Democratic gubernatorial debate LIVE BLOG

Coverit Live (0.00 / 0)

Anyone else having trouble getting their comments through in the chatbox above?

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by: spazeboy @ Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 23:11:21 PM UTC

Nevermind (0.00 / 0)

Coveritlive is just really slow and delayed (at least on my end).

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by: spazeboy @ Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 23:26:43 PM UTC

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Spazeboy: Yr. Cogent comment on Twitter (0.00 / 0)

Please crosspost.

(insert smiley emoticon)

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by: tessa @ Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 23:47:55 PM UTC

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It was slow for me too (0.00 / 0)

Took a solid 30 seconds or so for my comments to get through. Maybe some problem with the site? Hopefully it works better next time.

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by: Matt Zagaja @ Wed Jun 23, 2010 at 00:09:01 AM UTC

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Independent voters (0.00 / 0)

I watched the debate with my husband and thought Malloy did a better job. I thought he answered more questions more directly and with more detail than Lamont did.  However, I wasn't sure if I felt this way is because Malloy actually DID do a better job or because I was just predisposed to think he did. My husband was an unaffiliated voter until 2006 when I persuaded him to register as a Democrat to vote for Lamont and against Lieberman. After that primary, he wanted to switch his party affiliation back from Democrat to unaffiliated--but he never got around to actually doing it so he's still a registered Democrat even though he considers himself an independent voter. He usually votes Democrat, though--I think he voted Republican a few times when he lived in NJ but I think it was for a moderate/liberal Republican.

So I asked my husband, "As someone who considers himself to be independent voter with no strong ties to either political party, who do YOU think won?"

My husband said that Malloy seemed much more knowledgeable about the state and seemed better prepared for the job.

Did anyone watch the debate with independent voters? If so, how did they feel? Also, are there any Malloy-leaning voters here who thought Lamont did a better job during the debate? Are there any Lamont-leaning voters who thought Malloy did a better job?

I doubt this debate will change the minds of Democratic voters who are hard-core Lamont supporters or hard-core Malloy supporters.  

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."--James Madison

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by: sufi @ Wed Jun 23, 2010 at 01:19:54 AM UTC

My thoughts on tonight's debate (0.00 / 0)

On presentation, Dan Malloy won this debate.  Lawyers are trained to debate like this and his training as a lawyer was clearly evident during this debate.  I can see why Malloy wants to debate Lamont 17 times.  Lamont started off a bit nervous but settle down a few minutes later.  Debates were never Lamont's forte.  He's better at one-on-one or small group conversations where there are no time limits.

Winning debates doesn't mean that you'd be a good governor.  Governors have to work with people of all types.  Lamont is used to working with various types of people as a business owner, and he treats people from all backgrounds as equals.  Lamont has always treated me as an equal.  Malloy is more reserved and aloof.  If Malloy wins the primary, how will he treat those of us who opposed him?  I get the impression that he will lord his victory over his former opponents instead of being a gracious winner.  I can see his smug attitude when he looks at Lamont.  His conceitedness reminds me too much of Lieberman.

A couple times during this debate Malloy came across as pompous.  An example of this was early in the debate when Lamont was asked how he'd reduce the cost of government and education was an example of where the questioner thought costs could be reduced.  Lamont answered the overall question of reducing the cost of government, but when it was Malloy's turn to answer that question, he answered only the education part and made a snide remark that the questioner deserved a direct answer to a direct question on education.  Malloy was wrong here and he came across as overbearing.

Malloy hit Lamont hard with Lamont's criticism of politicians.  Some of that was fair.  Lamont needs to be careful about slamming politicians, since he is running for a political office and will have to work with them if he becomes governor.  Lamont should be slamming a culture of indecisiveness and "kicking the can down the road" instead of politicians in general.  However, Ned did a good job of describing why many voters have elected a Republican governor over the last 20 years -- to counter a Democrat dominated State Legislature, and he did a good job of saying why that strategy hasn't work well for Connecticut.  Where Malloy went too far was when he said that Lamont had failed to win as US Senator.  Of course, Malloy left out the fact that establishment politicians, like him, were cowards about challenging Lieberman in 2006, and that Ned was the only one with courage to challenge our state's Malignant Narcissist.  

When it came to the election finance issue, Malloy gloated, but he has every right to brag about his small donors.  There was one instance where I think Ned Lamont must have read my critique of Malloy's mailings, especially on the one piece where Malloy emphasized CEP over issues voters were concerned about.  During his 30 second response to Malloy, Lamont hit Malloy with a solid punch using my critique and said that Malloy seemed to be more concerned with CEP than with creating jobs and working on issues important to voters.

Lamont had good high level answers, but on education reform, he could spend a bit more time on describing the New Haven model, since most people are not aware of it.  The theme of The Nation magazine's June 14 issue was about school reform and mentioned New Haven.  Even they didn't go into a description of that's city's approach to education reform.

Overall, Democratic voters have a choice - a good debater and professional politician for governor or a humanitarian and businessman, who is not polished in debates, but who has a solid overall campaign strategy to defeat the Republicans.

NBC30 will air the Republican debate on July 14.  That should be interesting.

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by: Larkspur @ Wed Jun 23, 2010 at 03:06:45 AM UTC

Here's the Hartford Courant's take on the debate (0.00 / 0)

Democrats Ned Lamont, Dannel Malloy Square Off On NBC 30 In First Televised Debate Since Democratic Convention
Democratic gubernatorial contenders Ned Lamont and Dannel Malloy have both called for drastically improving state government, but they both pledged Tuesday night to avoid raising taxes or reinstalling tolls on the state's highways to pay for those improvements.

In their first televised debate since last month's Democratic Party convention, the candidates agreed on a wide variety of issues, including their opposition to the death penalty.

Both candidates said they are strong believers in local control of education and do not favor any type of state takeover of the public schools. They both opposed school vouchers that would allow children from low-income families to obtain scholarships to attend private schools.

View More Pictures From The Debate

In one hour on live television on WVIT, the candidates battled back and forth on the issues and both expressed skepticism on hiking taxes. They opposed the state's $250 business entity tax that small and larger businesses currently pay, depending on how the company is legally structured.

SNIP

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by: Larkspur @ Wed Jun 23, 2010 at 15:02:14 PM UTC

Englehart also had a good cartoon (4.00 / 1)

From the Courant

Okay as a Malloy supporter I loved it. :)


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by: Matt Zagaja @ Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 21:05:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

LOVED IT! n/t (0.00 / 0)

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."--James Madison

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by: sufi @ Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 06:09:05 AM UTC

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Does anyone know what the ratings were for the NBC30 debate? (0.00 / 0)

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by: Larkspur @ Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 02:59:27 AM UTC

ct capitol report had the numbers (0.00 / 0)

Debate tank NBC's ratings; gets a 2 share for the hour...
...As soon as the debate began 75% of NBC 30 viewers changed the channel or turned off their sets.

WTNH Jeopardy, Wheel 17 share, 11 share
WFSB Inside Edition, Ent. Tonight 13 share, 10 share
WTIC Two and a Half Men 7 share, 9 share
WCTX Judge Judy 4 share, 4 share

A 2 share in Connecticut is about 20,000 viewers.  

–7.25 / –7.28 | http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 04:08:06 AM UTC

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Confirms what I thought about debates, especially during the summer months (0.00 / 0)

The debate was basically played to an "empty stadium" with mainly political junkies and supporters of both candidates watching.

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by: Larkspur @ Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 14:55:21 PM UTC

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20,000 viewers is an empty stadium? (4.00 / 1)

That's the same conclusion you drew when you suggested the convention of 1800 delegates, who are party leaders, activists, and office holders, didn't matter.  You have to assume almost anyone who would watch a debate this far out is going to vote in a primary, or at least the vast majority of them.  And we can also probably assume around 200,000 voters if not less in this election.  So you're saying 1/10th of the electorate watching the two candidates doesn't matter?  Sure, with his performance Ned Lamont is lucky more people didn't tune in, but the people who did watch were exactly the people these candidates need to reach.  How many people need to either be present or viewing for something to qualify, in your opinion?

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by: Matt Zagaja @ Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 19:44:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Why do you want to be dumping on candidates here? (0.00 / 0)

Needless and off-point.  

–7.25 / –7.28 | http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 21:24:12 PM UTC

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75% of the NBC viewers switched channels BEFORE the debate began (0.00 / 0)

Let me put it this way.  The 2 share audience the debate drew is equivalent to the attendance at a women's high school basketball game just after Title IX was passed in 1972.  In most high schools, only the family members and some friends of the players attended, leaving the gym mostly empty.  

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by: Larkspur @ Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 03:22:11 AM UTC

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Our audience (0.00 / 0)

A good portion of the people that flipped the channel can't  or won't vote in the Democratic Primary. The debate doesn't matter to them. I know both campaigns do have supporters now, but honestly based on my personal experience and also the fact we are still a month or so out, I have a hard time believing those are 20,000 decided supporters at this point. I think people might be leaning or have an idea of a candidate but beyond party activists and their friends that have been to campaign events, people are still learning and deciding.

Put another way, the rest of Connecticut might not care who will be governor, but the people that watched this debate probably do and I'm not convinced they're only decided voters as you claim.

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by: Matt Zagaja @ Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 15:15:53 PM UTC

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And the Debate lost to Judge Judy (0.00 / 0)

No wonder politicians use TV ads more than the traditional campaign methods to reach voters.  

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by: Larkspur @ Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 03:24:22 AM UTC

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