Brown, Renacci teams debate debate terms
ADarrel Rowland
bout 24 hours before Sen. Sherrod Brown and Jim Renacci were set to debate Saturday night, the campaigns for a seat in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body battled over the incredibly critical issue of ... Which family members got to sit in on the debate?
First came a salvo from Brown’s camp saying that both the Democrat’s wife and two daughters would be present since the Republican congressman “is spreading multiple falsehoods and attacking Sherrod’s family.” Apparently, that declaration broke the agreement between the two campaigns in the increasingly hostile race and raised the possibility the debate would not occur.
And it touched off a Twitter war between Brown’s campaign manager, Justin Barasky, and Renacci’s senior communications adviser, Leslie Shedd.
Barasky: “We are in no way canceling. We are simply making sure everyone knows Sherrod’s family will be in studio.”
Shedd: “Well, actually, no — you are demanding the terms of the debate be changed at the last minute because your candidate is afraid to show up. And you did so by going behind everyone’s back that’s involved and releasing a public statement w/o talking to the hosts or our campaign.”
Barasky: “Thank you for admitting that @ RepJimRenacci is afraid to debate in front of Sherrod’s family!”
Shedd: “That’s ridiculous. @JimRenacci had no problems debating in front of Sherrod’s family last week. Your team is demanding — once again — to change the terms that we have all agreed to and have in writing. You’re like petulant children having a hissy fit right now.”
Barasky: “If @ RepJimRenacci has no problems debating in front of Sherrod’s family, then what’s the issue here and why are you so upset? Why did your campaign initially try to stop his wife from being in the room?”
Shedd: “We accept your new terms, even though they were presented in a Brown Renacci
completely unprofessional manner. ... @JimRenacci won’t let @SherrodBrown’s childish antics & bullying stall tactics deny the people of Ohio from hearing from the candidates. He will agree to Brown’s last-minute demand to preserve this debate & looks forward to debating @SherrodBrown tmrw night.”
Barasky: “We’re pleased that @RepJimRenacci is now willing to debate in front of Sherrod’s family and look forward to tomorrow night.”
Well now, aren’t we glad that’s settled!
Dispatch Poll is no more
Many have asked when the Dispatch Poll will be published, a question readers have raised for several decades.
Alas, in this era of severe financial constraints on journalism, the widely acknowledged mail survey has been discontinued.
Although there were a few misfires through the years, the unorthodox poll drew national attention and respect. In an analysis of 90 polls after the 2012 presidential election, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com found the Dispatch Poll the most accurate in the nation. A 1996 study by Public Opinion Quarterly found the mail surveys “consistently more accurate and were generally less susceptible to sources of inaccuracy” than other polls. In a 2000 USA Today op-ed, statistics guru Philip Meyer praised the poll’s methodology.
The final Dispatch Poll in 2016 encountered the same maddening inconsistencies as many other surveys two years ago. The results of the presidential race were too close to call in the poll, but Donald Trump won Ohio by 8.5 percentage points. But the same poll showed Sen. Rob Portman beating former Gov. Ted Strickland 58 percent to 37 percent, and that exactly matched the election-night figures.
Guiding the Dispatch Poll as it gained national recognition were Mike Curtin, who went on to become editor and associate publisher, and Gene Jordan, who died in 1985.