POLITICS 88 : CAMPAIGN ’88 : Democratic Candidates Debate Value of Debates

Four of the six Democratic candidates for President came together Sunday in Houston for a debate that devolved at the end into a debate about the value of so many primary campaign debates.

Sponsored by the Sun Broadcast Assn. in Houston, it was, by conservative estimate, the 23rd such gathering of the candidates.

Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr., former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Illinois Sen. Paul Simon took part, using the chance to restate their campaign positions in a crucial Southern state. But the only clash of views came over the usefulness of an often frustrating televised format.

“The agony for me,” Jackson observed, “is that we came to Texas, spent an hour and a half before a television audience, we have a million children in Texas in poverty and no time to discuss it.”

“We’re trapped in these 90-second sound bites trying to say things,” Jackson complained.

Simon agreed, noting that in some debates, candidates have had to compress complex issues into 30- or 60-second capsules. “I’m not sure you really do determine who is thoughtful, who is not thoughtful, who’s genuine.”

Gore disagreed, saying “let’s look on the bright side,” suggesting that the unprecedented string of televised debates this year has been a great improvement over “waiting for a candidate to come to one’s front porch.”

Hart then leaped in to suggest that the debates would be an even better idea “if Al didn’t talk all the time.”

“Somehow we’ve got to get past the slogans,” Hart averred. “Al says he wants to put the White House on the side of working men and women. Well, who doesn’t?”

Simon then tilted to Hart. “The debates we’ve had too often have lent themselves to sloganeering rather than substance. That really is the problem,” he said.

As Gore jumped back into the fray, urging voters to supplement what they see on television with a careful review of candidates’ records--especially his--Jackson brought a wave of laughter from the studio audience as he pretended to play a violin.

“And now,” announced moderator and former television correspondent Linda Ellerbee, “as Rev. Jackson fiddles and Sen. Gore burns, we will go to a commercial.”

Said former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, who served as commentator: “A man would probably be a fool to comment on one of these debates.”

Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt and Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis offered no explanation for their absence, but Gore suggested later that they had “turned their backs on Texas.”

Jackson, who makes a point of avoiding the infighting among candidates, said their absence did not “. . . reflect on their integrity. They simply had other priorities.”