Political debates in the Tri-State could soon look a lot like the Fox show "The Moment of Truth."
Republicans in the 9th congressional district suggested Democratic representative Baron Hill and his Republican challenger Mike Sodrel be hooked up to lie detectors for a debate.
Fox 7 looked at the true and false of the feasibility of that style of debate.
Yes or no: Has Bob Pointer been working with polygraphs for more than 20 years?
Yes.
"It's based on sound scientific principles," he said. "The theory is, if I ask you a question, and you respond with a lie, your body's brain recognizes that it's a lie. And, it goes into a defensive mode."
So, in theory, if a politician lied during a debate, a lie detector could tell.
Mike Sodrel was open to the idea.
"When I got the release, I talked to Mike about it. He said, basically, 'Yeah, I'll do it,'" said Ryan Reger, Sodrel's campaign manager. "We'd be open to any format."
Baron Hill was less receptive.
"Particularly during this time of economic turmoil, folks are looking for real leadership and not political stunts," he said.
But, is that all it would be? A political stunt?
Pointer hooked Fox 7's Mike Chesney up to a polygraph to see how the machine actually worked.
He kept tabs on Mike's: "Heart beat, blood pressure, respiration."
They needed an example question: "Did you steal that money from the coffee room?"
And a baseline question: "Is your first name Michael?"
Mike answered: "Yes."
Then, the moment of truth came.
"Did you yourself take that money from the coffee break room last Saturday?"
Mike answered: "No."
"We got a little bit, because you're thinking 'Oh, that's a pretty serious question, but I didn't do it.' And, there's no reaction," explained Pointer.
To get a reaction, Pointer used a question Mike was bound to lie to.
Mike answered: "No."
This is typical of a pattern - how the body reacts when you have just lied.
Pointer asked very specific questions during the test - a key to the process.
"How do you feel about the economy? Do you think it's good? That is so ambiguous that there's no way you would measure it with any validity," he said.
Broad questions are off the table.
A moderator could still ask very specific ones.
Pointer said that's still not enough.
This test was done in a quite, distraction-free room for my test.
"If I were to hook you up in front of an audience, I could never establish a baseline, because it would be all over the place," Pointer said.
So, final verdict: Would this just be a political stunt?
"Yes."
"Two candidates and they're both hooked up to a polygraph," said Pointer. "It's totally ridiculous. It's not going to work."
So, it's an interesting concept, something some people might love the chance to do to their candidates, but just not a practical method of debate.
Pointer said, under the right conditions, polygraph tests are 85 to 95-percent accurate.
A lie detector-less debate between the 9th district candidates is scheduled for October 21 at The Arts Center in Jasper.
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