I just got done watching CBS4’s debate with the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidates. Thanks to the station and host Jon Keller, not only for having it, but for a debate that was refreshingly substantive and engaging. No horserace questions, or media feedback loops, just the issues.
On those, each candidate said some things I nodded along in agreement (MCAS… Cape Wind Farm… better public transit), others I disagreed with (sin tax… Gabrielli’s ‘my forebearers immigrated legally why can’t they?’ response). But taken as a whole, the debate separated out the candidates in stark relief.
I thought Tom Reilly came off quite poor, his behavior downright despicable. “Answer the question you wish you had been asked” is the dictum, I know, but at least make it look like you’re answering the question you were actually asked. Instead of pressing a policy point, on the income tax rollback, say, he came across as smarmy and insinuating. The thing that had initially appealed to me about him was a focus on talking about issues as I think voters themselve. Voters don’t really care about Deval Patrick’s income tax return.
The big surprise (for me) was how well Chris Gabrielli came across. I tend to remember him as the bumbling sidekick in 2002. Here he was poised (even if he forgot to look at the camera), articulate, and capable of bridging the specific policy answer to the broader picture. Education is clearly going to be his focus, though he might start thinking of shoring up other areas of his policy portfolio.
The big winner, though, was Deval Patrick. He fended off Reilly’s attack dog barbs with grace and patience. He was telegenic. His responses to Keller’s questions were mostly pitch perfect. He by far had the best closing statement (something about how dissatisfaction with Republicans might carry a Democratic victory, but that voters were looking for something more than mere reaction), one that subtly undercut the cases the others made. Oddly enough, his campaign is the one that is most running the primary - appealing to faithful Democratic voters and party activists - yet perhaps because of this he’s the one today who didn’t forget to make the case about the general election.
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