But the debates do benefit the networks indirectly, by attracting election-season sponsorships and by lending prestige to their brands.
The latter combine the core populist radical right support - i.e. which populist radical right parties would attract in elections with a proportional system - with a more diverse electorate that simply votes against the other candidate.
To counteract the attention the Quinnipiac figures attracted on election eve, Mr. Corzine's staff said its own internal polls, based on more than 2,400 phone interviews since Nov. 1, showed him leading Mr. Franks by 6 percentage points.
While they wont receive the kind of ad money that TV and radio will attract in this election season, Sen. Barack Obama is voting for Google in the form of some of its ad spending.
Big elections attract voters who don't always vote, changing the results or at least raising that possibility.
The elections attract headlines, but sources say the act of running the campaigns doesn't make money.
Elections attract their share of wide-eyed idealists, and, with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nearing the end of his second term as Iran's President, politicians are jostling to… "Politics is all sports metaphors," John McCain said the other day.
Elections attract their share of wide-eyed idealists, and, with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nearing the end of his second term as Iran's President, politicians are jostling to take his place.
Despite having twice dismissed the commission budget and once forced its resignation, it is still widely perceived as an irrelevant expenses-led gravy train (as if our Westminster MPs were blameless in that respect) and the elections attract a low turnout, almost always a protest vote.
Such arguments, Democratic strategists said, will appeal to independent voters, whom Mr. Romney will have to attract in a general election.
