Sunday, October 09, 2005
Yo Mama!
Well, did you watch?
Did you see what you expected? Of course you did. Hope you enjoyed hearing the canned campaign lines, practiced over hundreds of pancake breakfasts, and small town fairs.
I'll withhold my comments for the moment, and share the following:
I watched with two people: a staunch conservative, and an undecided voter. And if their views are similar to the rest of the public, Kilgore's in for a lot of trouble after this.
At the end, the undecided plainly said, "Well, I know who I'm voting for." The staunch conservative was clearly depressed, and very unenthusiastic. After the debate we got into a conversation about what's wrong with the Republican Party. If she was registered to vote in Virginia (resident of another state), she might not show up at the polls. She was that down on Jerry.
Their views? Jerry was evasive, smarmy, and evasive again. Kaine clearly had more zingers, better lines, and just plain looked more like a governor than Kilgore. "When is his head going to explode?" was the best comment I heard...
Both were disappointed about the negativity of the debate, but both clearly said Kilgore responded with more vitriol, and were turned off.
My personal feeling is Jerry did not present a case as to why people should vote for him, instead just saying why they should NOT vote for Kaine. It almost looked like there was a hint of desperation in some of his answers. Like he knew it was slipping away. Offhand, I anticipate a 2-4% bump for Kaine. Whether he can hold it through election day is another question.
Of course, not known is how many people actually watched it. The Redskins game was finishing up, the NASCAR fans were still in a sausage and malt liquor induced coma from an afternoon race, and the baseball playoff game literally set a record. This was a sports nut's dream. And then there was the debate.
I'll be very interested to hear about the overnight ratings in the metered markets. That will determine the true impact.
Now here's my Best, Worst and Most Unusual of Sunday's debate:
Best Dressed: Kilgore. (That snazzy blue tie was just to DIE for!)
Worst Dressed: The woman from the Virginian-Pilot
Most uncomfortable on camera: (see above)
Best Presentation: That Kaine feller, with them cityfied words
Best Panelist: AP Bob
Worst Panelist: Sabrina Squires
Most Unusual Question: Anything from Sabrina Squires
Most Rambling Question: Anything from Jay Warren ("I have just one question... in 26 parts.")
Best Answer: -"No."- by Tim Kaine on repealing the one handgun a month law
Worst Answer: Somebody narrow the field down to 50 for me, and I'll pick one
Worst line: Kilgore "I'll be the governor who won't raise the gas tax."
Worst goof: Kilgore saying "When he's governor..."
Worst Ad: TIE. The Jib-Jab looking ad for Kilgore shown immediately after the debate was too scary, and Kaine's attack ad came after he had just pledged to play nicer the rest of the way. Oops!
Most unusual statistic: I THINK Kaine said "liberal" more times than Kilgore. I halfway kept count, but would be floored if this truly happened (by the way, Kaine did say "Warner" more than a dozen times. Kilgore? Less than five.)
Best Unusual Answer: The last one, where Kaine approved of Kilgore's plan to make absentee ballots more accesible to the public. Tim said this with an obvious wry smile on his face. Perhaps a not so subtle jab at Scott County Registrar Willie Mae Kilgore's legal problems? Anybody else pick up on this one?
(Feel free to add your own superlatives, but only if they're funny. This politics stuff has gotten way too serious!)
Did you see what you expected? Of course you did. Hope you enjoyed hearing the canned campaign lines, practiced over hundreds of pancake breakfasts, and small town fairs.
I'll withhold my comments for the moment, and share the following:
I watched with two people: a staunch conservative, and an undecided voter. And if their views are similar to the rest of the public, Kilgore's in for a lot of trouble after this.
At the end, the undecided plainly said, "Well, I know who I'm voting for." The staunch conservative was clearly depressed, and very unenthusiastic. After the debate we got into a conversation about what's wrong with the Republican Party. If she was registered to vote in Virginia (resident of another state), she might not show up at the polls. She was that down on Jerry.
Their views? Jerry was evasive, smarmy, and evasive again. Kaine clearly had more zingers, better lines, and just plain looked more like a governor than Kilgore. "When is his head going to explode?" was the best comment I heard...
Both were disappointed about the negativity of the debate, but both clearly said Kilgore responded with more vitriol, and were turned off.
My personal feeling is Jerry did not present a case as to why people should vote for him, instead just saying why they should NOT vote for Kaine. It almost looked like there was a hint of desperation in some of his answers. Like he knew it was slipping away. Offhand, I anticipate a 2-4% bump for Kaine. Whether he can hold it through election day is another question.
Of course, not known is how many people actually watched it. The Redskins game was finishing up, the NASCAR fans were still in a sausage and malt liquor induced coma from an afternoon race, and the baseball playoff game literally set a record. This was a sports nut's dream. And then there was the debate.
I'll be very interested to hear about the overnight ratings in the metered markets. That will determine the true impact.
Now here's my Best, Worst and Most Unusual of Sunday's debate:
Best Dressed: Kilgore. (That snazzy blue tie was just to DIE for!)
Worst Dressed: The woman from the Virginian-Pilot
Most uncomfortable on camera: (see above)
Best Presentation: That Kaine feller, with them cityfied words
Best Panelist: AP Bob
Worst Panelist: Sabrina Squires
Most Unusual Question: Anything from Sabrina Squires
Most Rambling Question: Anything from Jay Warren ("I have just one question... in 26 parts.")
Best Answer: -"No."- by Tim Kaine on repealing the one handgun a month law
Worst Answer: Somebody narrow the field down to 50 for me, and I'll pick one
Worst line: Kilgore "I'll be the governor who won't raise the gas tax."
Worst goof: Kilgore saying "When he's governor..."
Worst Ad: TIE. The Jib-Jab looking ad for Kilgore shown immediately after the debate was too scary, and Kaine's attack ad came after he had just pledged to play nicer the rest of the way. Oops!
Most unusual statistic: I THINK Kaine said "liberal" more times than Kilgore. I halfway kept count, but would be floored if this truly happened (by the way, Kaine did say "Warner" more than a dozen times. Kilgore? Less than five.)
Best Unusual Answer: The last one, where Kaine approved of Kilgore's plan to make absentee ballots more accesible to the public. Tim said this with an obvious wry smile on his face. Perhaps a not so subtle jab at Scott County Registrar Willie Mae Kilgore's legal problems? Anybody else pick up on this one?
(Feel free to add your own superlatives, but only if they're funny. This politics stuff has gotten way too serious!)
