Cruz and Dewhurst Set to Go One-on-One in TV Debate

June 22, 2012

By Aman Batheja

From: The Texas Tribune

By: Aman Batheja

Two candidates. Two lecterns. One stage.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and former Solicitor General Ted Cruz will participate Friday night in their first televised debate since advancing to the Republican U.S. Senate runoff after the May 29 primary.

It will also be the first such event to feature only Cruz and Dewhurst, which is likely to create a different dynamic than previous debates in which they shared the stage with other candidates.

“There is an enormous difference between a multicandidate debate and a two-person debate,” said Alan Schroeder, a journalism professor at Northeastern University and expert on campaign debates.

Debates with multiple candidates make it easier for candidates to occasionally lower their guard while attention is on others, Schroeder said. Lengthy stretches of an April televised debate that featured Dewhurst, Cruz, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and former NFL player Craig James focused on one or two of the candidates while the others were off-camera.

Click Here to Read the Full Article!