While some argued over who outshone whom during Sunday's presidential debate, analysts gave the first televised debate a failing grade.
Soochow University political science professor Hsu Yung-ming (
Hsu said he would like to see more time allocated for candidates to answer questions. The 20 people asking questions did not represent a cross section of the public and academia did not play a role at all, he said.
Chan Chang-chuan (
While there are only two debates scheduled before the March 22 election, Chan said that he would like to see a third held with intellectuals participating. Media managers have been asked to provide questions for the second debate, scheduled for March 9.
Describing Sunday's event as a "boring platform presentation," Allen Houng (
"It seems only those who have a higher education, have access to a video camera or live in big cities were chosen," he said.
During the first segment of the debate, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
Wang Tai-li (王泰俐), a journalism professor at National Chengchi University, said that the videotaped questions were an "innovative form of civil politics education."
She said the format is becoming a global standard, but she would like to see more people participate, saying that presidential debates should not be limited to only one form.
Ku Chung-hua (顧忠華), chairman of Citizen Congress Watch, criticized the time limits, saying: "It was beef soup without any beef in it."
While the two candidates had the opportunity to challenge each other with three questions in the second section of the debate, Ku said each candidate had only one minute to respond.
He was also disappointed by the questions the two candidates asked each other, Ku said, because they only focused on character issues such as corruption.
Hsieh got emotional when Ma questioned the integrity of his aides involved in graft charges. Chan said he understood Hsieh must have be upset by Ma's question, but it seemed he needed to work on his emotional management.
Since the candidates registered their candidacy on Jan. 27, Hsieh and Ma have slung plenty of mud at each other.
Hsieh has questioned Ma's loyalty, raising questions about his green card status and spying on democracy activists when he was a student in the US.
Ma, on the other hand, has been attacking Hsieh's character by saying he provided information about the democracy movement to intelligence agencies during the Martial Law era.
Little was seen of details on economic policy, foreign policy, national defense or cross-strait relations.
As presidential campaigning for the March 22 election officially began on Saturday, analysts said focusing on the issues may be the best way to win.
Chen Yen-hui (
Chen said he expected national identity would become a hot topic as the election approaches, because it is a DPP strong point.
Reluctant to define the green card controversy as political mudslinging, Chen said it would be more appropriate to define it as Ma's lack of crisis management ability.
"The matter would not have gotten out of hand had Ma told the truth from the very beginning," he said.
Analyzing Hsieh's campaign strategy, Chao Yung-mau (
Chao pointed out the importance of swing voters, who are more politically moderate and may play a decisive role in the vote.
"The decisive engagement of the battle lies in centrist voters and the middle class," he said. "They don't want to see pork barrel polices or short-term stimulus plans."
Chan said he would like to see the two presidential candidates engage in an issue-based campaign, but unfortunately this does not seem to be in the cards.
"No matter who wins the election, that person will be stealing the presidency if he does not tell the people exactly where he is going to steer the ship," he said.
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