Dancing the Education Two-Step

The best laid plans of all campaigns have to be flexible and the candidates need to be quick on their feet. Today's education debate in Greensboro, before the NC Association of School Boards proved to be an excellent example of this campaign truism. One of the reasons I haven't blogged since Wednesday is all the preparation time that we've been putting in to getting ready for the debate. One of the primary challenges was the format, which included only six questions and one minute responses with a 30 second opportunity to rebut. The GOP candidates were scheduled for an hour followed by the democrats for 45 minutes. Late last week, we got the word that there would now be 9 questions.

As I walked on the stage and took my place behind the middle podium, the moderator informed us that the person to whom the question was addressed would get one minute to answer with the other two candidates only getting 30 seconds to respond. Then the original candidate would also get 30 seconds to respond. Wait a minute, I thought, one minute was really pressing it to give a good answer to a complicated question, but 30 seconds...? Nonetheless, that's what we had to work with. At times I felt like a tobacco auctioneer trying to get my points made in a blink of the eye. Clear your throat and time was up.

Now what caused me a certain amount of heartburn occurred when Moore and Perdue took the stage. They each got the full minute to answer each question plus each got 30 seconds for rebuttal. Hmmmm, that's what I thought we were supposed to get. Regardless, the opportunity was much appreciated to be able to talk about our vision for public education in NC and to have my views measured against not only my primary opponents but against the democrats. It was a great audience from around the state comprised of democrats and republicans and I suspect a few unaffiliated. You'll be reading more about our ideas and proposals for dramatically improving public education in NC in the days ahead. Now it's home and the joy of spending a couple of hours with Lauren, my one year old granddaughter. After all, this campaign is really about her future.