TV is tough if you don't love the camera

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Viewing the Democratic presidential candidates debate on television Thursday took us both closer to and farther from the folks on stage.

The TV cameras brought viewers right into the wrinkles of Dick Gephardt's rolled-up sleeves. And they made us feel the oppressive theater heat as a perspiring Army officer, just returned from Iraq, asked the candidates about benefits for soldiers and their families.

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Presidential primary races with crowded fields are essentially horse races. And TV is the medium through which the vast majority of Democratic voters saw the horses go through their paces on Thursday.

So the favorite post-debate issue for those present at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix - who won the debate? - is not exactly the same as the issue presented to TV viewers. And that is: Who did the cameras love most?

They did not seem especially fond of former Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich. Whoever placed the earnest anti-warrior near the comparatively towering Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts did not have Kucinich's best interests in mind.

Neither did the camera share much love with retired Gen. Clark, who weathered numerous attacks from other candidates for what they contend were inconsistencies regarding his support for the war in Iraq. Television viewers saw up close the wide-eyed discomfort of Clark, who spent a great deal more time defending himself than he would have liked. And they saw it far more clearly than those in the audience.

But the debate candidates who performed especially well, at least from a TV viewer's perspective, seemed to be House Minority Leader Gephardt and Kerry.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1010fri2-10.html