Was there an actual debate?

Was there an actual debate?

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

Last night we watched as the four candidates for United States Senate “debated.” It might have been called a “debate”, but according to WSAZ’s Jessica Ralston (@JessicaRalston), the Gazette’s Kathryn Gregory (@kitgregory), the Daily Mail’s Ry Rivard (@ryrivard) what happened on TV last night was anything but. Where were the hardball questions? No one raised their voices, no one debated. So I’m calling for a Twitter debate between the candidates. No, we all know it most likely won’t be them doing the tweeting, but since their campaigns cannot pick a mutually beneficial date to debate in Charleston, this seems like the most logical solution. Thoughts?

Changing the subject a little, the most surprising candidate last night was the Constitution Party’s Jeff Becker. Whoever prepared him for that debate should have given him a xanex. Someone tweeted asking if he even spoke English. Another tweep said he would be the Daily Show’s dream. Needless to say, he won’t be our next United States Senator.

Winners and losers from last night’s debate:

Winning moments:

-John Raese (@RaeseforSenate) had two quotes I rather enjoyed, the first one being “We win, you lose.” The second one being “It’s called demand.”

-Joe Manchin’s charisma, calmness, appearance, and perfect sound bites. The quote that ended the debate, was nothing short of cheesy perfection: "I believe in you, and I'm asking you to believe in me."

-Manchin taking on the “rubber stamp” tag and owning it.

Big fat fails of the so-called debate:

-Raese wearing his Rolex and black suit. It’s not a funeral.

-Becker’s inability to speak coherently (I appreciate nervousness but there are pills for that).

-Johnson waisting half of his closing “minute” to speak fussing about how he didn’t get to respond to previous questions.

And moments I was lost:

-Becker talking about physics

-Johnson asking “Are you sick enough yet?”

-Raese’s statements on global warming

-Johnson dwelling on penmanship

-No one asking about subpoenas

I think West Virginians need to see a the candidates speak for two hours and it needs to be an actual debate. You can call what happened last night a debate, but for many of us it wasn’t.

Excuse me, Mr. Bruner, it’s “Teflon Joe” Not “No-Show Joe”

In Phil Kabler’s column in today’s Charleston Gazette (@wvgazette) one GOP (@WVGOP) hopeful (very, very hopeful), calls out United States Senate candidate Joe Manchin (@JoeManchinWV) for not participating the in the August 19th debate in Charles Town.

Ken Hechler, one of Manchin’s opponents in this Saturday’s very special Primary joined Bruner in the call for Manchin to debate.

Several candidates and constituents are shocked at just how little campaigning Joe Manchin has done, but there are a few things I should point out: his website is finally up, it appears he’s had some professional photography shot, and I’ve received almost three times as many Google Alerts for him than ever before. But there must be a method to this madness. After all, he’s called “Teflon Joe” for a reason.

During one gubernatorial primary, it seemed he was the easiest candidate to beat. But Manchin proved that speculation wrong, becoming West Virginia’s own “Come Back Kid.”

Also, did we stop to think that maybe he’s not heavy on the campaign trail for a reason? After all, he is our Governor. Campaigning takes so much time, so much energy, and the campaign itself takes over your life until the election. But the people of West Virginia elected Manchin to be our Governor. Even though he contradicted himself by saying he would fulfill this term as such, it could potentially be even more devastating if all Manchin did was campaign and neglect the job we elected him to do in the first place.

It’ll be interesting to see how he campaigns after the Primary that’s only four short days away.

Read Phil Kabler’s full story in the Charleston Gazette: http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201008230849

Late nights and flats...

If a bomb had dropped on Power Park last night, the West Virginia Democratic Party would look just like the West Virginia GOP. Practically every Democratic mover and shaker was there, and the media were asking questions and the cameras were recording. I wondered where the red carpet was! It was amazing how many cameras surrounded Governor Manchin when he was talking to Nick Casey. But within a matter of minutes, rumor had it that Nick Casey was second on Joe Manchin’s “list of two” for Byrd’s seat appointee options.

Carte Goodwin is who numerous elected officials told me last night Manchin would appoint to fill Byrd’s seat. We’ll know for sure by 5pm tomorrow for sure. Also, several legislators were discussing what to do after the election law is clarified for Byrd’s seat: aka what to do about West Virginia’s next governor! Obviously, current Senate President Tomblin would be acting governor. But this doesn’t help Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.

And speaking of Capito, she’s in Charleston and has had numerous long-lasting meeting with her chief political consultant, Kent Gates. Before Byrd’s passing, I heard she was eager to see whether or not Senator Rockefeller would run for re-election in 2014. Her statements to date seem to be shaky and unsure, but I can’t tell if she’s waiting for a groundswell of Republican support or if she just doesn’t want to run against Manchin. If she does run against him for Byrd’s seat and loses (numerous polling show she will lose), she would be able to analyze those votes and see what areas of the state she needs to target stronger campaign efforts.

Within a matter of 36 hours, we’ll know who Governor Manchin is appointing, and I suspect the election law will be amended and we’ll know who is running for Byrd’s seat... and I imagine by the end of next week we’ll know who is running in a special election for Governor. There will many long hours at the Capital and many late night, closed-door discussions...I think I’ll have to wear flats.