Politics DA -- part 2

The most important aspects to remember when reading a politics DA:

1) Extend EACH part of the DA

This really goes for each disadvantage you may read. You obviously want to extend each part of the da into the block and then finally in the 2NR. I have a very personal story with this. When I was just starting out I was reading an elections DA and all was going well... until the 2NR. I had no idea what I was doing and I just read new evidence. All I had to do to win the round was explain the parts of the DA again. Simply, this means extending the link, impact, uniqueness, and internal link. You should also be explaining why your arguments matter more than your opponents.

2) Answer your opponent’s cards

While you may have the rest of the DA prepped out, you most likely do not have answers to common 2AC responses to the disad. During a camp, I had 2NC front lines prepped out to the t. Common 2AC answers are plan is popular, the whatever it may be bill will not pass anyway, and stuff about political capital not existing, and saying that the impact of said bill either won't work or is bad. You need to have answers to all of these. Again, extend your own DA while answering the responses --- this is literally the key to winning on the disad everytime.

3) Explain your link story

Judges are often not persuaded by arguments if the debaters themselves do not understand it and are just reading blocks. A reason I lost during a camp on a ptx da was because in the 2NR (keep in mind we were winning) I did not explain why people in congress would get mad at the affirmative plan. All I did was restate that the link exists, but just saying something is almost never enough to persuade a judge and win a round. You need sometimes real world examples and to explain step by step what congress people (who whatever the da is about) would think about the plan and how that would affect movement within the congress.