Unless you have been living in a cave, you have no doubt been inundated with political ads from businessman Rick Jackson and former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who are running for governor; and incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican challenger Cong. Mike Collins, the two candidates vying for the U.S. Senate seat in Georgia. The ads are so incessant, we almost know them by heart. But what about the candidates themselves? How much do we know about them when they step out from in back of their ads?
You will get the chance to find out for yourself on Oct. 6 and Oct. 8. All four have agreed to face-toface debates on WAFN in Atlanta and streamed on Gray Media stations live and statewide. The gubernatorial debate will take place on Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. and the Senate debate on Oct. 8 at 7p.m.
Frankly, I was surprised to hear the news. With the election just a bit more than a month away, why would the candidates want to expose themselves to their opponent? I asked WANF news anchor, Rick Folbaum, the man behind the project. How did he make it happen?
“As much as I’d like to take credit that I was able to earn the campaigns’ trust with my decades of experience and dazzling charm,” Folbaum quips, “the truth is these candidates want to be able to reach as many voters as possible and Gray gives them that ability. This was our main selling point.” Gray owns stations in every major media market in Georgia, making them the only outlet that could offer live, primetime statewide coverage.
Folbaum says: “Back in February, I approached my bosses with the idea that WANF and Gray Media should host political debates ahead of the November midterms. They said, ‘Sure, go ahead and get the campaigns on board.’ That’s when I started reaching out to the campaigns to tell them what we wanted to do and make the case we could be trusted to do it.”
Since this was before the primaries, Folbaum called everyone. Once he knew the nominees from each party, he was able to focus on the two candidates for governor and the Senate.
Folbaum, a 30-year broadcast veteran, says he had contacted Ossoff’s office first, since he was running unopposed in the Democratic primary. Then he was in contact with communications directors and campaign managers with the other candidates. “I wrote up proposals outlining our vision and shared them with the campaigns,” Folbaum told me. He followed up with regular phone calls offering to answer anyone’s questions or concerns.
“Deciding whether to take part in a debate and which debates to sign on to is no easy decision,” he says. “There is so much at stake in these elections and the campaigns, understandably, want to make sure they’re signing on to an event that will be carried out fairly for everyone involved.”
The gubernatorial debate is a town-hall-style debate. Some of those asking questions will be in the debate hall. Those who don’t live in metro Atlanta will have their questions recorded and played back for the candidates during the debate. Most importantly, the people asking the questions will go through a thorough vetting process to make sure they don’t have any affiliation with the campaigns or with any other political organization.
In the Senate debate, a panel of journalists from Gray Media stations in Albany, Macon, Savannah, Columbus and Augusta will ask the questions that reflect the concerns of voters in their particular area.
Folbaum says polls show most voters have already made up their minds. I agree, based on the “see-no-evil” responses I get from those who would support their candidate if he or she were seen running jaybird-naked down I-75. But the debates can also change minds if a participant does extremely well or very poorly. There is no safety net.
Your assignment: Tune in. Take off the blinders. Watch. Listen. Then decide who best can serve us in Washington and in the governor’s office. As for Folbaum, who will moderate the debates, he talked to Chris Wallace, with whom he had worked at Fox News. “Chris’s main piece of advice to me,” he said, “was to be as invisible as possible. If the headlines the next day are about the moderator, then you’ve done something wrong.”
Not much chance of that happening. So far, everything he had done has been right. Let the debates begin. And may they be great debates.
