NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, about what the absence of the modern presidential debate would mean for candidates and voters.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Over the past several decades, debates between presidential candidates have produced memorable moments, moments that have bolstered, reshaped and even ended campaigns. There was a zinger from the 1984 presidential debate between Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Walter Mondale.
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RONALD REAGAN: I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.
(LAUGHTER)
DETROW: Reagan, who had faced questions about his age, ended up winning 49 states that year. Then there was this less auspicious moment during a Republican primary debate in 2011, when then Texas Governor Rick Perry couldn’t remember the third government agency he said he had planned to cut.
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JOHN HARWOOD: You can’t name the third one?
RICK PERRY: The third agency of government I would do away with – the education, the…
HARWOOD: Commerce.
PERRY: Commerce. And let’s see. I can’t – the third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.
DETROW: Perry washed out of the race. Zingers and gaffes aside, debates can also get pretty heated. Listen to this exchange during the 1988 vice presidential debate between Senator Dan Quayle and Senator Lloyd Bentsen.
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DAN QUAYLE: I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency.
LLOYD BENTSEN: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.
DETROW: Then there was 2020, the first general election debate between then-President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden went off the rails when Trump wouldn’t stop interrupting.
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