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School of Communication

No consensus over debate winner

By Mike Soltesz

The Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama debate was intense and full of intrigue, according to Dr. Justin S. Vaughn, a political science professor at Cleveland State.
He thought the debate was interesting and intense.
He also thought that Clinton tried to “come out aggressive.” He was impressed with the way Obama handled this situation.
“Obama stayed cool and focused on his policy positions,” Vaughn said. “He acted very presidential.”
There was a moment when Clinton mocked Obama’s rhetorical style of speaking, according to Vaughn. “Obama showed good poise,” he said.
A weak point for Obama was when he was asked about financing in the general election and “he didn’t give a good answer.”
Clinton’s weak point, according to Vaughn, was that she lectured the moderator Tim Russert on why she is always being asked the first question. This went into the SNL comment. Clinton had a good moment when she talked about Vladimir Putin’s successor in Russia.
He also thinks that there was a clear-cut winner in the debate. “I think Obama won because he kept his cool and didn’t fall into any traps,” he observed. “He may have even scored some style points.”
Vaughn has a few opinions about the upcoming primaries. “Obama will win Texas and Vermont and Clinton will win Rhode Island,” he said. “Ohio will be very close.”
Chris Matthews, host of “Hardball” on MSNBC, thought that there was a chance that some “You-Tube moments” were possible in the debate. However, Matthews thinks that the election isn’t over just yet. “If Hillary wins Ohio, she could get back in the race,” he said.
Candy Crowley, senior political correspondent with CNN, thought that Obama has gotten better. “He seems to favor sit down types of debate,” she said. “But, the fact is that she (Clinton) has always excelled at debates.”
Crowley felt that Clinton “had a misstep by bringing up the SNL incident and the complaint that the media is harder on her than on Obama.”
Crowley thought that Clinton seemed defensive. Clinton needed a “knockout and she didn’t get a knockout.”
She didn’t think that either of them were winners.
But, a win in Ohio for Clinton will break Obama’s momentum, according to Crowley.

Reach this Stater reporter at m.soltesz@csuohio.edu