Italy's Elections: THE BERLUSCONI-PRODI TV DEBATE

Fresher than tomorrow's newspapers is this latest dispatch on Italy's election campaign from DIRELAND's Rome correspondent , Judy Harris -- a veteran ex-pat journalist who has lived in Italy for decades and is a former staffer there for the Wall Street Journal and TIME. Here Judy gives us a word-portrait of the Tuesday night live TV debate between Premier Silvio Berlusconi and his leading opponent, Romano Prodi, which took place just hours ago:

ROME, March 14 -- ­ In this country where fashion matters even more than food, looks  tell part of the story. And so it was tonight when Bush buddy Silvio Berlusconi -- who made a much-ballyhooed visit to the White House two weeks ago -- (right) met his principal rival Romano Prodi in a prime-time formal TV debate.

On over-all sartorial style Premier Silvio Berlusconi, head of a center-right coalition, won hands down if you like the idea of a swarthy Jack Nicholson dressed like a door-to-door vendor of Bibles.

Former Premier Romano Prodi (left), a professor of economics, former president of the European Commission, and figurehead of the center-left coalition called the Unione, came on as a genteel teddy-bear. Technically his blue suit was not rumpled, but  rumpled is his style, and so he seemed rumply nevertheless. Otherwise, and perhaps inevitably after Berlusconi spectacularly stormed out of a RAI TV studio midway through an interview two days ago, tonight¹s live confrontation was lackluster.

Berlusconi¹s 3-minute speechlets were salted with endless and often undocumentable statistics, like this reply to a question about the relation between galloping inflation and the advent of the unified currency: "Eighty percent of Italians still think in the old lire rather than the euro." "Berlusconi is drowning us in statistics," Prodi protested, "but the point is that his government did nothing to pave the way for our entry into Europe."

Besides statistics, the smooth-talking but nervous Premier showered viewers with a windfall of vaguely consoling phrases, like, "We have benefitted from women" and, "We have given more dignity to technology," whatever these mean. To listen to his description of Italy is to be cheery, thanks to well-run schools, solid small businesses, children in pre-schools and happy immigrants.

Switching gears, he turned a scornful eye on his adversary. "Prodi is a front man, a man for a façade," said Berlusconi, intimating that Prodi was a sort of Trojan horse for "the Communists." "Kindly show me more respect," Prodi retorted, "I have treated you with "respect."

"Prodi says things that are not true," Berlusconi persisted. "Anyway, he has called me a carpet salesman. I¹ve never said anything rude about him except in irony. Yet this is a man who, when in government, was sent down" (implying, because replaced by men from the far left).

Prodi said he would not raise taxes, a hot topic, but would attempt to make them more rational. Berlusconi promised a crackdown on tax evasion, declaring that he would have local townships probe into potential evaders.

Berlusconi found kind words for Vladimir Putin¹s attempt to bring Iran to heel. But otherwise a number of serious topics were not on the agenda: Italy¹s role in the Irak war; the low percentage of students who graduate from universities and even middle schools; new forms of marital unions; an archaic bureaucracy struggling to use dated computer technology; unemployed youth in the violent cities of Southern Italy; the lack of research and development; corruption; and a judiciary system that fails to guarantee justice.  He did not once mention NATO or the US.

And a post-debate poll of televiewers showed a clear majority thought Prodi had won the debate.  -- from Judy Harris (right) in Rome

Read Judy Harris's three previous special reports for DIRELAND on Italy's election campaign: March 12, "Silvio's Spies and Fairy Tale Cartoon Videos, and More..."; March 9, "Italian Elections: What a Difference a Week Makes"; March 6, "Will Berlusconi Lose?"  And you can also read Judy's earlier "Letters from Rome" for DIRELAND: October 1, 2005, "Italy--The Church Re-Enters Politics." July 22, 2005-- Judges On Strike Against Berlusconi; June 13, 2005 -- Italy's Referendum a Fiasco; June 11, 2005 -- Italy's Referendum: It's Really About Abortion

MUST-READ: SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR SAYS U.S. EDGING TOWARD  "DICTATORSHIP" Last Thursday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor made a slash-and-burn speech at Georgetown University that didn't get the media echo it should have, considering what she said. O'Connor issued a stern warning that the U.S. was heading toward "dictatorship." The story was first broken by NPR's veteran Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg on Friday, and you can listen to her report on this explosive speech by clicking here. Slate's Jack Shafer picked it up on Monday. The Guardian's U.S. correspondent, Julian Borger, has a good account in Tuesday's paper which you can read by clicking here. Where were the N.Y. Times, Washington Post, and the other national dailies?