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You are here: Home / 2020 Campaign / A No-Handshake Presidential Debate

A No-Handshake Presidential Debate

March 15, 2020 at 2:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Vanity Fair: “As Covid-19 sweeps the country, the theater of politics is being completely reimagined. When viewers flip on CNN to watch the debate at 8 pm, the contrast to the last debate—seven candidates, four moderators, a raucous audience and no coronavirus—could not be more stark. Against the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic, the debate, originally slated for a live audience in Phoenix, will be shot from a CNN studio in Washington, D.C. that’s been scrupulously sanitized. Only 10 other people will be in the room. Campaign staffers will be relegated to green rooms in the back.”

“In a way, this is a return to television’s roots. This will be the first presidential debate set in a TV studio with no audience since the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960. And both candidates have stopped holding public rallies, giving tonight’s event even more importance.”

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goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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