In his political memo "Debates Can Shift a Race's Outcome, but It's Not Easy," John Harwood basically tries to say that using electoral debates can help win the race. He starts out his article by saying how in presidential debates, the candidates show their skills of putting down their opponents while trying to better their own reputation and self-image. He then states a specific example: Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama. He then presents another example: in 2004, John Kerry had dented George Bush's campaign by claiming that Saddam Hussein had not attacked the Americans but actually Osama Bin Laden. In 1980, Ronald Reagan had accused Jimmy Carter of being an extremist and that helped the race tilt towards his victory.
The author in this story uses a series of ways to show how debates have had an impact in the outcome of races. He uses specific times in which debates have helped one candidate to win. The strongest of these examples was when John F. Kennedy's cool appearance contrasted with Richard M. Nixon's haggard appearance. Also, A debate in Texas with George W. Bush against Al Gore really changed the outcome of the race after voters saw Gore's impatient and unprepared image. Voters basically thought he lost in the debates and that was what basically turned the table in the elections and made Bush win.
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