Jennings hosts “Battleground Pennsylvania”

The eyes of America were on Pittsburgh as “Battleground Pennsylvania,” a town-hall debate… The eyes of America were on Pittsburgh as “Battleground Pennsylvania,” a town-hall debate hosted by news anchor Peter Jennings, aired on ABC affiliates across the nation Thursday evening. The program, broadcast from WTAE studios in Wilkinsburg, followed “ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” which Jennings hosted from Mount Washington.

“Battleground Pennsylvania” highlighted the importance of the state and its 21 electoral votes in the upcoming presidential election, now eight days away. President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., have both come to Pennsylvania more times than they’ve visited any other state on their campaigns.

The liberal side of the five-person panel consisted of Tony Norman, a columnist with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and TV and radio talk-show host John McIntire. Post-Gazette columnist Ruth Ann Dailey and radio talk-show host Jerry Bowyer represented more conservative views, and WTAE news director Bob Longo represented ABC’s Pittsburgh affiliate. The audience included representatives from local politics, unions, religious establishments and minority rights groups.

The first question from the audience regarded the media’s treatment of Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of John Kerry and former wife of the late Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa. Heinz Kerry’s unorthodox campaigning style has drawn criticism from politicians and analysts. The woman who posed the question referred to her in a better light, naming her “the beloved first lady of Pittsburgh philanthropy.”

Norman believes the media is complicit in “what they call in West Philly, playa-hatin’.”

“Just like Howard Dean, Teresa Heinz Kerry decided to be non-conventional,” Norman said. He explained that the media can’t relate well to unconventional public figures, especially in politics.

Dailey maintained a critical view of Heinz Kerry’s behavior, mentioning “she said ‘shove it’ to a Pittsburgh reporter, right after delivering a speech saying people should be more mature and civilized.”

Focusing on the local aspect of the controversy around Heinz Kerry, Longo mentioned that Pittsburghers tend to love “all things Pittsburgh.”

“You can’t be born in Africa and become a hometown girl in Pittsburgh, but she’s as close as it gets,” Longo said.

The panel then went on to tackle the media’s perceived biases, which Bowyer defined as “when you have a gap in knowledge that you fill with information from your own world.”

Jennings expressed dismay that many people choose what information they take in.

“I fear that people designing how they follow the media are losing perspective on the world,” Jennings said.

Bowyer and McIntire agreed that people should get information from opposing views.

“In fact, sometimes I hold my nose and listen to ‘The Jerry Bowyer Show,'” McIntire said, drawing a laugh from the audience.

Later in the hour, the two men clashed on the responsibility of the media. McIntire believes it includes “getting the public interested in political issues,” but Bowyer drew the line at presenting information.

“If people aren’t interested, it’s their loss,” Bowyer said.

An 18-year-old man, who will be voting for the first time next Tuesday, asked the panelists if they thought the government would institute a draft. Everybody agreed that the draft was merely a debate point used by each candidate to deter voters from supporting the opponent.

In response to the question, Norman simply responded, “No way in heck.”

Rev. Ron Lengwin, spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, asked why religion had become such a large campaign issue. Jennings answered that “Kerry seems to have been dragged into religion as an issue.” Some panelists praised the Roman Catholic Church’s policy of political neutrality in this election.

Tim Stevens, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Pittsburgh chapter, asked how the panelists regarded the political spin both candidates had put on lesbianism, calling it “the ‘L’ word” that several presidential debates focused on.

“I heard that Bush was planning a preemptive invasion of Massachusetts to take out all the lesbians: weapons of mass seduction,” McIntire joked.

Before ending the show, Jennings praised the panelists, saying, “We can take this on the road, anytime.”