Ready for their closeups: Dallas mayoral finalists at last get a TV forum
06/01/07 08:40 AM
By ED BARK
Local TV stations are gladly taking the candidates' paid commercials. But until Thursday night, they otherwise had taken a pass on the ongoing Dallas mayoral campaign.
After all, isn't the public interest better served by smashups on 635, strip mall crime scenes or pant-pant "medical breakthroughs" on the skin wrinkle front?
Finally, with just over two weeks until election day, TXA21 in tandem with KERA13 gave mayoral finalists Tom Leppert and Ed Oakley a chance to flesh out their positions and personas. They sat on either side of CBS11 anchor Tracy Rowlett, an old-school TV newsman who moderated their half-hour, commercial-free, prime-time faceoff.
It was by far the best look at the two candidates for anyone who actually cared to take a look. Ratings are really beside the point, though. D-FW television stations owe the electorate at least this much, even if the electorate supposedly is apathetic. You think that might have something to do with the fact that the campaign to succeed Laura Miller has gotten less attention on newscasts than cellulite?
Rowlett conducted the debate as more of a conversation, with the candidates in padded chairs placed on a multi-colored throw rug. There were no prescribed time limits, but efforts were made to give each candidate a roughly equal say. Only their 30-second closing statements were completely pre-canned.
Luckily, in terms of lively TV at least, the barbecue grill had been pre-lit earlier Thursday by the campaign's first "attack ad." Oakley, a Dallas City councilman, basically branded Leppert an inept executive during his tenure as chairman and CEO of the Turner construction company.
Leppert, whose demeanor and appearance are reminiscent of Fred Rogers, responded as the legendary children's show host might have.
"Ed's company builds bars," he kept saying while touting Turner's allegiance to hospitals, schools and jails. Except that he used a more decorous term for the latter.
"Turner's the largest builder of justice institutions," Leppert said. "That's where police take bad guys. Ed's company builds bars. That's where the police go to get bad guys."
That's pretty sanctimonious, even more so when potential voters can see and hear a candidate say it over the public airwaves. Leppert obviously was responding to a still-fresh attack from his opponent, but should have stopped short of a blanket depiction of bars as crime hostels. After all, a lot of voters respond to candidates with whom they'd feel comfortable having a drink.
Rowlett for the most part did a very solid job of pressing the candidates, asking substantive questions and keeping the conversation rolling. Still, he was a bit prone to making declarations of his own before getting to a question. As when he needlessly declared without provocation, "Laura Miller is not a racist. I want to say that publicly."
Oakley also went unchallenged on a controversial pledge, in his first TV ad, to make Dallas safer by demolishing "2,000 crime-ridden apartments a year until the problem is solved."
Leppert made a passing reference to this Oakley linchpin, but Rowlett didn't follow up. He should have.
KERA's Sam Baker then took the reins to moderate a half-hour analysis program that easily could have been cut to 15 minutes in the interest of a longer debate.
Panelists made some interesting points, though, with dallasblogs.com's Scott Bennett nicely setting the table by noting that Oakley had a time-honored, pragmatic reason for authorizing an attack ad.
"You don't do that if you think you're winning," Bennett said.
Jim Washington of Dallas Weekly noted the debate bypass of Oakley's showy crime-fighting plan while veteran image maker Lisa LeMaster said that both candidates seemed like Energizer Bunnies on TV. "This was fun," she said.
Baker wondered, "If you're the news producer, what quote makes the newscast?"
Where's he been? Even CBS11, a partner in the debate, gave it short shrift on Thursday's 10 p.m. news. Crime and tragedy as usual called the tune, with reporter J.D. Miles offering viewers an update on a java-tossing "coffee bandit" whose "growing list of victims are burning mad."
A debate story, by Chris Salcedo, finally peeked through at 10:14 p.m. after the first commercial break. The "Ed's company builds bars" riff made the cut, as did Oakley's pointed criticism of Mayor Miller for squandering a chance to have the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium built in Dallas rather than Arlington.
All things considered, it was better than nothing. Which until Thursday night is what we've been getting.
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