Regular Folks Will Question The Candidates

SAN DIEGO (AllPolitics, Oct. 15) -- Through the luck of a random telephone call and by saying the magic words -- "I haven't decided who to vote for" -- 120 men and women from San Diego County will get a chance to pepper Bill Clinton and Bob Dole with questions at their second and final debate Wednesday night.

The people who will be in the audience at the University of San Diego were screened by the Gallup Organization to eliminate die-hard supporters of either candidate. They had to be registered voters and could be leaning toward one of the candidates, but had to have told Gallup's telephone interviewers that they could still change their minds.

Although the audience will ask the questions, moderator Jim Lehrer won't exactly be a potted plant. Under the debate's "town hall meeting" format, Lehrer may ask for a question on a particular subject. And if the audience member meanders too much, Lehrer has the prerogative to rephrase the question to sharpen and focus it.

Lehrer came under some criticism after the first presidential debate for throwing too many softballs to the candidates. In contrast, the town hall format can lead to unpredictable questions.

In 1992, one woman in the audience asked Clinton, George Bush and Ross Perot "how the national debt personally affected each of your lives." That led to much hemming and hawing, particularly by Bush.

Since the weekend, Dole has suggested he intends to get tougher in this week's debate. He has to hope someone asks Clinton a tough question, or he has to work with audience questions to make the points he wants to make about character, Whitewater pardons or Indonesian campaign donations. The risk is that in trying to drive home those points, it may look like he's running roughshod over ordinary people's concerns.

Once the audience members arrive for the debate, they will wait in a private area, with no contact with the national press corps before the event. Even their names are not known at this point.

Regular Folks Will Question The Candidates

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