The late-night talk-show hosts routinely provide us
political junkies with a splash of cold water in the face by conducting
man-on-the-street interviews that reveal a stunning lack of knowledge about
current events among the electorate.
As pundits argue that voters feel this way or that way about
the presidential candidates, Jimmy Kimmel sent a camera crew into the streets
and found that people cannot even identify — let alone name – the presidential
candidates.
whom was a candidate, and asking passers-by to choose which was in the
presidential field. They consistently guessed wrong, sometimes horribly wrong.
Among those who were unrecognizable were Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Carly
Fiorina.
Of course, Donald Trump, a former reality TV star, was not
part of the mix.
On a more substantive note, media coverage of the race for
the White House occasionally offers concessions that nothing to date has been definitive in
terms of anticipating the final outcome.Fox News’ Frank Luntz conducted a focus group during
Wednesday’s second GOP presidential debate and he heard plenty of strong
opinions about the contenders. But, when he was finished with his questions,
only two of the 29 participants said they had definitely chosen their
candidate.
Yet, the urge to pick winners and losers in political debates
is irresistible for political commentators. The desire to declare a single
event as a defining moment is even more intoxicating.
Among the headlines coming out of last night’s event:
Carly Fiorina makes her
case to be GOP Frontrunner
No One Performed Better Than Carly Fiorina
Carly’s
Night
The Moment When Carly Fiorina
Completely Owned Donald Trump
Fiorina dropped the mic after stunning debate
performance
Fiorina was impressive but a gut-check moment would serve as a reminder
that she is polling in single digits among GOP primary voters who collectively
represent little more than 20 percent of the electorate.
Yet, here was the headline offered by Mediaite:
Carly Fiorina Owns Marathon CNN Debate; Now Best Bet to Win Presidency
Kudos for quoting the song "Look at That Face," which Barbra Streisand killed at end of a medley on My Name is Barbra Two.