A Functional Analysis of the 2008 Vice Presidential Debate: Biden Versus Palin

A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE 2008 VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: BIDEN VERSUS PALIN The choice of a running mate is perhaps the single most important decision that a presidential candidate will make during the course of a campaign. The assassination of President John Kennedy elevated Vice President Lyndon Johnson to the presidency in 1963. After Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in 1973, Gerald Ford (who was appointed Vice President following Spiro Agnew's resignation) became the 38th President. There can be no doubt that America needs a Vice President who is qualified to serve as President if the need arises. Given the fact that presidential candidates are usually better known than their running mates, this makes the opportunity to learn about the vice presidential candidates through debates significant for voters. Despite the importance of the office of vice president, however, the presidential debates tend to receive far more attention than do the vice presidential debates. Fewer debates have featured the vice presidential candidates. No vice presidential debates occurred in either 1960 or 1980; and in other years we have had two or three presidential debates but only one encounter between the candidates in the second spot on the ticket. Thus, through 2008, there have been eight debates between vice presidential candidates but twenty-six debates featuring the presidential candidates. Not surprisingly, the debates between the vice presidential candidates have also received significantly less attention from scholars. Numerous books (see, e.g., Benoit & Wells, 1996; Benoit, McHale, Hansen, Pier, & McGuire, 2003; Bishop, Meadow, & Jackson-Beeck, 1978; Bitzer & Rueter, 1980; Carlin & McKinney, 1994; Coleman, 2000; Dailey, Hinck, & Hinck, 2007; Friedenberg, 1994, 1997; Hellweg, Pfau, & Brydon, 1992; Hinck, 1993; Jamieson & Birdsell, 1988; Kraus, 1962, 1977, 2000; Lanoue & Schrott, 1991; Schroeder, 2000; Swerdlow, 1984, 1987) and many articles (see, e.g., Louden, 2009; Racine Group, 2002) investigate presidential debates. On the other hand, there are no books, only a handful of book chapters (e.g., Carlin, Vigil, Buehler, & McDonald, 2009; Decker, 1994; Devlin, 1994; Kay & Borchers, 1994; Ragsdale, 1997; Sauter, 1994; Trent, 1994), and a few articles (e.g., Benoit & Airne, 2005; Beck, 1996; Carlin & Bicak, 1993; Clayman, 1995; Sullivan, 1989) on vice presidential debates. Despite their potential importance the vice presidential contests have typically attracted fewer viewers than have the presidential debates. Through 2004, the average audience for presidential debates was 59.1 million; for vice presidential debates, the mean audience size was 42.4 million (Commission on Presidential Debates, 2009). In 2008, however, this situation was reversed. The average size of the audience for the three debates between Obama and McCain was 57.4 million, but the audience for the Biden-Palin vice presidential debates was 69.9 million. Of course, with the possible exception of Admiral James Stockdale (Ross Perot's running mate in 1992), perhaps no vice presidential candidate who participated in a televised debate was less well-known than Sarah Palin in 2008. A September 11th interview with Charles Gibson was the first extended glimpse of Sarah Palin for much of mainstream America. During this interview, her discomfort in articulating the "Bush Doctrine" turned out to be quite minor compared to a rather small statement she made when asked about her readiness to lead in the area of foreign policy. She credentialed herself by discussing how close her home state of Alaska was to Russia. What Palin actually said was, "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska" (Exclusive, 2008). This statement, and others offered by Palin, caused political pundits on the left to openly question her credentials and intellectual fortitude (see Zakaria,, 2008), but many in the American public were beginning to question her ability to lead the nation as well. …