M. Appeal (Mass Appeal)

We’ve been having plenty of discussion on presidential debates, but we haven’t really discussed the history of presidential debates, outside of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
On September 26, 1960 the first general presidential debate was held between candidates Richard Nixon, and John F. Kennedy. This debate was also the first televised debate, previously debates had been broadcast over the radio, or were printed in major newspapers. Those who listened to the debate on radio believed Nixon to be the winner, however, those who watched the debate on television viewed JFK as the victor of the debate. On screen JFK appeared relaxed, comfortable, and generally in his element. Nixon on the other hand, had been hospitalized earlier in September and appeared sick and exhausted on-screen.
A connection can be drawn between Nixon’s unpreparedness for the medium of television and the refusal of candidates today to utilize Youtube. Gradually more and more presidential candidates are beginning to see the advantage of using youtube to reach out to a younger generation but the certainly took their own sweet time, and as James Kotecki has shown, the majority of the candidates do not use youtube to the best of their advantage.
Although the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debate was the first official presidential debate, there are several other debates which served as forerunners to our current conception of today’s presidential debates. The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 are a prime example. Although no television or radio existed at the time to broadcast the debates, newspapers printed the debates, and many people took a serious interest in the debates.
Following the presidential debates of there were no debates held for 1964, 1968, and 1972. The election of 1976 saw televised presidential debates between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Since 1976 every presidential election has had at least one presidential debate, the majority of elections have had more than one debate.
A problem now rises from reading this history. Although we believe that there has been a long history of presidential debate, these debates have only been around since 1960 elections. There are other debates which do set some precedent as the Lincoln-Douglas debate did, but in reality there is little for us to compare today’s presidential debates to.

The Washingtonization of Cumberland? Not hardly but this story from The Washington Post explains the town’s attraction.

Main Street Turns a Corner
Urbanites Drawn to Cumberland, Md., by Small-Town Potential
By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Jorge Zamorano whipped out a copy of the Cumberland Times-News from behind the bar at the Starfish Cafe, one of two restaurants he owns on Capitol Hill.

The newspaper trumpeted a 17 percent increase in housing prices in the Western Maryland town over the past year. Zamorano, a Cuban-born artist and restaurateur, was pleased at his prescience.

Fourteen years ago, on a snowy Christmas vacation, he found himself in the mountain town, watching fat flakes swirl around the Victorian main street.

“I was mesmerized by the beauty of it,” he said. “The first thought that came to mind was ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ “

Then came the second thought: “What a shame, all the buildings boarded up and empty. This place in the right hands? The potential!”

Since then, a noticeable stream of outsiders from Washington and elsewhere have moved to Cumberland, a city of about 21,000 on the C&O Canal, to take advantage of low real estate prices and a slower lifestyle.

For Zamorano, it took 10 years of visits, watching Baltimore Street, the main drag, being revitalized by a National Trust for Historic Preservation Main Street project, before he lured his business partner, Miguel Rodriguez, to the town.

“I fell in love immediately,” Rodriguez said.

They bought one building for a clone of Zamorano’s other Capitol Hill restaurant, the Banana Cafe, but before construction began, Zamorano wanted to buy another.

The Manhattan Bar and Grill was the first of their two restaurants to open, four years ago. “It was the day after Thanksgiving, when they light the Christmas tree. It’s a huge event in Cumberland,” Zamorano said.

“Like Rockefeller Center,” Rodriguez added. “There were 5,000 people out front. We ran out of food.”

They now divide their time between Washington and Cumberland, switching off weeks, enjoying the town, forgetting the world.
continued: 2 3

Jorge Zamorano, left, and
Miguel Rodriguez
branched out from two restaurants on
Capitol Hill to open two more in
Cumberland.
(By Stephanie Cavanaugh
for The Washington Post)

Cumberland is in the process of refortifying its economy. This story from the Cumberland Times-News of July 8, 2007, is an excellent look back at what the town has been through.

Life after Kelly
Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND — On a spring day in 2094, if anybody thinks to do it, people who are not yet born will disassemble a time capsule kept at what is now the Allegany County Office Complex alongside a thoroughfare appropriately named Kelly Road.

By then, the capsule will be 100 years old. That day far in the future will also be the 200th anniversary of the founding of what became The Kelly-Springfield Tire Co., an enterprise that once pumped out 11,000 automobile tires a day at this very site. It was a corporation that fed and clothed thousands of local families. “The Kelly,” as people called it, was a large slice in the pie chart of Cumberland life.

For 82 years, through two wars, through the Great Depression and through thick ply and thin, the smell of rubber was the smell of money.During the early 1980s, the Goodyear subsidiary generated a payroll of $54 million. Not only did that mean that production workers lived reasonably well, but it meant that Greene Street liquor stores sold more six packs when shifts ended. It meant that nearby Squilaci’s had a line of customers waiting to use the billiards table or to order a sandwich. After all, 7 a.m. is happy hour to someone who started working at 11 p.m. the previous day. It meant that this well-paying smokestack industry remained in Allegany County.

Twenty years ago, on May 21, that all came to an end and 1,010 workers had to go on with their lives.
full story: http://www.times-news.com/archivesearch/local_story_189105528.html

A youtube troubador known as Ryan V with a song he says was inspired by Cumberland:

You hear it all the time, “the younger generation doesn’t care about politics.” Apparently our generation is filled with people who care little about the world around them and simply play with electronics all day. Is that true? I would say definitely not!
For those who don’t believe me, why not look at blogs like Liberal College Kid in which students discuss political issues? Or how about watching some of the hundreds of political video blogs by people like James Kotecki or Bryan Barton? College students all over the country participate in protests about the war, abortion, and gay rights. They stand up for their views, begin groups like the Young Republicans and Young Democrats. How about the issue with Karl Rove which occured on American University’s campus last year? Those who say that students have become apathetic should look again.
Just ask the gods of political satire Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert where their largest following comes from. I’m pretty sure they will tell you that their popularity and support is largely rooted in the younger generation. Lewis Black and the members of Capitol Steps would most likely agree. College students are tremendously involved in politics!
In fact, it seems as though those politicians are simply not trying to reach out to the group. Many don’t try to understand the new voting group. Which politicians are gaining the most support with this generation? Easy answer, the ones who reach out to them! Obama Girl and Giuliani Girl follow their candidates for a reason! The Democrats and Republicans who actually try to rally support from the new voting group do in fact win it!

in a recent issue of the gay issues magazine, the advocate, hillary clinton danced around the question of gay rights… she was clear about her position on marriage equality: she won’t have it. and yet she seems much more sympathetic to the cause than her husband, the man wee all have to thank for DADT. i get a sense that while hillary may not support marriage equality now, she’s earnestly trying to wrap her brain around the Queer Question, as i’ll call it…. as long as heterosexuals have rights that i do not have, i will remain a second-class citizen and as long as hillary remains transparent and open to the cause, she’ll remain as my pick for the democratic nomination