For second Boxer-Fiorina debate, most of the pressure is off
| Los Angeles
Call it 鈥渄ebate light.鈥�
As Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) and challenger Carly Fiorina hold their second debate 鈥� this one only on radio and to a limited audience 鈥� most of the pressure of a live TV encounter is off, say experts.
The debate Wednesday, on local public-radio affiliate KPCC from 1-2 p.m. PDT, will be co-moderated by La Opinion鈥檚 Metro editor Gabriel Lerner and Patt Morrison, a well-known local print and radio journalist. Ms. Fiorina will be in the studio with the moderators, and Senator Boxer will be in a Washington, D.C., studio.
鈥淎ll they have to do is not get caught in any kind of major gaffe, not get prickly or explode.... The candidates have all the control anyone could ask for,鈥� says Sherry Jeffe, political scientist at the University of Southern California. Because they are facing neither each other nor an audience on a live stage, it鈥檚 not unreasonable to expect that either could use voluminous notes of talking points, she says.
As was the case in their first debate, Fiorina is expected to try to paint Boxer as an ineffective incumbent, and Boxer to try to articulate why Fiorina is a newcomer so conservative that she is out of step with Californians.
鈥淏oxer will hit hard at Fiorina鈥檚 vulnerability of her performance as head of Hewlett Packard, when she fired people and eventually got fired herself,鈥� says Hal Dash, president of Cerrell Associates, a Democratic strategy consulting firm. 鈥淏oxer has the incumbent label draped all over her, so Fiorina will try to capitalize on voter anger over everything.鈥�
Since their first debate was televised Sept. 1 鈥� in which neither scored a definitive knockout, according to media reports 鈥� Boxer has widened her lead over Fiorina, 51 percent to 43 percent, according to a new California Field Poll. Fiorina鈥檚 mission must be to reverse that slide, analysts say.
鈥淔iorina needs to keep hammering on the theme of change 鈥� that鈥檚 her winning issue,鈥� says Thad Kousser, an associate professor of political science at University of California, San Diego.
鈥淏arbara Boxer needs to make sure the word 鈥榓bortion鈥� is heard at least 20 times in this debate, because Fiorina鈥檚 pro-life stance is her weak point for voters,鈥� he says.
Boxer needs to continue to push poll numbers in her direction by convincing voters that she is not the "big bad incumbent" that Fiorina says she is, says Renee Van Vechten, a University of Redlands government professor. And she needs to create the impression that Fiorina didn鈥檛 do a good job in the business world and so will not serve California well in Washington.
鈥淔iorina needs to articulate why Barbara Boxer鈥檚 long tenure in Washington is part of the problem,鈥� she says.
