Well, that was different. Had all three candidates who are on the ballot debate and the world didn’t end. Still, some surprises:
Perdue: Actually started out strong on the “role of the governor” meme but otherwise went in circles unless the topic was education, where she clearly feels comfortable with the lingo. Bev had lots and lots of “plans” — some “sophisticated” some “simple” you see. Good luck making heads or tails out of that. Really had no answers on crime and the “green collar” crap was complete nonsense. Made a stand on vouchers, as expected. Tried to play the sympathy card by briefly — and falsely — claiming she was being ganged up on “two on one.” Clearly yet another thing her handlers 3x5ed her. Not a complete disaster, but I can’t see how she gained votes with this performance. Then again, her TV ads are supposed to do that for her. And might.
Munger: Oddly, the guy with the least to lose, lost the most. Let me explain. The soggy oatmeal question on the “role of the governor” — gag — clearly caught Munger by surprise and he didn’t bother to hide his distaste by throwing off a two-sentence answer. That punted the chance to say what the role of the governor was not — jet-setting global wheeler dealer on the taxpayer’s dime, for example. And on the gas crunch question Munger failed to jab the current political class hard enough for creating the crisis. These were two big hanging curve balls to start the debate that Munger could’ve knocked out of the park. But he recovered to zing Perdue on her inaction during the last eight years — which had McCrory interjecting “good point” — and repeatedly made the common-sense point that parents are in charge of education not the governor — or should be. Finally, he closed by pointing out he was the only candidate who supported same-sex marriage and opposed the death penalty, important info for voters who didn’t know him or the Libertarian Party. I was a little surprised that Munger didn’t find a way to shoe-horn opposition to annexation into the mix considering the LP must be paying WBT a small fortune to run anti-annexation ads featuring Munger. It is a good issue and some coordination would’ve paid off.
McCrory: Obviously relished the chance to have at Perdue again, but maybe so much so he rushed some of his points. Also Pat made it seem like he had a handle on water conservation issues “three years ago” in Charlotte when the reality is CMUD’s $30m. revenue hole surprised city government and drove a 14 percent hike in water rates this year. It was left to Munger to point out that a drought surcharge might be needed to avoid such situations. McCrory continued to jab back at Perdue’s attempts to hang vouchers around his neck, this time with a special needs child angle. But in truth the “voucher issue” is just a proxy for Raleigh-centric edu-policy. Voters who like putting Raleigh in charge will vote for Perdue, regardless. And I found it very curious that McCrory — like Perdue — shot down the four-day workweek idea for state employees. For Perdue, the candidate of status quo and entrenched lobbies, that is a no-brainer: Oppose change. But McCrory erred by not giving himself at least the wiggle room of “Other states are doing, we should study how it works — or does not — for them, and act accordingly.” Would’ve fit right into his leadership and reform theme to boot.
That’s it folks. Buckle up, the next few weeks will be very interesting.
Update: Moderator-in-chief Hood muses on the debate and forces me to recall the downright bizarre production values.
Don’t know who the smart ass was trying for a local Emmy or putting together a network audition tape, but this is how you shoot a TV debate: tight-wide-moderator-repeat. None of this fancy stalking around the studio like a serial killer stuff or shooting from between the aisles of the audience! I fully expected a tracking shot to start from the parking lot a la Orson Welles.
I also blame the production crew for tripping up the moderators with too many questions, resulting in the bumbling performance Hood noted. Keep is simple — especially when all involved do one of these things, oh, once every four years. Last night, it showed.
