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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Does Iowa Still Matter in the Age of TV?

    Last night was episode thirteen for the Republican presidential candidates. Has it been serious politics or reality TV? The TV debates have been compared to sitcoms and reality TV, with different leaders week after week and big audiences, apparently due as much to personal attacks and embarrassing gaffes as pronouncements on policy.

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    Last night was episode thirteen for the Republican presidential candidates. Has it been serious politics or reality TV? The TV debates have been compared to sitcoms and reality TV, with different leaders week after week and big audiences, apparently due as much to personal attacks and embarrassing gaffes as pronouncements on policy. Newt Gingrich, this week's principal target, said he was "editing" his remarks to avoid Mitt Romney's charge that he can be "zany." Romney went back to his role of attacking Barack Obama without speaking ill of other Republicans. With time growing short, others showed no such restraint. Iowa voters will caucus in less than three weeks. Will they pick a winner or will their choices be soon forgotten as the candidates move on to New Hampshire?

    Websites of Republican presidential candidates:

    Michele Bachmann

    Rick Perry

    Ron Paul

    Jon Huntsman, Jr

    Rick Santorum

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Jim Rutenberg

      media columnist, New York Times

    • KCRW placeholder

      Robert Thompson

      Professor of Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University

    • KCRW placeholder

      Tom Beaumont

      Associated Press

      NewsNationalPolitics
    Back to To the Point