Democratic Debate Checklist

By Ed Hoffman

Today is the Democratic presidential debate. Did you know that? I have a feeling that many people do not. Most Democrats are too busy watching sports and reality TV to pay attention to politics – and while Republicans tend to pay a great deal of attention, they probably have just enough bandwidth to follow the details on what’s going on with their own candidates, plus keep track of what’s going on with Hillary (because they don’t operate under the delusion that anyone else is going to get the Democratic nomination).

If you’re a Democrat, you should watch the debate to inform your vote; if you’re a Republican, you should watch to understand what you’re up against. For those interested in the media angle, it’s intriguing that CNN’s Anderson Cooper has already said he won’t do things the way his colleague Jake Tapper did in the last Republican debate, which was to pit the candidates against each other.

“I’m always uncomfortable with that notion of setting people up in order to kind of promote some sort of a face off,” Cooper said.  “Look, these are all serious people. This is a serious debate. They want to talk about the issues and I want to give them an opportunity to do that.” It’s too bad the Republicans weren’t given the same opportunity, but in the spirit of giving the candidates good questions, here are the things I would like to hear asked of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders (the only candidates who should bother showing up):

• When you say “all lives matter,” does that include the lives of police officers? (This is one that poor Martin O’Malley would love to answer because of his incident back in June, but the question’s not for him. I want to hear Hillary Clinton explain why she had a meeting with a Black Lives Matter leader last week that included “a spirited conversation about alternatives to policing.” You didn’t know she had that meeting, did you?)
• Can you name one substantive issue on which you and Barack Obama disagree? Describe how your positions differ on that issue. (The key word here is substantive. I don’t want to hear why Bernie Sanders disagrees with Obama on the Glass-Steagall Act, and neither do you. Disagree with him on something that matters, without sugarcoating it, and maybe people will listen).
• Which Republican candidates do you like the best? (That way, conservatives know which Republican names to cross off. I know many of you enjoy calling Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Chris Christie “RINOs” and I’m with you to some extent, but my money’s on John Kasich.)

Ed Hoffman is host of The Main Event on AM590, which airs Saturday 9:30 AM- 10:30 AM and Sunday 4:00 PM- 5:00 PM. Follow him on Twitter @EdHoffman, and like him on Facebook by searching The Main Event 590.