IN-06: Debate between Pence and Welsh
Mon Oct 30, 2006 at 06:25:28 PM PDT
Tonight was the debate between Mike Pence and
Barry Welsh. I went so that I could report back on how it went to everyone here. I apologize for not having a digital camera and hence not being able to post pics or video. It will, however, be rebroadcast between now and the election on WIPB 49, the Muncie public television station.
This is my first diary, so be kind to me...I've always been too intimidated to post here before.
We (husband and I) went over a little early. The rules of the debate said that we couldn't wear or bring in campaign materials, so we didn't wear our Barry Welsh shirts. Instead, we wore black, since he'd held a rally back in the summer on the death of the middle class, and encouraged people to come to it and wear black in mourning. I also wore a bright orange kerchief to signify that I was one of the readers of Daily Kos. We got seats fairly near the front and waited while they set up the television cameras and fiddled with cables and such and other people filed in. Members of the League of Women Voters went round with index cards for people to write questions on, and I submitted my question before the candidates came out. There was some question in our minds and in the minds of some of the people putting this on as to whether or not Pence would show up....he's missed several joint appearances before.
But he did come, and in fact arrived right about the same time that Barry did. The table was set up already; Pence on the left, the moderator (a professor of telecommunications from Ball State University there in Muncie) in the middle, and Barry Welsh on the right. There were about a hundred people there in the audience, plus all the techs from the public television station.
After the initial thanks to everyone for having them, the first question was on what would be the first item of business if (re)elected. Barry spoke of introducing a bill to raise the federal minimum wage. Pence spoke the party line on security.
Now, I didn't take a notepad to take notes, but I really didn't need to. Pence spoke the party line. He said a whole lot about his commitment to morality...which translates to being anti-choice, against the use of fetal stem cells, and against gay marriage. However, he stammered and had a hard time answering questions about what he would do for the 6th in terms of economic recovery, and twitched and looked rather unsettled when the issue of ethics in Congress, the Abramoff scandal, and the Foley issue came up. He was anxious to establish himself as an independent thinker...why, he voted against the president two separate times! And he was anxious to point out the jobs created under this congress. The problem is, of course, that in the 6th district, what we see is factories that employed our families standing empty, and find ourselves driving out of district to find work that will pay our bills. We simply aren't seeing the economic recovery here.
By contrast, Barry Welsh spoke plainly and forcefully. I could tell sometimes he had to think about how to phrase his opinion on the issue politely, but what he said was straight and to the point. He spoke, as I noted, in favor of increasing the minimum wage, of campaign finance reform, of making it possible for the government to negotiate with the drug companies to reduce prices for the Medicare recipients. He spoke in favor of not dipping into the Social Security funds every time something happens, and in favor of using embryos that would otherwise be discarded as waste for stem cell research. He said that while he does not personally think abortion is a good thing, that he's a man, and it ultimately needs to be left between a woman and her doctor and should not be criminalized. He said that he supports civil unions, and bluntly said that his marriage was under more stress due to his wife having a two-hour commute to work than it was due to two men getting married in San Francisco. It was possible to feel the wave of approval in the audience.
I think, however, that after the cameras stopped rolling the real contrast between the two came out. Barry Welsh came down the side of the stage to the auditorium, and worked his way slowly out to the foyer, pausing to talk with people (he recognized me immediately, and remembered my name), to shake hands, and to have his picture taken with little old ladies. He was in no hurry. Pence, by contrast, tried to exit by the backstage passage to the hallway. He was stopped by a few people who hurried up on stage, and once he'd got free of them, he left via a back door so he didn't have to talk to the crowd in the foyer.
As my husband said, "Before I went there tonight I was planning to vote against Mike Pence. Now I'm voting for Barry Welsh". I suspect he's not the only one who left feeling that way. He was moved enough that he took the last money we had for a few days and gave it to Barry. Not much, but perhaps it will buy a minute of air time on the radio, perhaps it will help a little bit, to get his name out, to help him get where he needs to be...representing the Indiana Sixth District in the House of Representatives.
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