Washington Debate

[CultureKing]

Wow... so that was just a bit underwhelming, my respect for all of the canadates went down.
To summerize each canadate during the debate:
Guthrie (L): Blamed democrats and Republicans for nearly every problem in America, was not very well prepared and didn't quite answer alot of the questions, had VERY liberal views on many issues such as ANWR and drugs
Dixon (G):Tried to get into the debate after not filing any papers (was arrested, making the overall evening a bit entertaining)
Cantwell (D): Seemed pretty monotone in answers, stayed pretty conservative on responses, beat around some answers
McGavick (R): Mostly scare tactics

Result: I think it would be safe to say that many liberals who dislike Cantwell and want a more liberal canadate are now going to go for Guthrie... the main winner here if there is one is McGavick then due Guthrie probably drawing off more liberals.

Pretty good debate though

[bgwah]

Guthrie rocked.

McGavick was pathetic.

Cantwell was meh.

[Alcon]

I wasn't particularly underwhelmed, nor overwhelmed.  I was whelmed.  Bad news for McGavick that they didn't show the fainting cameraman, because he apparently volunteered to stop the debate until the guy was OK.  That would have been personable points.  But, nay, it was cut.

Cantwell (D): Kind of advertisement-recording stance for the entire debate.  She stayed together the best of those in the debate, but was pretty conservative in her performance.  Her evasion of some questions was a disservice, especially considering she wasn't ultra-specific anywhere and McGavick attacked her on this sort of thing.

McGavick (R): McGavick-y.  Clearly on the offensive, but trying to still come off as folksy.  This debate was kind of like the ads between the two.  Even if McGavick got in some good swipes and Cantwell postured herself well, it all seems damp and sedate.  At least the debate correctly referred to him as being from Shoreline instead of Seattle; that was getting annoying.

Guthrie (L): Started off rockin' in the beginning, save for looking down during others' responses (it looks like you're sleeping, dude).  He played it rather liberal for most of the debate.  Save for the stuff about "Democrats and Republicans" (a phrase he repeated too often) and overuse of a few phrases (notably "medical freedom"), he came off sane.  Not only that, but the other candidates said his name a number of times, and he managed to actually be about a third of the debate.  Oh, and he doesn't seem crazy.  Overall, a big win for him if anyone.  I'm going to call him probably breaking 5%, if not 10%.  In fact, I might even have voted for him.  If he didn't start stumbling and repeating himself toward the end of the middle half, he would probably have won the debate overall and a cakewalk.  I'd still have to say he won, though.

I should add, though, that neither McGavick nor Cantwell had a truly embarassing moment, but Guthrie did.  His answer on how to handle violence relating to illegal immigration was awful, and his North Korea answer was pretty bad too.  I also am confused as to why McGavick interrupted Cantwell to say he had the first question, the moderator said that the coin toss McGavick was referring to actually was for closing statements, and then Guthrie went first with closing statements.

Dixon (G): WTO-throwback theatrics.  But, damn, you have to love the ponytail.  Very Ice T.

Adair (I): Robin Adair is a black lady who doesn't like the war and wants the government to stay out of peoples' personal lives.  I learned that all today.  Before I didn't even know what sex Robin Adair was.  That says a lot about her campaign.

[MODU]

If you come across the video of the debate online, please share the link.  Sounds interesting.

[adam]

Guthrie sounds like an intresting Libertarian, though I hope he isn't a LINO. I have been waiting for this debate to come on C-SPAN, after the story of Guthrie cashing in all of his stuff to be in this debate, I have been looking forward to it.

[bgwah]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html

Link to debate on front page

[MODU]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html

Link to debate on front page

Thanks.