WCVB Goes 'On the Record' with Mike Capuano. New political show a mixed bag.

If kennedyseat.com readers think my "love of Capuano" is clouding my judgement, then they haven't met Mary Anne Marsh.  The Democratic consultant was one of the roundtable panelists on WCVB's new political show "On the Record" this morning.  When asked at the end of the show who had the best week, she answered "Mike Capuano until Friday morning when Martha Coakley announced $2 million raised."  Really? Capuano with his disappointing fundraising numbers had a better week than Alan Khazei, who shocked election followers by announcing $1.1 million raised?

The answer was emblematic of Marsh's appearance this morning, which happened to coincide with a Capuano interview in the first half of the show.   All-in-all, "On the Record" was an interesting experiment for Channel 5, and one that could have a decent shelf-live despite some significant flaws.

Congressman Capuano joined hosts Ed Harding and Janet Wu for the first two segments of the pilot program, which promises to, "ask some of the tough questions of politicians in the Bay State." Harding delivered on that promise in a big way during a "current events quiz" segment, but I'll delve into that ridiculous idea in a second.

The first part of the Capuano interview primarily revolved around two issuess: 1) is Capuano trying to be Ted Kennedy, or would he be his own man? (My paraphrasing of Janet Wu's rambling, confusing questions, which prompted Capuano to ask her twice to clarify.), and 2) troops in Afghanistan.  I mostly missed Capuano's answer to the first as I tried to decipher Wu's statements (I definitely heard him say he is more "urban" than Teddy, which I enjoyed), and have already covered his answer to the Afghanistan question.

The second segment of the interview focused on health care reform and the economic stimulus bill.  On stimulus, Capuano defended his vote, and reasoned that as a member of the Senate he could have done more to ensure the bill led to job creation than he could as a member of the House.  On health care, Caps advocated for a public option, noted that he favored a single payer system, and then got into a debate with the hosts as to whether or not the Massachusetts health care reform law contains a public option (it does not).

Sandwiched in between the two Capuano segments was the aforementioned "current events quiz," in which Ed Harding finally got around to asking the Congressman the questions that will make or break the Senate race:

• Who is the prime minister of Pakistan?
• What is the total cost of the War in Afghanistan?
• What is HR 3200? 
• And how many children and teens are obese? (The answer is 1 in 3 and it's the only one he got.)  

I understand WCVB wants to break up the interview and make it more interesting to viewers, etc. etc., but I am going to go ahead and guess that anyone watching a Sunday morning show that airs between "This Week with George Stephanopolous" and "Meet the Press" is probably watching because they are interested in politics and policy.  I don't think there's a need to intersperse two six-minute segments with ninety seconds of inane queries.  The question on Afghanistan is the only one that's relevant to the race, and the answer could have been explored in the segment on the war.  By the way, HR 3200 is one of the many health care proposals floating around Congress, and one of thousands of bills filed annually.

The Capuano interview gave way to the Roundtable, in which Harding and Wu were joined by Marsh (left - a Democratic consultant for the Dewey Square Group) and Jennifer Nassour, (right, below) chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party.  This half of the show was solid (I am a big fan of roundtables), although it was more partisan than it needed to be.  On "This Week," conservatives and liberals are able to debate issues and politicians without coming off as partisan mouthpieces, and I think Marsh and Nassour both struggled to accomplish the feat (which is not surprising, considering that both are, in fact, partisan mouthpieces).

I am interested to see if Dewey Square Group is listed in Capuano's FEC report later this month, as Marsh clearly had an agenda.  She acknowledged that Coakley was the front-runner, but quickly added that only Capuano could beat her, and praised his position on health care.  She didn't mention Khazei at all, and clearly doesn't like or think much of Pags and his attempt to "buy" the race.

Nassour took the obligatory shots at the Democratic candidates ("they are all very small") and of course gave her reasons as to why Scott Brown could emerge victorious.  When questioned by Wu on whether or not the state GOP was helping both Brown and Bob Burr collect signatures, Nassour was politely coy.  Sorry Bob.

"On the Record" concluded with a discussion on health care reform, including a great piece from Ted Reinstein who wandered through Copley Square trying to find someone who understands the Obama/Congressional initiative.  Reinstein's piece was the highlight of the show.

So what did I think? A mixed bag.

Pros:

• Ted Reinstein
• Roundtable discussion (although I'm not sure that Marsh and Nassour are right for the role)
• Ed Harding's disclaimer about Gail Huff and Scott Brown (nice and awkward)
• The general idea and time slot

Cons

• Not sure it works with co-hosts, and neither Harding nor Wu showed me they could carry a ninety minute discussion about politics
• The current events quiz
• Title

Pags is up for next week's show, let's see what Channel 5 tries to tweak...