Getting Candidates To Actually Answer The Question

The U.S. Senate Republican Primary has been dominating the attention of a lot of people at Here and Now, me perhaps most of all. For the past five weeks I’ve been interviewing the four candidates on a number of topics. We’ve already aired my interviews with three of the candidates on Here and Now, and the fourth will air this Friday. Those interviews were strictly issue-based. I stuck just with their views on policy (primary on the economy and the deficit, but also touching on healthcare, immigration and foreign policy).

On August 10th, the four Republicans will take part in a live debate on Wisconsin Public Television, and we’re working on developing the questions right now. Contrary to what some politicians want you to believe, we don’t actually try to ask “gotcha” questions. What we want is a question that can pierce the campaign rhetoric and get an actual answer. That can be really difficult.

As a journalist, I already know the standard answer for just about every question I can ask. The real challenge is to get the candidates to go beyond their talking points and talk personally and honestly about how they would handle a given situation. Sometimes a candidate answers the question and then regrets their answer, and then they call it a “gotcha” question. You and the candidates will hear our questions on August10. Hopefully they’ll spark a great debate and provide voters with the information they need when they head to the polls on August 14th.