulos
were criticized by viewers, bloggers and media critics for the poor quality of their questions.
During the debate neither Obama or Clinton would answer whether or not they would name the other as their running mate.
Some of the questions that many viewers said they considered irrelevant when measured against the faltering economy or the Iraq war, like why Senator Barack Obama did not wear an American flag pin on his lapel, the incendiary comments of Obama’s former pastor, or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s assertion that she had to duck sniper fire in Bosnia
more than a decade ago. The questions from the moderators were considered to be focused on campaign gaffes and training most of their ammunition on Obama, to which Stephanopoulos responded by saying that "Senator Obama [was] the front-runner" and the questions were "not inappropriate or irrelevant at all."
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...
. The debates began on April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, South Carolina
Orangeburg, South Carolina
Orangeburg, also known as "The Garden City," is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city is also the fifth oldest city in the state of South Carolina. The city population was 12,765 at the 2000 census, within a Greater Orangeburg...
.
Election 2008
The 2008 United States Presidential Election is November 4, 2008. The debates, campaigns, primaries, and conventions occur several months before Election Day. The new President and Vice-President are sworn in January 20, 2009. It is the first Presidential election lacking incumbents since 1952, and was projected to be the largest and most expensive election in U.S. history.2008 Democratic candidates
Already, eight Democrats had formally filed papers with the Federal Election CommissionFederal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
, making them formal candidates for the Democratic Nomination and the Presidency. The candidates who attracted the most media attention included Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, and John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
. Other candidates included Dennis Kucinich
Dennis Kucinich
Dennis John Kucinich is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He was furthermore a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections....
, who has withdrawn, and Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel
Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election....
, before he defected to the Libertarian Party
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
. Tom Vilsack
Tom Vilsack
Thomas James "Tom" Vilsack is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and presently the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He served as the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. He was first elected in 1998 and re-elected to a second four-year term in 2002...
, one of the earliest candidates to announce a campaign for President, withdrew before participating in any debates. Christopher Dodd
Christopher Dodd
Christopher John "Chris" Dodd is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States Senator from Connecticut for a thirty-year period ending with the 111th United States Congress....
and Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
dropped out of the race following the Iowa caucuses, and Bill Richardson dropped out after the New Hampshire primary.
Withdrawn candidates
- Senator Chris Dodd - Connecticut (withdrew January 3, 2008)
- Senator Joe BidenJoe BidenJoseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
- Delaware (withdrew January 3, 2008) - Governor Bill Richardson - New Mexico (withdrew January 9, 2008)
- Congressman Dennis KucinichDennis KucinichDennis John Kucinich is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He was furthermore a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections....
- Ohio (withdrew January 24, 2008) - Senator John EdwardsJohn EdwardsJohnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
- North Carolina (withdrew January 30, 2008) - Senator Mike GravelMike GravelMaurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election....
- Alaska (withdrew from Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
March 25, 2008) - Senator Hillary Clinton - New York (withdrew June 7. 2008)
Debate table
Key: denotes candidate participated in debate; denotes candidate was not invited; denotes candidate absent but was invited; denotes candidate was out of the race.| Details | Candidates Participating | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Location | TV Network | Sen. Biden | Sen. Clinton | Sen. Dodd | Sen. Edwards | Sen. Gravel | Rep. Kucinich | Sen. Obama | Gov. Richardson |
| April 26, 2007 | Orangeburg, South Carolina Orangeburg, South Carolina Orangeburg, also known as "The Garden City," is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city is also the fifth oldest city in the state of South Carolina. The city population was 12,765 at the 2000 census, within a Greater Orangeburg... |
MSNBC MSNBC MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada... |
||||||||
| June 3, 2007 | Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which... |
CNN CNN Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States... |
||||||||
| June 28, 2007 | Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution.... |
PBS Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia.... |
||||||||
| July 12, 2007 | Detroit, Michigan Detroit, Michigan Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River... |
none | ||||||||
| July 23, 2007 | Charleston, South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the... |
CNN CNN Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States... |
||||||||
| August 4, 2007 | Chicago, Illinois | none | ||||||||
| August 7, 2007 | Chicago, Illinois | MSNBC MSNBC MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada... |
||||||||
| August 9, 2007 | Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... |
Logo Logo (TV channel) Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community... |
||||||||
| August 19, 2007 | Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857... |
none | ||||||||
| September 9, 2007 | Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, southwest of Downtown Miami, in the United States. The city is home to the University of Miami.... |
Univision Univision Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva... |
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| September 12, 2007 | online-only | none | ||||||||
| September 20, 2007 | Davenport, Iowa Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk... |
PBS Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia.... |
||||||||
| September 26, 2007 | Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,260 at the 2010 census. CNN and Money magazine rated Hanover the sixth best place to live in America in 2011, and the second best in 2007.... |
MSNBC MSNBC MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada... |
||||||||
| October 30, 2007 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,... |
MSNBC MSNBC MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada... |
||||||||
| November 15, 2007 | Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous... |
CNN CNN Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States... |
||||||||
| December 4, 2007 | Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857... |
none (radio only, NPR) | ||||||||
| December 13, 2007 | Johnston, Iowa Johnston, Iowa -2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 17,278 in the city, with a population density of . There were 6,618 housing units, of which 6,369 were occupied.... |
CNN CNN Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States... , Fox News Channel Fox News Channel Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation... , IPTV Iowa Public Television Iowa Public Television is a state network of Public Broadcasting Service member non-commercial educational Public television stations in the state of Iowa. A member of the PBS, it is owned by the Iowa Public Broadcasting Board, an agency of the state education department which holds the licenses... , MSNBC MSNBC MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada... |
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| January 5, 2008 | Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which... |
ABC American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948... |
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| January 15, 2008 | Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous... |
MSNBC MSNBC MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada... |
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| January 21, 2008 | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach is a coastal city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is situated on the center of a large and continuous stretch of beach known as the Grand Strand in northeastern South Carolina. It is considered to be a major tourist destination in the... |
CNN CNN Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States... |
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| January 31, 2008 | Hollywood, California Hollywood, Los Angeles, California Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema... |
CNN CNN Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States... |
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| February 2, 2008 | New York, New York | MTV MTV MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.... |
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| February 21, 2008 | Austin, Texas Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in... |
CNN CNN Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States... |
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| February 26, 2008 | Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border... |
MSNBC MSNBC MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada... |
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| April 13, 2008 | Grantham, Pennsylvania Grantham, Pennsylvania Grantham is an unincorporated community in Upper Allen Township, Cumberland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, best known today for the Christian liberal arts college, Messiah College, whose students make up most of its population.... |
CNN CNN Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States... |
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| April 16, 2008 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,... |
ABC American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948... |
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Key: denotes candidate participated in debate; denotes candidate was not invited; denotes candidate absent but was invited; denotes candidate was out of the race.
April 26, 2007 – Orangeburg, South Carolina, South Carolina State UniversitySouth Carolina State UniversitySouth Carolina State University is a historically black university located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only state funded, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina and is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- Colleges, departments,...
The first Democratic debate was in the evening of April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, South CarolinaOrangeburg, South Carolina
Orangeburg, also known as "The Garden City," is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city is also the fifth oldest city in the state of South Carolina. The city population was 12,765 at the 2000 census, within a Greater Orangeburg...
, at South Carolina State University
South Carolina State University
South Carolina State University is a historically black university located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only state funded, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina and is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- Colleges, departments,...
. State party chairman Joe Erwin said that he chose South Carolina State because it is a historically black college, noting that African-Americans have been the "most loyal" Democrats in the state. The debate was 90 minutes with a 60-second time limit for answers, and no opening or closing statements. It was broadcast via cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and online video streaming by MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
.
The debate was moderated by Brian Williams
Brian Williams
Brian Douglas Williams is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network, a position he assumed in 2004...
of NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
. Franklin Pierce University in Rindge
Rindge, New Hampshire
Rindge is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,014 at the 2010 census. Rindge is home to Franklin Pierce University, the Cathedral of the Pines, and part of Annett State Forest.-Native American inhabitants:...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
sent two students to cover the debate on location who gained spin room access.
The major issue discussed was the Iraq War, with all candidates strongly criticizing President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. Although there was some initial hype, the debate was seen by pundits as unspectacular, with no single "breakout" candidate. A poll of 403 South Carolina debate watchers indicated that they believed Senator Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
won the debate with 31% to Clinton's 24%. However, Tom Baldwin of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
and Ewen MacAskill of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
both reported that Clinton appeared to retain her frontrunner status.
Political pundits such as Chris Matthews
Chris Matthews
Christopher John "Chris" Matthews is an American news anchor and political commentator, known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC...
, Howard Fineman
Howard Fineman
Howard Fineman is an American journalist who is senior politics editor at the Huffington Post. Prior to his move to Huffington Post in October 2010, he was Newsweek’s Chief Political Correspondent, Senior Editor and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief. An award-winning writer, Fineman also is an NBC...
, Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
and Joe Scarborough
Joe Scarborough
Charles Joseph "Joe" Scarborough is an American cable news and talk radio host, lawyer, author, and former politician. He is currently the host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, and previously hosted Scarborough Country on the same channel...
declared that Clinton was the most "presidential", in that her appearance and answers were succinct, within the time limit and thorough, leaving no second-guesses. They effectively called her the winner.
With regards to the solid third-polled candidate Former Sen. John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
(D-NC), pundits varied, with some asserting that his performance was weak and not the usual energetic performance that he portrayed in 2003, when he first ran. Howard Fineman
Howard Fineman
Howard Fineman is an American journalist who is senior politics editor at the Huffington Post. Prior to his move to Huffington Post in October 2010, he was Newsweek’s Chief Political Correspondent, Senior Editor and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief. An award-winning writer, Fineman also is an NBC...
also opined that questions regarding his $400 haircut and his "Two Americas" theme are under fire because of severe discrepancies, threatening his main campaign theme.
June 3, 2007 - CNN 7:00pm EDT - Manchester, New Hampshire, Saint Anselm CollegeSaint Anselm CollegeSaint Anselm College is a nationally ranked, private, Benedictine, Catholic liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1889 by Abbot Hilary Pfrängle, O.S.B. of Saint Mary's Abbey in Newark, New Jersey, at the request of Bishop Denis M. Bradley of Manchester, New Hampshire, the...
WMUR-TVWMUR-TV
WMUR-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of New Hampshire that is licensed to Manchester. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter on the south peak of Mount Uncanoonuc in Goffstown. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios...
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, and the New Hampshire Union Leader
New Hampshire Union Leader
The New Hampshire Union Leader is the daily newspaper of Manchester, the largest city in the state of New Hampshire. As of September 2010 it had a daily circulation of 48,342 and the circulation of its Sunday paper, the New Hampshire Sunday News, was 63,991. It was founded in 1863.It was called...
hosted both Democratic and Republican debates in the Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
area, at Saint Anselm College
Saint Anselm College
Saint Anselm College is a nationally ranked, private, Benedictine, Catholic liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1889 by Abbot Hilary Pfrängle, O.S.B. of Saint Mary's Abbey in Newark, New Jersey, at the request of Bishop Denis M. Bradley of Manchester, New Hampshire, the...
. The Democratic debate was Sunday, June 3, starting at 7 PM EDT and lasting two hours, commercial free. The moderator was Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
, host of Late Edition
Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer
Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer was a Sunday talk show hosted by Wolf Blitzer on CNN and broadcast around the world by CNN International. The show's slogan was The last word in Sunday talk and comments made on the show were often featured in the following Monday's news headlines.The show, launched...
and The Situation Room
The Situation Room
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is an afternoon/early evening newscast on CNN and CNN International hosted by Wolf Blitzer that first aired on August 8, 2005. The show replaces three politics and hard news programs: Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics, Crossfire and Wolf Blitzer Reports.At first,...
. He was joined by Tom Fahey
Tom Fahey
Tom Fahey is the State House Bureau Chief of the New Hampshire Union Leader, for which he writes the "State House Dome" column. He is a regular guest on New Hampshire Outlook on New Hampshire Public Television....
of the New Hampshire Union Leader
New Hampshire Union Leader
The New Hampshire Union Leader is the daily newspaper of Manchester, the largest city in the state of New Hampshire. As of September 2010 it had a daily circulation of 48,342 and the circulation of its Sunday paper, the New Hampshire Sunday News, was 63,991. It was founded in 1863.It was called...
and Scott Spradling from the local NH television station WMUR. The first half of the debate was a directed question and answer, with candidates at podiums, as in the first debate, responding to questions from Fahey and Spradling. Participating candidates were Barack Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, Christopher J. Dodd, Bill Richardson and Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
For the second half, candidates sat in chairs, while audience members in New Hampshire, mostly undecided Democratic and independent voters, asked questions which were then deflected by Wolf Blitzer to specific candidates.
June 28, 2007 - PBS - Washington, D.C., Howard UniversityHoward UniversityHoward University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
held and televised a debate at Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
, a historically black college
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
. The moderator was Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley is a talk show host, author, liberal political commentator, entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi and grew up in Kokomo, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of...
. All eight candidates discussed various topics including education, poverty, unemployment, racial discrimination, and health in the black community. The debate drew a record crowd of who's who celebrities such as Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Al Sharpton
Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...
, Dorothy Heights, Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
, Terry McMillan
Terry McMillan
Terry McMillan is an American author. Her interest in books comes from working at a library when she was sixteen. She received her BA in journalism in 1986 at University of California, Berkeley. Her work is characterized by strong female protagonists.Her first book, Mama, was published in 1987...
, Judge Hatchett
Judge Hatchett
Judge Hatchett is a nationally-syndicated American television program produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Television. It starred The Honorable Glenda Hatchett and was modeled after other "court shows" such as Judge Judy and the long running The People's Court, as well as containing elements...
, Mark Ridley-Thomas
Mark Ridley-Thomas
Mark Ridley-Thomas , often referred to by his initials, MRT, is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for District 2, who succeeded Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke...
, amongst other celebrities.
This was the first debate to give equal time to all the candidates.
- PBS Transcript
- PBS Video, Audio and downloadable Podcast
- New York Times Transcript
- CFR Transcript
- Video with Closed Caption
- Fox News Video
July 12, 2007 – Detroit, Michigan
Attended by all eight candidates.This was held during the NAACP convention. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton were overheard—on stage, over microphones—talking about weeding out non-frontrunner candidates from participating in future debates.
July 23, 2007 - CNN - Charleston, South Carolina, The CitadelThe Citadel (military college)The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, also known simply as The Citadel, is a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. It is one of the six senior military colleges in the United States...
CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
held this debate on the campus of The Citadel
The Citadel (military college)
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, also known simply as The Citadel, is a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. It is one of the six senior military colleges in the United States...
. All questions were selected from, and posed as videos submitted via, YouTube by members of the public; the debate was moderated by Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Hays Cooper is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories...
of Anderson Cooper 360. YouTube and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
streamed the event live. It was also simulcast on CNN en Español
CNN en Español
CNN en Español is CNN's Spanish language news channel. On March 17, 1997, CNN launched CNN en Español, a 24-hour Spanish-language news network for the Hispanic American and United States marketplace.-Mexico programming:...
.
August 4, 2007 – Chicago, Illinois
The Yearly Kos Presidential Leadership Forum was an informal discussion attended by seven of the eight presidential candidates, with Biden not attending due to votes in Congress. New York Times Magazine writer Matt BaiMatt Bai
Matt Bai writes the “Political Times” column for the New York Times and is a frequent contributor for the Times Magazine, where he covered both the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns. Bai often explores issues of generational change in American politics and society...
, DailyKos Contributing Editor /Fellow Joan McCarter and author and blogger Jeffrey Feldman moderated. The debate was broken down into Domestic Policy, Foreign Policy, and Philosophy and Leadership. Candidates were alloted 90 seconds for each question with 45 second rebuttals, although the time limits were not strictly enforced. After the debate, breakout sessions were held where convention goers could question each candidate individually.
August 7, 2007 – Chicago, Illinois
The AFL-CIOAFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
Working Families Vote Presidential Forum was held at Soldier Field
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in the Near South Side. It is home to the NFL's Chicago Bears...
in Chicago, Illinois in front of approximately 15,000 union members and their families. The questions in the debate will be used to determine if and whom the AFL-CIO will endorse in the Democratic primary. MSNBC host Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
hosted the debate, which featured seven of the candidates. Mike Gravel was excluded because he failed to submit a written questionnaire by the August 6 deadline. Gravel claimed that the questionnaire "fell through the cracks" and requested to be invited to the debate anyway, which was rejected by the AFL-CIO. Questionnaires were also sent to Republicans but no candidates responded.
- CFR Transcript
- Chicago Sun-Times Transcript
- New York Times Transcript
- MSNBC Video
- Video with Closed Caption
August 9, 2007 – Los Angeles, California
LGBT network LogoLogo (TV channel)
Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
hosted this debate focusing on LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
issues, moderated by Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
President Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese is president of the Human Rights Campaign of the United States and its affiliate the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. He was appointed to this position on March 9, 2005. A native of Attleboro, Massachusetts, Solmonese lives in Washington, D.C...
and singer Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel participated. Mike Gravel was originally to be excluded from this debate, it being cited that his campaign had not raised enough money to qualify for participation. Rallying from Gravel's supporters reversed this decision. Dodd and Biden both stated scheduling conflicts prevented them from attending. Logo invited the Republicans presidential candidates to a similar debate, but all the candidates declined.
August 19, 2007 – Des Moines, Iowa
ABC NewsABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
in conjunction with the Iowa Democratic Party
Iowa Democratic Party
The Iowa Democratic Party is the local branch of the Democratic Party in the state of Iowa.-Current elected officials:Iowa Democrats are in control of the Iowa Senate, one of the state's United States Senate seats, and three out of the state's five United States House of Representatives seats. ...
held a debate streamed on This Week
This Week (ABC TV series)
This Week is ABC's Sunday morning political affairs program.The Sunday morning talk show has aired on Sunday mornings on ABC since 1981; the program is initially aired at 9:00 AM ET, although many stations air the program later, especially those in other time zones...
moderated by George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...
. ABC has been accused of spinning the results of the debate due to extreme differences in the time alloted to candidates. ABC also deleted poll results when they showed Dennis Kucinich in the lead.
- ABC Transcript
- ABC Video (incomplete, edited, and out of chronological order) [rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/rwh/rwh081907.rm C-SPAN Video]
- Video with Closed Caption
September 9, 2007 – Coral Gables, Florida, University of MiamiUniversity of MiamiThe University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
UnivisionUnivision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
hosted a forum, Destino 2008, in Spanish at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
's Bank United Center in Coral Gables, Florida and moderated by Univision's anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas
María Elena Salinas
María Elena Salinas is the co-anchor of Noticiero Univision with Jorge Ramos, the most watched newscast by American Hispanics. She is considered one of the most recognized and influential female Hispanic journalists in the United States.Her parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico in...
. Joe Biden did not participate in the debate.
Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd objected to the debate being conducted in English with simultaneous translation in Spanish. Both are fluent in Spanish but it was perceived to cause an unfair advantage for the two. The TV audience of 2.2 million was also the debate season's youngest, at an average of 36 years old.
September 12, 2007
Yahoo!, in partnership with The Huffington PostThe Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, produced a "mashup" debate with Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
interviewing the candidates. Segments were recorded on September 12, with the "mashups" posted on September 13.
September 20, 2007 – Davenport, Iowa
PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
held a forum focused on domestic issues, specifically health care and financial security. It was moderated by Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff is an American television news anchor and journalist.Woodruff is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Broadcast journalism career:...
, and was a joint venture between IPTV
IPTV
Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
and AARP
AARP
AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is the United States-based non-governmental organization and interest group, founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus, PhD, a retired educator from California, and based in Washington, D.C. According to its mission statement, it is "a...
. Obama rejected PBS's invitation, and Gravel and Kucinich were excluded from the debate because they did not have at least one paid staff member or office space in Iowa.
September 26, 2007 – Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
MSNBCMSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
held a debate at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in conjunction with New England Cable News
New England Cable News
New England Cable News is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal serving the New England region of the United States. It is very similar to CNN in structure and style, but focuses more on regional news. The channel is also similar to Northwest Cable...
and New Hampshire Public Radio
New Hampshire Public Radio
New Hampshire Public Radio is a public radio network serving the state of New Hampshire. NHPR is based in Concord and operates seven transmitters and six translators covering nearly the whole state. All signals carry the same programming, which comprises news and talk shows on weekdays and a mix...
. The moderator was Tim Russert
Tim Russert
Timothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...
.
October 30, 2007 - NBC 9:00pm EDT - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Drexel UniversityDrexel UniversityDrexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
The debate was held at Drexel UniversityDrexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
and was televised by NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
. All candidates except former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel
Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election....
attended the debate. It was announced on October 19 that Senator Gravel did not meet the polling requirements for the debate, though the DNC did not specifically say what the requirements were; Gravel has suggested that GE, which owns NBC and is a "war-profiteer," conspired to exclude him from the event after, during the previous debate, he questioned Hillary Clinton's signing a resolution that would possibly facilitate entering war with Iran. Instead of attending the debate, Senator Gravel staged an event at the nearby World Cafe Live.
Seven Democratic presidential candidates participated in a two-hour debate starting at 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday (0100 GMT Wednesday) and telecast on MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
and streamed live on msnbc.com. The moderators of the debate were Tim Russert
Tim Russert
Timothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...
and Brian Williams
Brian Williams
Brian Douglas Williams is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network, a position he assumed in 2004...
. Nielson Ratings estimated the debate attracted 2.5 million viewers.
Democratic rivals focused their attacks on Senator Clinton, and were particularly critical of her response to a proposal from New York Governor Eliot L. Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
which would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. After the debate, moderator Tim Russert was criticized for asking a misleading question to Senator Clinton regarding the release of her records as first lady. Tim Russert raised the issue of a letter which Bill Clinton wrote in which the former president ordered "a ban" on the release of his records by the National Archives. However, it was later revealed that Tim Russert misrepresented the letter, as it turns out that President Clinton was actually requesting for the National Archives to speed up the release of the records, despite the National Archive's backlog.
- NYT transcript from the Federal News Service
- MSNBC Video
- Video with Closed Caption from Taudiobook.com
- The Creepy Sleepy podcast from Twitter and behind the scenes at the debate.
November 15, 2007 - CNN - Las Vegas, Nevada
The Nevada Democratic PartyNevada Democratic Party
The Nevada Democratic Party is the state affiliate of the United States Democratic Party in Nevada. Its chair is Roberta Lange, and its Executive Director is Zach Zaragoza .-History:...
hosted a Democratic debate aired on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. The moderator was Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
. Former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel
Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election....
was excluded from the debate, and so held a debate alternative, online at www.ustream.tv where a TiVo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
system is used to screen the official debate simultaneously. According to Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, the debate drew a record Cable TV audience for a presidential primary debate, an estimated 4.04 million viewers.
The candidates present at the debate were Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich
Dennis Kucinich
Dennis John Kucinich is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He was furthermore a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections....
, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, Chris Dodd, and John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
.
Some commentators have attacked CNN for the debate, calling it biased and poorly handled. Their accusations include claims that the final audience question was planted, that moderator Wolf Blitzer was overly favorable to Hillary Clinton, and that the use of James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
, a long-time adviser to the Clintons, as a debate commentator was biased.
- New York Times transcript and video, from the Federal News ServiceFederal News ServiceFederal News Service is a company based in Washington, D.C., providing verbatim transcripts, in real time, on their website, , of United States government events including press briefings, presidential speeches, conferences and congressional hearings. Other services transcription services,...
- Chicago Sun-Times transcript, from CNN
- Video with Closed Caption, from Taudiobook.com
December 4, 2007 - NPR (radio only) - Des Moines, Iowa
National Public Radio, in conjunction with Iowa Public RadioIowa Public Radio
Iowa Public Radio is a state network in the U.S. state of Iowa that combines the operations of current Public Radio stations run by Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and University of Northern Iowa...
, hosted a "radio-only" Democratic Debate. NPR hosts Steve Inskeep
Steve Inskeep
Steve Inskeep born , is one of the current hosts of Morning Edition on National Public Radio. He, along with co-host Renée Montagne, were assigned as interim hosts to succeed Bob Edwards after NPR reassigned Edwards to Senior Correspondent after April 30, 2004. Inskeep and Montagne were...
, Michele Norris
Michele Norris
Michele L. Norris is an American radio journalist and current host of the National Public Radio evening news program All Things Considered since December 9, 2002. She is the first African American female host for NPR.-Early years:...
, and Robert Siegel
Robert Siegel
Robert Siegel is an American radio journalist best known as host of the National Public Radio evening news broadcast All Things Considered.-Career:...
moderated the debate. The debate broadcasted from the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines to NPR stations around the country and was streamed online. All of the major candidates were present other than New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson who was attending the funeral of a Korean war casualty.
Senators Obama and Edwards were given the most speaking time; Senator Gravel, the least.
December 13, 2007 – Johnston, Iowa
The Des Moines RegisterDes Moines Register
The Des Moines Register is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. A separate edition of the Register is sold throughout much of Iowa.-History:...
and Iowa Public Television
Iowa Public Television
Iowa Public Television is a state network of Public Broadcasting Service member non-commercial educational Public television stations in the state of Iowa. A member of the PBS, it is owned by the Iowa Public Broadcasting Board, an agency of the state education department which holds the licenses...
hosted a Democratic debate in Johnston, Iowa
Johnston, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 17,278 in the city, with a population density of . There were 6,618 housing units, of which 6,369 were occupied....
. Six of the eight candidates were invited. Dennis Kucinich was excluded because he had not rented office space in the state. The Register determined “that a person working out of his home did not meet our criteria for a campaign office and full-time paid staff in Iowa.” Mike Gravel was excluded for presumably the same reason.
- This debate was originally scheduled for January 6, 2008, but because the Iowa Caucus was moved up to January 3, 2008, the Des Moines Register moved the debate up to December 13.
- Iowa Public Television video (in full and by segment) and transcript
- NPR Election 2008 - Podcast Direct link to download podcast
- Des Moines Register video (in full and by segment)
- Fox News video (in full only)
- Video with Closed Caption
- CNN Transcript
January 5, 2008 - ABC 8:45pm EST - Manchester, New Hampshire, Saint Anselm CollegeSaint Anselm CollegeSaint Anselm College is a nationally ranked, private, Benedictine, Catholic liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1889 by Abbot Hilary Pfrängle, O.S.B. of Saint Mary's Abbey in Newark, New Jersey, at the request of Bishop Denis M. Bradley of Manchester, New Hampshire, the...
ABC NewsABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, WMUR-TV
WMUR-TV
WMUR-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of New Hampshire that is licensed to Manchester. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter on the south peak of Mount Uncanoonuc in Goffstown. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios...
and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
jointly hosted back-to-back Democratic and Republican debates from Saint Anselm College
Saint Anselm College
Saint Anselm College is a nationally ranked, private, Benedictine, Catholic liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1889 by Abbot Hilary Pfrängle, O.S.B. of Saint Mary's Abbey in Newark, New Jersey, at the request of Bishop Denis M. Bradley of Manchester, New Hampshire, the...
on Saturday, January 5, just three days before the official first-in-the-nation primary the following Tuesday, January 8. Charles Gibson
Charles Gibson
Charles deWolf "Charlie" Gibson is a former American broadcast television anchor and journalist. He was a host of Good Morning America from 1987 to 1998 and 1999 to 2006 and anchor of World News with Charles Gibson from 2006 to 2009....
moderated. According to Nielsen Media Research, the debate drew the largest televised audience of the primary season with an esimated 9.36 million viewers.
At 8:47 p.m. EST, between the two debates, Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Bill Richardson joined the Republican candidates on the stage at St. Anselm College in greater Manchester. This was the first time all of the major candidates from both parties had been together on stage, as defined by ABC News. ABC News eliminated Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from the debate because they did not place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys.
Major topics were introduced with a short news-clip-style video produced by ABC and the candidates were encouraged to interact with each other. One question, "...how much you would spend with the programs you've proposed and the promises you've made.", was inexplicably withdrawn by Gibson at the last second after its introductory video had been shown. Aside from that, the debate ran smoothly. There were commercial breaks before and after each debate. The candidates were seated during the debates.
During the debate, Obama, Clinton, and Edwards all battled over who best exemplified the buzzword of the campaign, "change". In one noted exchange, Edwards said that Clinton could not bring change, while he and Obama can. "Any time you speak out powerfully for change, the forces for status quo attack." He made clear that he was referring to Clinton, adding, "I didn't hear these kind of attacks from Senator Clinton while she was ahead. Now that she's not we hear them." Clinton passionately retorted: "Making change is not about what you believe; it's not about a speech you make. It's about working hard. I'm not just running on a promise for change. I'm running on 35 years of change. What we need is somebody who can deliver change. We don't need to be raising false hopes." Obama replied that "The truth is, actually, words do inspire. Words do help people get involved."
At another point in the debate, when one moderator asked Clinton why polls showed she was less "likeable" than other candidates, particularly Obama, she joked tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
, "Well that hurts my feelings ... but I'll try to go on."
Gibson was criticized as "out of touch" and misleading for his claim during the debate that the proposals of Obama and Clinton to allow the Bush tax cuts
Bush tax cuts
The Bush tax cuts refers to changes to the United States tax code passed during the presidency of George W. Bush and extended during the presidency of Barack Obama that generally lowered tax rates and revised the code specifying taxation in the United States...
to expire for incomes of over $250,000 would increase the taxes of a family of two public school teachers. This inaccurate claim was met by laughter from the audience.
January 15, 2008 - MSNBC 6:00pm PST - Las Vegas, Nevada College of Southern Nevada
The Nevada Democratic Party partnered with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and IMPACTO, 100 Black Men of America, and the College of Southern Nevada to hold the second Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas. The debate was telecast live by MSNBC and held at the Cashman CenterCashman Center
The Cashman Center or the Cashman Field Center is a complex on a site in Las Vegas, Nevada. Operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority it includes Cashman Field and a convention center...
in Las Vegas on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.
Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama took part in the debate. Dennis Kucinich was originally invited to the debate after meeting publicly announced criteria, but the invitation was retracted after NBC changed its criteria shortly before the event. Kucinich sued for the right to participate in the debate, but after lower courts sided with Kucinich, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in favor of MSNBC.
January 21, 2008 - CNN 8:00pm EST - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
The Congressional Black Caucus and CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
hosted a debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach is a coastal city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is situated on the center of a large and continuous stretch of beach known as the Grand Strand in northeastern South Carolina. It is considered to be a major tourist destination in the...
at 8:00 pm EST. This debate set another record for a Cable TV audience with an estimated 4.9 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals Ratings.
The participants were Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
. The debate, chaired by Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
, had an unusual format; for the last forty minutes the candidates sat down and the debate took a much more casual tone.
January 31, 2008 - CNN 5:00pm PDT - Hollywood, California
The Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, The Politico
The Politico
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
, and CNN hosted a Democratic debate in Hollywood, California, at the Kodak Theatre
Kodak Theatre
The Kodak Theatre is a live theatre in the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall and entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles...
. The debate set another Cable TV viewing record for a presidential primary debate, with 8,324,000 million total viewers.
This was the final Democratic party-specific debate before Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday
In the United States, Super Tuesday, in general, refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated...
on February 5, 2008. This debate included two candidates, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Hillary Clinton, and started at 5 PM Pacific, ending at 6:30 PM. Topics in this cordial debate included health care, the Iraq War, and immigration.
February 2, 2008 - MTV 6:00pm EST - MTV Myspace Debate
MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
hosted a cross-party debate Live on February 2, 2008 at 6PM EST/3PM PST on MTV. Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, and Mike Huckabee
Mike Huckabee
Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
attended the debate. John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
and Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
were invited but did not attend. Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel
Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election....
was not invited to attend due to little support in the state primaries and caucuses.
February 21, 2008 - CNN 7:00pm CST - Austin, Texas, University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
and the Texas Democratic Party
Texas Democratic Party
The Texas Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in Texas and the local branch of the United States Democratic Party. It is headquartered in Downtown Austin within close proximity to the Texas State Capitol.-19th century:...
jointly hosted a debate between Obama and Clinton on February 21 at 7:00 CST on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. The debate was rebroadcast at 10:30 in Spanish. Questions focused heavily on illegal immigration and the economy, among other issues.
February 26, 2008 - MSNBC 9:00pm EST - Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland State UniversityCleveland State UniversityCleveland State University is a public university located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 when the state of Ohio assumed control of Fenn College, and it absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969...
NBC NewsNBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
held a debate between Clinton and Obama on February 26 at the Wolstein Center
Wolstein Center
The Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Convocation Center is an indoor arena located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It replaced the Woodling Gym...
on the campus of Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University is a public university located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 when the state of Ohio assumed control of Fenn College, and it absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969...
. The debate was broadcast live at 9:00 EST on MSNBC. It was moderated by Brian Williams with Tim Russert. CNN had proposed with the Ohio Democratic Party a debate on February 27 which was cancelled.
April 13, 2008 - CNN 8:00pm EDT - Grantham, Pennsylvania, Messiah CollegeMessiah CollegeMessiah College is a private Christian college of the liberal arts and applied arts and sciences located in Grantham, Pennsylvania, near the capital city of Harrisburg...
Clinton and Obama appeared at the Compassion Forum, discussing faith, values, and religion on April 13, 2008 at 8PM EDT at Messiah CollegeMessiah College
Messiah College is a private Christian college of the liberal arts and applied arts and sciences located in Grantham, Pennsylvania, near the capital city of Harrisburg...
in Grantham, Pennsylvania
Grantham, Pennsylvania
Grantham is an unincorporated community in Upper Allen Township, Cumberland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, best known today for the Christian liberal arts college, Messiah College, whose students make up most of its population....
. The forum was a question-and-answer session in which CNN commentator Campbell Brown
Campbell Brown
Campbell Brown is an American television news reporter and anchor. She previously hosted an eponymous primetime show on CNN and was formerly co-anchor of NBC's Weekend Today...
and Jon Meacham
Jon Meacham
Jon Meacham is executive editor and executive vice president at Random House. A former editor of Newsweek and a Pulitzer Prize winning bestselling author and a commentator on politics, history, and religious faith in America, he is a contributing editor to Time magazine and editor-at-large of WNET...
of Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
as well as select members of the audience, posed questions about faith and politics to Clinton and Obama. Both appeared separately. The forum was broadcast live on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. The event was organized by the religious organization Faith in Public Life.
April 16, 2008 - ABC 8:00pm EDT - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Both Clinton and Obama appeared in a debate moderated by ABC News on April 16, 2008, at 8 PM EDT at the National Constitution CenterNational Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center is an organization that seeks to expand awareness and understanding of the United States Constitution and operates a museum to advance those purposes....
. The debate was nationally televised at 8 PM Eastern and Pacific (tape delayed) and 7 PM Central/Mountain (tape delayed). This was the second debate shown nationally on over-the-air television.
Moderators Charles Gibson
Charles Gibson
Charles deWolf "Charlie" Gibson is a former American broadcast television anchor and journalist. He was a host of Good Morning America from 1987 to 1998 and 1999 to 2006 and anchor of World News with Charles Gibson from 2006 to 2009....
and George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...
were criticized by viewers, bloggers and media critics for the poor quality of their questions.
During the debate neither Obama or Clinton would answer whether or not they would name the other as their running mate.
Some of the questions that many viewers said they considered irrelevant when measured against the faltering economy or the Iraq war, like why Senator Barack Obama did not wear an American flag pin on his lapel, the incendiary comments of Obama’s former pastor, or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s assertion that she had to duck sniper fire in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
more than a decade ago. The questions from the moderators were considered to be focused on campaign gaffes and training most of their ammunition on Obama, to which Stephanopoulos responded by saying that "Senator Obama [was] the front-runner" and the questions were "not inappropriate or irrelevant at all."