Let's rerun the debates.

What if a major national television station re-aired each debate a week before the election and publicized it?  What if it ran opposite the Sinclair broadcast?

One can dream.  It would be beneficial for the following reasons:

• less spin!  People wouldn't be on the edge of their seats waiting for Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough to declare who won.  It would be a relatively clean look at the candidates again, for the benefit of the still-undecided.

• of course, Kerry did measurably better than Bush and we would win new voters.

• whatever network aired it would probably score in the ratings.  These were the most watched debates in recent history, right?  I bet ratings for the reruns would be better than most normal programming and I don't see why they couldn't run commercials this time around. It might be better for the debates to be broken up, to give the audience a breather.

• knowing millions of people were watching Bush's 1st debate performance might cause Rove to lose a bit more sleep.

This is why we need the television equivalent of Air America.  But maybe CSPAN could run it and we (Kerry supporters across the nation) could publicize it and convince our undecided/Libertarian/unmotivated-to-vote friends and acquaintances to watch.

Eh, just an idea that probably could never happen, but if Sinclair is going to air that bile, maybe a network would step up to the plate and counter-program biased programming with unbiased programming?  I think it would work as a publicity stunt.  

If there are networks that show Dharma and Greg reruns every day, why not rerun the most important broadcasts of the year just once?

•  I wouldn't be surprised if

  CSPAN re-runs them. But I seriously doubt undecideds would turn the channel from Fear Factor or Survivor for it.

  Sad but true...

  by LeftisRight on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 11:19:37 AM PDT

  •  Start linking the C-Span replay on Web

    We could get the word out to go to C-Span website and watch the replay there.  It would be neat if C-Span replayed the debates even if it were late at night.  

    by namnick on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 11:35:05 AM PDT

  •  I'm gonna write CSPAN

    until I get an answer.  Survivor sucks this season.  We won't get a Fear Factor-sized audience, but even if only a couple of a million people watch, that's a small television audience but a big potential voter audience.

    by queerbklynboy on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 11:39:45 AM PDT

•  aren't

   Fear Factor and Survivor, Bush commercials/stump speeches?

  by geneticdem on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 11:28:36 AM PDT

•  New Video: "2004 on the Ropes"

  I love this idea, but agree that it may just be singing to choir.  How about if someone "Fear-Factorizes" it, meaning that we make it ready for primetime by first reducing it down to its essence and then: splice in sound effects and clips of things like a Ali knock-punch or a picture of a baby bird everytime Bush going into one of his deer in the headlights blinking sessions.

  Then we could send it across the internet for people to send their undecided friends and relatives--as a humorous reminder of what Kerry is up against.

  Oh, I can dream, too. . . . Someone steal this idea!

  by Einsteinia on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 11:30:45 AM PDT