From the Spin Room: The Cheap Seats?

If you are watching the debate on TV, you can only see part of the audience.  The audience you see “semi-circling” the moderator and the candidates’ chairs are the “independents” selected by Gallup to ask questions. Behind them and mostly off camera are the guests of the two candidates, or as Candy Crowley called them, “The Cheap Seats.”

Those selected by Gallup are all from the NY area, which leads to two important questions.

1. How did they find a non-liberal (undecided) voter in the NY area?
2. Why is this “town hall” debate in NY…which is guaranteed to go to President Obama? Wouldn’t it be better to hold it in a state like “Ohio,” a key swing state for both parties?