Winning is the Only Thing

...On Television WINNING IS THE ONLY THING BY MARVIN KITMAN This is the first in a series of very plain talks on very practical politics It was delivered by a man who, in his way, has the stature of George Washington Plunkett, the late leader of the 15th Assembly District (Tarn many Hall) in New York, and is an expert in the field of manipulating the media Although anybody can say what he wants without fear in a free country, the speaker believes there is no sense in being reckless about exercising his civil liberties Consequently, he has asked that his name be withheld from the transcript The talk this week is on the art of television debating Y ou TV viewers always make the mistake of judging debates by the issues raised To a professional, the real question is not where a person stands on specific subjects, but did my candidate make the other fellow look worse than he did' If my man gets into anything substantive in the debate, I know he's going to look bad Now, a lot of politicians don't want to play the game that way They really want to debate They lose Every debate I've ever been involved in was won before we went to the studio Certainly before we went on the air The most important thing to do is try to upset your opponent emotionally Anything is fair, like announcing a press conference the day preceding the telecast to talk about the rumor that your man plans to discuss his opponent's financial statement on the program, (even though this has never been an issue) Or having a photographer friend call the other guy, as if by accident, to ask him when he wants the 8 x 10 glossies of his challenger attending a Mafia banquet "Oh, I'm sorry," the photographer says after the candidate professes ignorance of the pictures "I must have the wrong candidate " The man's denials that he ever attended a banquet fall on deaf ears, the caller has hung up The basic idea is to have your opponent come into the studio absolutely paranoid I always like to arrive at the station a little early That allows time to take one of the cleats off the other guy s lectern so that it will wobble whenever he leans on it This is very distracting It's also a good idea to take the lip off the edge of his lectern Then he can't use his hands to gesticulate properly There's even a good chance he will drop some thing while talking Voters don't like candidates who are always dropping things It projects an image of unreliability It's very important that the crew in the studio be more friendly to your man than the other man If your opponent happens to own the TV station, you may be in a little trouble here, since there is more incentive for a crew to help the owner of the station than to help your guy At any rate, you should have your candidate shake hands with every man working on the set when he comes in In this way, he can judge whether they are cool or favorable to his candidacy The crew can destroy you The cameramen can stay in tight on you all night, giving viewers nothing but a full-face picture That really captures a man's sweat and his running nose Or they can keep you slightly out of focus so people can't see you without squinting This builds an image of distrust "I don't like that guy," the viewers think "He's always slightly out of focus " The crew can ruin you m the way they frame a shot, too A hinge on the stage set, or a light flap, can be arranged to stick out of a candidate's head behind his ear, fuming him into Dumbo Or the lighting can be ad-lusted to make him look like Bella Lugosi If the crew's backing your fellow, they can spend the whole set-up time working on your side of the stage and just make a cursory check of your opponent's side That will unnerve the hell out of him The sound man might carefully hide your man's mike behind his tie and then let your opponent's mike hang out He looks like a slob) I've seen it done Had it done to me several times The ground rules, ol course, are very important It your man is ot normal height or tall, and the other guy is short, you favor the candidates standing up during the debate Then, at the right moment your man says, '1 don't think my opponent is big enough tor the job " The point is underlined when the camera suddenly goes to a wide shot so the viewers can see the tall man and the short man side by side Your opponent gets very upset when he catches this on the monitor He considers it a personal attack and gets huffy Voters don't like to see a candidate lose his temper on TV On the other hand, if your man is fat, you don't want him standing up You want to hide him behind a desk Better that he should be sitting down than huffing and puffing in front of the public The candidate himself should enter the studio just before the debate is about to start The TV producers will become flustered and they'll spread this uneasiness to the opponent with their questions about your man's whereabouts Naturally, he should be in a parked car around the corner, so he won't be late for the debate It's certainly more relaxing there than at the station, where the other guy is stalking back and forth and sweating, waiting for him to show up With 30 seconds to go, your man sweeps confidently into the studio, shakes everyone's hands, says, "Let's go" Believe me, this upsets the opposition Ideally, you try to arrange the traditional toss of the coin—to establish the order of speaking—for a specific time and place before the broadcast When your guy gets tied up m traffic, you have to pose with the opponent for the picture of the com toss (the newspaper boys always want that old chestnut) It's demeaning for a candidate to be posing with a lowly second, and he knows it If there's no way out of it, and both candidates have to be present for the toss, I always have my man say "Oh, it really doesn't matter who goes first I'll go first" Politicians usually want to go second, so they can have the last word What they don't realize is that 98 per cent of the public is tuned out by the time the second statement is made Debates preempt entertainment programs and it takes a little tune for voters to get up and change channels While my man is calling the other guy "a Commie fag fascist pig," sets are going click, click, click The viewers never get to hear the opposition's denials and countercharges The most effective time for winning a debate is in the last 15 seconds before you go on the air Your man, For example, can tell his opponent that he just saw the latest polls it me guy is from, say, Evansville, we casually remark, "Very surprising what happened in Evansville ' He doesn t know what polls you're talking about, and figures his staff has withheld information so he won't be depressed and screw up the debate This guarantees a sour look on his face, while your man is smiling, and that's what people remember most as they switch to the rerun of McHale's Navy Sometimes, when the man's background contains such information, we will write something on the pad on his lectern, like a girl's name In extreme cases, I have my man sneak up, pull his opponent aside right before the broadcast begins, and whisper in his ear The rest of the night the guy is wondering why he said, "I think you're the best man I really hope you win " I prep my candidate on the facts right down to the bitter end Quick recall is the key to success Every argument has two sides, and just remembering one—any one—means you're in good shape But try to stay off the issues whenever possible If you have to defend any position on the air, you lose, because people think you must have something to hide Should the other guy start making a good point, it's an emergency That's when you slowly pour some water into a glass next to the micro phone The tinkling of the ice will rattle him Use your time on camera well If your opponent is cut off by the buzzer m the course of a complicated explanation, be sure you give a one-line answer and sit down Voters never fail to be impressed with conciseness The thing about TV debates is that the 2 per cent of the audience that stays tuned in is not sure what to look for Viewers think of them as the Friday night fights or Bonanza, but have trouble distinguishing the good guys from the bad guys They can't tell who won either, until they read it in the paper the next day This is why the newspapers are important Journalists like to watch debates on the TV monitors in the station's press room If my man appears to have won, I spirit him out the backdoor and send in a prewritten press release about his great victory, 65-70 per cent of reporters are so lazy they accept that conclusion But if it's clear that we were defeated, we maneuver the opponent into the press room where it's still possible to win the debate we just lost on the an In any case, 30 seconds after the broadcast ends you should have runners delivering all your best quotes to the TV news desks More people watch the 11 o'clock news than the actual debate Another thing you should always do is let the air out of the tires of your opponent's car He'll swear a lot and accuse the people in that city of being vandals Besides, the next day's newspaper stones that you offered him a ride to his hotel will make a more lasting impression on the voters than anything either one of you managed to say the night before...