The Gentle Magnolia Debates

Mark Binker hit the nail on the head when he described last Friday's GOP gubernatorial debate as less a steel cage smackdown and more of a steel - some would say aluminum - magnolia. Yes, as we took the stage for what I think must be the 12th debate I was convinced that this one would be different. I actually thought that tough, philosophical questions would be forthcoming...maybe opportunities to actually push our fellow opposing candidates. Nah........same old, same old. And it was boring.

Now in deference to the media on the panel and those in prior debates, the rationale for asking us "substantive" questions on dropouts, road problems, you get the drift, is that their listeners had not ever heard us expound on these important topics. So once again we answered the same essential questions with the same essential answers with only minor skirmishes.

I did get to push McCrory on just exactly what he was proposing when he proclaimed that he'd cut every one's income tax. Too bad that he didn't have a clue on any specifics and that my asking really irritated him. He and Fred tilted a little over one of Fred's ads but over the course of an hour and a half it was all stock answers to the questions without any real ability for us to give the audience or the public any real sense of what the candidates are actually all about.

I've about decided to come out with a campaign plan to eliminate all taxes, provide every citizen a high paying job and free health care and fix our schools, roads, mental health system, save our environment and solve all the problems with the
criminal justice system. And since I would simply act indignant if anyone asked how I planned to do it - and there's precious little chance that anyone would ask - I might get elected. It's a great system.

Debating Blues

I know that labeling tonight's debate in Greenville as the "Debating Blues" indicates a certain late season fatigue. Contrary to the democrats - say has anybody seen ole Bev? - we Republicans have been debating all over the state. So when I characterize tonight's debate as producing the blues it is in part a reflection on how many times we've squared off but also the redundant format we're using. We get a one minute opening statement - "Hi, glad to be here." - then 90 seconds to answer a range of substantive questions with maybe a 30 second opportunity for rebuttal. At least tonight there were some regionally oriented questions for a little bit of a change of pace.

It's also frustrating because there is little if any opportunity to create separation among the candidates or have any of us pushed about positions we've taken. Rarely is there moderator follow-up or a real chance for one of us to actually challenge another candidate's assertions. After all these debates we know our opponents' stories, positions, and purported applause lines or laugh lines so well that we could recite them better than they can. That inevitably produces a certain boredom with the process at least for the participants.

Frankly, I think we've all gotten better after debating so much but occasionally it just kills me to hear an opponent either "pirate" one of my earlier points or positions. But one of the reasons I got into the race was to elevate the debate and frankly, I think I've accomplished this. There was a nice editorial in the Hendersonville Times-News after yesterday's debate in Henderson County about how well all of the GOP candidates had performed. That's good but doesn't help me considering I'm the candidate without the big bucks.

So after all these debates everyone is predictable and Bill and Fred continue to improve in there own inimitable way. But Pat, frankly, is getting on my nerves. He consistently ignores the time limitations and if I have to listen to him crow about his leadership anymore I may have to take anti-nausea medicine. And his "leadership is calling traveling on Michael Jordan" story has gotten old quickly. Hey Pat, did you play high school basketball? Were you the starting point guard at Catawba College? Maybe old Michael knows a little more about the game than "Hiz Honor". And trust me, making tough decisions doesn't have anything to do with exhibition basketball games, regardless of who's playing. Try casting the deciding vote on whether someone gets executed at 2 a.m. if you want to know about making tough decisions.

All that being said, the debate tonight was a good opportunity to reach out to the voters in Eastern North Carolina and I'm appreciative of the effort that Henry Hinton and others did in putting it together. But it was tough not being able to watch the Heels pound Washington State. However,that's just one of the small prices you pay as a candidate.

A Healthy Discussion

I know it's been a week since I last blogged and I keep promising to do better. However, the pace of the campaign continues to accelerate and when I do get some time, like tonight, it seems I get distracted. OK, I confess it was the UNC v. Clemson basketball game that knocked a couple of hours out of my evening (not to mention at least a couple of months off my life). If I can only campaign like Tyler Hansbrough plays ball, then this race is a winner.

Anyway, I thought I'd give a quick replay of the WUNC-TV debate on healthcare last Thursday. The topic of healthcare frankly is a tough one, filled with all sorts of technical areas and complicated issues. I was actually pretty apprehensive about the debate because of my general lack of comfort with the range of issues. But, having said that, I thought the debate went great and the press reviews were very encouraging.

My 3 primary opponents didn't seem any more comfortable with the topic than I did. McCrory actually seemed to take the whole debate as some kind of lark and appeared to me somewhat unprepared (like his answer on the mental health question). Graham was a virtual encyclopedia of various medical terms. Hmmmm, could it be a reflection on his extensive work as a plaintiffs' workers comp lawyer? And Fred was Fred. On task, on point, and very predictable.

My one frustration was that there is simply no follow up on what I considered to be major points in my remarks. One might expect at least a questioning inquiry from the press or an opponent about several of the proposals and comments I made. OK, I understand that the opposition strategy is to ignore me, but that only serves to encourage me to keep putting out positions on issues that need to be discussed . So, expect us to keep on doing what we're doing and hopefully, the voting public will pay more attention to our positions on the issues(they're actually already doing that)and on election day, maybe we'll surprise the pundits.

Of Pundits and Pontifications

Having surveyed the pundits' landscape after the WRAL-TV debate among the GOP gubernatorial candidates last night, I'm ready to weigh in. The post mortem provided by David Crabtree, Colin Browder, Laura Leslie and the N&O's Rob Christenson sent me home in a state of mild depression. First of all David Crabtree referred to me as "cerebral" which once again sent my former law school classmates into a fit of convulsive laughter. I was even tempted to list my three favorite movies on the WRAL website as "Dumb and Dumber", "Legally Blond" and "Animal House" in an effort to dispel the notion.

Then none of the reporters seemed to pick up on what I thought were subtle but defining points made by me during the debate. Bummer. Then at least Rob gave me a backhanded compliment saying that I "wasn't as slick" as the other candidates. But that was only a lead in to referring to all of us as the Republican "B" team. I always thought that Rob considered ALL Republicans the "B" team. However, the dagger to the heart was when he pontificated that Bill Graham won the debate. My only explanation was that Rob continues to let his infatuation with former trial lawyers with floppy hair and an over exposure to cold weather in Iowa and New Hampshire frost bite his judgement.

At least today's commentaries provided a brighter analysis. Laura Leslie's NPR piece highlighted my "hacking" comment directed at Hiz Honor the Mayor (who knew Republicans had a sense of humour) and my pointed observation that Moore and Perdue need to be held accountable for the problems in public education. YOU go, girl...'cause you got that right. Then finally, Jack Betts' blog on This Old State did a good job of analyzing the ups and downs of the four of us. And I'll be happy to accept Jack's observation that I know more about the law and state government than all of the other candidates. Jack was also right that I needed to smile more which was the exact observation of my 15 year old daughter. It's just that I never quite know when the camera is on me and whether to give one of those cheesy smiles that certain unnamed candidates give or wink or just sit there looking dumb or dumber. I'll try to do better.

Debate Analysis from Inside the Circus Tent

I've waited a couple of days to put my post debate analysis up on the blog site primarily to get a sense of what the political types had to say - not a lot at this point in time although Laura Leslie did her usual excellent job in summarizing the proceedings. Now I am running for office so my comments here won't be quite as thorough as they would be if I was a member of the press and free to ruffle any and all feathers. But here goes.

Based on our internal polling we smoked the opposition. OK, I understand that it's a real internal poll - family, campaign workers and friends - but the consensus was that we clearly showed the viewing public that I would be the best governor. I thought Fred - and who the heck is looking at his hair coloring - seems to me to be hitting the wall somewhat after a three year marathon of BBQ's, meet and greets, and other quasi campaign activities. Now that's not to say that Fred won't give his little extra effort down the home stretch, but I don't think he's having much fun.

Bill on the other hand seems a bit disoriented since the departure of the Fetzer-
Stephens consulting team. Who is prepping Bill? I'm not sure but I don't believe that web cams in the Legislature (scary what you might see) and lots of way off statistics (thank you, Laura) are going to get it.

Then the famous missing Mayor who's riding high (if 18% can be called riding high) in the most recent inaccurate poll will, I guess, tell us he's running for Mayor again, or I mean Congress, no, I guess he'll run for governor. And I see he's worried about gangs, an issue we all should worry about, but will he come into the WRAL-TV neighborhood this week where a "gang of three" will be waiting to initiate him? Regardless, welcome Pat.

And finally, kudos to Laura for noticing my Carolina Blue tie. Interesting fact that no one has picked up on in the media. I'm the only candidate with a degree (two in my case) from any state supported public university. Richard and Bev are all worried about tuition but neither ever graced a campus of our state university system. And finally, it's obvious the only way to get a headline out of these debates is to get in to the Randy Parton fight. So here's fair warning, I'm going to be weighing in and in fact have talked at length about it with Ben Niolett at the N&O. The fun is just beginning.

Post Debate Analysis

Last Saturday marked the first official debate in the GOP primary battle for Governor. The event sponsored by High Point University and the local GOP was a well organized, well run event. A good crowd attended and the debate was televised by News14 in part and shown the next morning. All in all it was fun to do and hopefully gave the public and the press covering it a better understanding of the GOP candidates' positions on the issues and a sense of our campaign perspectives.

Now here's this candidate's take on the day's events. All of us did a pretty good job with my wife and staff (a very scientific survey) concluding that I clearly did best at answering the questions. As Congressman Coble observed in one article, at least no one made any major mistakes despite a format in which we had no notes, no prior knowledge in advance of the questions to be asked and a quick two minutes to answer. The most challenging question was submitted by a student (and I suspect unexpected by any of us) and dealt with our positions on affirmative action in the university setting. Think fast......

One of the more interesting aspects of the process was the news coverage. While the conventional stories were written by reporters for several newspapers, the N&O sent its intrepid blogmeister to "blog" the event. As best I can tell that results, not in an actual story, but in a series of postings (still going on as of today) in which there are snippets of remarks by the candidates which then is used to get comments from other candidates. This keeps the blog moving. I suppose this is the brave new world of online journalism. Who would have thought that today's Dome blog would be featuring responses from the other candidates to Bill's answer on an education issue involving graduate students. In essence he wandered off into talking about foreign students taking post graduate slots from NC students. Frankly, I'd never heard anyone complain about that problem and thought it was just a different angle to rail about immigration. But the blog world has made it an issue, albeit minor.

While we've now meandered through that issue it's time we got back on track with the main issues of the campaign, like education. The next debate is November 6th before the Association of NC School Boards and ALL the candidates will be there including Bev and Richard. Ought to be a fine old time. Hope we don't have a drop out problem.