I was surprised this morning that there were no posts about the debate last night. So...here's a post of miscellaneous random thoughts.
Overall impression: I really like Mary Burke! Smart, dedicated and down-to-earth, just like how we Wisconsinites have liked our politicians, pre-Walker era. She had a great command of the facts, and she answered the questions directly and openly, unlike Walker. And I'm so glad she got the last comments last night, including that Wisconsinites have never liked divide-and-conquer politics, and she will work to unite us!
Her best lines were related to Medicaid and corporate influence on Walker. When talking about Walker refusing federal Medicaid money through the ACA, he responded with his stale line that he didn't take the money because he couldn't count on it in the future. Burke smiled and said that as a businesswoman, if someone wanted to sign a three-year contract with her company, she'd take it!
She also managed to bring up the $700,000 donation that mining interests contributed to campaign for him during the recall, and that, subsequently, he signed legislation favoring those same mining interests who want to strip-mine in northern Wisconsin.
In response to a direct question about the $7.25/hour minimum wage being enough to live on, Walker dodged the question completely and said he wanted to create jobs that paid three times the minimum wage! The panelist told him he hadn't answered the question, so Walker of course repeated the gobbledygook he had just said. Burke again smiled and said something to the effect of, "Tell that to workers in the care industry," and that she supported raising the minimum wage to $10.10/hour because $7.25 was not a living wage.
She also made great points about Walker's intrusive and obstructive abortion law, voter ID, and helping kids on the waiting list for student loans.
Feel free to add, Kossacks.