October 31, 2007 7:22 AM

Shaping the Debate

The Debate Clock generated by the Dodd campaign after each Democratic debate is entertaining...and instructive.

You don't have to be picking favorites or making predictions to agree that some candidates just get a lot more time to talk than others. Sure, some of that is because other candidates focus their comments at the front-runners, so those leaders get more response time. And you could argue that the debate isj ust giving viewers what they want. But without question, the moderators feed that media narrative of who the front-runners are...and by giving their ideas more time, they lend those ideas greater currency.

It's important that we realize how the "core issues" of the campaign get shaped -- illustrations like this Talk Clock make it clear that not all candidates, or ideas, are presented equally, and it's our job as voters to dig deeper into issues we care about that might not play as well on television.