Crews setting stage for presidential forum
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By Ed Tibbetts | Wednesday, September 19, 2007 |
Rick Fuller of Iowa Public Television adjusts the background panels on stage in the Adler Theatre Tuesday in preparation for Thursday night’s AARP/Divided We Fail Democratic presidential debate. (Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo
With two days to go before Thursday’s presidential debate in Davenport, Rick Fuller is the picture of calm.
The jib is working.
The sails went up fine.
When the carpenter arrives, the lecterns will be put together, he said.
Other than the Secret Service ordering the production truck out of the alley behind the Adler Theatre, everything is good.
“We’re doing fine,” said Fuller, who’s in charge of stage setup.
With 30 years in the business, six at Iowa Public Television, Fuller is practiced at debates.
Not so, Davenport.
When five Democratic presidential candidates step onto the stage Thursday night for the Divided We Fail forum on health care and financial security, it will be a unique moment in the city’s history.
Presidential campaigns come through Davenport frequently.
But debates, that’s another matter.
It’s been 20 years since there was a presidential debate in Davenport, and this one may be the first to be nationally televised.
“This is extraordinarily good national awareness for the Quad-Cities,” said Joe Taylor, president of the Quad-Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau.
As of Tuesday, 286 public television stations were picking up the forum, including nine of the top 10 television markets in the country.
Five presidential candidates — U.S. Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware, Hillary Clinton of New York, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — are taking part. Only U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has said he won’t attend.
Two candidates who have been included in other debates, former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, were invited to the forum but didn't respond, according to AARP. However, they fail to meet the criteria set for participation, which includes having a campaign office in the state. Neither has an office in Iowa.
Behind the scenes Tuesday, work was moving steadily to a 5 p.m. deadline for all to be ready but the placement of cameras.
This afternoon, the campaigns will do a final walk-through.
Davenport was chosen — along with Sioux City’s Orpheum Theater for a Republican forum next month — because there was a desire to get out of the capital and into some of the other media centers in the state, said Bruce Koeppl, state director for Divided We Fail.
“They’re two communities we’ve been working in and trying to build our presence,” Koeppl said. “With the two beautiful theaters, it seemed right.”
Divided We Fail is a coalition of AARP, business and labor unions.
On Tuesday afternoon, Fuller and a handful of others were readying Davenport’s 2,400-seat theater for a sold-out audience.
Care was being taken so that the jib, a boom that allows a camera to get a sweeping shot, was working.
Eighteen-foot sails — backdrops, essentially — that were specially prepared for the debate were being put into place.
Later, lights would be tested. And, in the event that Obama “shows up at the door,” as Fuller put it, they’ll be ready. “We brought an extra podium, and we have extra lights,” he said.
As with Thursday’s forum, the event 20 years ago also was at the Adler and Iowa Public Television played a part then, too, said Jennifer Konfrst, a spokesperson.
Betsy Brandsgard, a top executive at DavenportOne, said the 1987 debate featured nearly all the presidential hopefuls and was notable to her for the chance people got to mix with candidates, national media and staffers in the atrium of the theater.
“I just remember it was a lot of fun ... hobnobbing with all the presidential candidates,” said Brandsgard, who was at the time an administrative assistant to then-mayor Thom Hart.
Thus far, none of the 2008 hopefuls has announced any local events in conjunction with the forum.
The forum is going to be the first to be offered on the Public Broadcasting System, which broadens its reach, Konfrst said.
There also appears to be few traffic complications in the offing because of the event.
There will be no parking on Brady Street between 2nd and 4th streets and none on 3rd Street between Brady Street and the entrance to the RiverCenter.
However, there won’t be any street closures, Davenport Police Capt. Dave Struckman said.
People who want to demonstrate or rally are being directed to Kaiserslautern Square, the small pocket park that is outside RiverCenter South.
Woodruff tries to stay out of the way in debates
Judy Woodruff, the moderator of Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate in Davenport, chuckles when a reporter asks about her style, about how she might be different from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the hyperkinetic political analyst who’s made a reputation for pressing, some say hectoring, candidates.
“I view my role as somebody who is there to bring out the candidates and to bring out their positions,” Woodruff said during an interview with the Quad-City Times. “Whatever I can do to get out of the way and let them do the talking is how I approach it.”
That said, Woodruff will take a central role in the Divided We Fail debate.
A 30-year veteran of political coverage, Woodruff is a senior correspondent for PBS’s NewsHour, and for 12 years she anchored CNN’s Inside Politics program.
As such, she’s a familiar face to political junkies. And she’s experienced at moderating debates.
She also seems to be a fan of them.
This year’s election cycle, the most wide open in more than 50 years because there’s no president or vice president running, is remarkable for the number of debates that have already taken place.
There have been traditional debates. There have been debates focused on specific issues, such as cancer. And there have been debates aimed at constituent groups, such as gays and lesbians, labor and Hispanics.
Woodruff said they’re beneficial. Voters get a chance to see candidates in a variety of settings and circumstances.
“They give a good look at who they are and what they believe ... and how they behave in unexpected circumstances,” Woodruff said. “I think that it adds up to something that’s very useful.”
Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com
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