PBS series revisits 16 presidential 'Contenders'
BEVERLY HILLS — PBS has arranged some surprising political pairings for The Contenders — 16 for '16 (Sept. 13, 8 ET/PT, check local listings), a documentary series exploring some of the most compelling presidential campaigns of recent times.
The series, hosted by Carlos Watson, looks for connections between each pair and explains the significance of the campaigns, including many that failed.
One of the featured candidates, former Vermont Gov. and Democratic National Committee chief Howard Dean, talked politics with USA TODAY ahead of a panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, one day after he attended the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. He's paired with conservative Pat Buchanan, who ran twice for the Republican nomination, in the second episode.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Dean offered a rousing review of the Democratic convention, which nominated Hillary Clinton this week. "I thought it was spectacular. It was interesting contrasting … (Donald) Trump with his midnight in America and Hillary with her morning in America," he says. Hillary Clinton's Thursday speech "was terrific, very substantive and thoughtful. She'll be a strong president."
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Dean predicts Clinton will get a polling bump in the coming days and will win the election, but he doesn't dismiss Trump. "You've got to take this candidacy seriously. I wouldn't take him seriously as a president, but he could win."
Contenders' opening 60-minute episode covers Democrat U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm (1972), the first black candidate running for a major-party nomination, and Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain (2008), linking candidates with very different political philosophies as "plain-spoken outsiders."
The second week features Democrat Dean (2004) and conservative Buchanan (1992 and 1996 as a Republican), men of vastly divergent views "who were seen as insurrectionists within their own parties," the program announcement says. Each man also is remembered for particular campaign moments: "the scream" for establishment challenger Dean and an invocation of "cultural war" by Buchanan.
Dean says he initially "was horrified" being paired with Buchanan but he understood producers' explanation that both candidates reached disenfranchised members on the edges of their parties and got them involved in politics.
Dean says his campaign was notable for pulling the Democratic Party away from Republican policies on war and taxes and getting "a whole generation of Americans into politics, the first global generation." The campaign also is remembered for its ability to harness the Internet as an organizing and fund-raising tool: "As we didn't have money, we just let the 23-year-olds do what they wanted" with new technology.
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Dean doesn't put much stock in the effects of the still-remembered "scream" on his campaign.
"That didn't hurt me very much. I had already lost," he says. "What hurt was disorganization, insufficient attention to detail and a candidate who was off message a lot, which was me."
Other Contenders pairings include Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Michael Dukakis (Sept. 27); Democrats Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson (Oct. 4); Republicans Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan (Oct. 11); independents Ross Perot and Ralph Nader (Oct. 18); vice presidential candidates Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin (Oct. 25); and two-term presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama (Nov. 1).