We have a rare concrete opportunity to see if anyone actually pays attention to political debates. Libertarian Party candidate Mike Munger acquitted himself well on UNC-TV last night, not so much debating Pat McCrory as introducing himself to state voters. Let’s see if that has any impact in the polls.
Munger, for all intents and purposes, came off as a moderate candidate in a Republican primary, right down to the dark suit and red tie. This is not a bad thing when you are trying to scoop out enough voters to ensure your party stays on the ballot.
However, Munger did draw a sharp distinction with McCrory on the issue of capital punishment, which might intrigue any Democrat voters who stumbled by looking for an AWOL Bev Perdue. In fact, the Perdue camp should be fairly alarmed that the debate was much less cringe-inducing without her strident sound-bitery and that both Munger and McCrory took shots at her considerable expense.
In fact, Munger cleverly took the “class size” canard hyped by Perdue’s educrat base and turned it on its head to argue that the state needs more suppliers of education than a state monopoly can deliver.
So in sum, in tone and temperament, Munger appealed to GOP voters, and on a few specific issues, to traditionally Democratic ones. If that does not show up as a blip in the polls I’ll have to wonder about debates, polls, or both.
