Web Behrens

In a week of political spin and sound bites like none other, it makes perfect sense that WMAQ-TV Channel 5 wanted to get in on the action with an interactive "town meeting" Friday night. But by hurriedly filling a studio at the NBC Tower with more than 100 voters of every political stripe, their resulting live broadcast, "Battle for the White House," yields a result as informative as the Tower's more famous argue-fests starring Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer. The first clue comes early: A staffer telling us airport-style security is in place because "a number of people who called were pretty animated about their issues."

Of course, the level of discourse might've been higher if the masterminds at WMAQ had booked more than one lone authority on the Constitution to check the wild statements made by some audience members. "Those who founded the Constitution distrusted the masses," says Elizabeth, a law scholar from the University of Chicago, attempting to explain the original logic behind the Electoral College. After spending an hour amidst the masses in the studio, it looks like the founders may have been right. Some hapless folk opine about the "Electorial" College; others make more partisan misstatements. One suburban woman insists that Bush "has won twice in the count for Florida," despite the simple fact that, until the absentee ballots are tallied, nobody has won Florida. With passions high on both sides, moments of levity are sparse, but one lady earns a good laugh by admitting, "As long as we get Gore, I don't care how they do it."

"That's the most honest thing I've heard all night," chuckles Dave, the guy sitting next to me. I don't initially peg him for a Bush supporter -- my GOPdar must be off -- but it turns out he volunteered for Dubya's campaign. We chat as the action unfolds and find, happily, that we can agree about a few things. Comparing notes on Election Day practices -- he was a poll-watcher; I've been an election judge -- he says he witnessed judges permit people to vote even though their registration had been challenged.

As the minutes tick by, people in the studio become increasingly restless once they realize, despite the effort they made to show up, that they won't all have a chance to speak on camera. Republican Dave makes it up to the mike, though -- and proves he understands the game of politics very well. Rather than repeat for the cameras some of the more measured, thoughtful comments he'd made to me, Dave quips: "I was a poll watcher in the 4th Ward, and even the dead figured out how to use the butterfly ballot."

And it's clear that in the battle for the White House, spin and sound bites will count just as much as ballots.

(2000-11-16)

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