Yesterday marked the first of five gubernatorial debates in Virginia's Democratic primary campaign, which comes to a head on June 9, Virginia Primary Day.
Lowell at Blue Virginia has a nice rundown of the traditional media reaction to the debate, including those from the AP, Washington Post, Roanoke Times, Virginia Pilot, Richmond Times-Dispatch, WCAV, and the Daily Press.
In addition, Vivian Paige has clips from the second half or so of the debate, which you can view here, here and here.
Some brief impressions from the debate:
Creigh Deeds. His task was to get in the game, and he did that very well. There's a difference between being "one of the three guys running for Governor" and "the third guy running for Governor". Yesterday Creigh was on an even footing with Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran, and he held his own.
Deeds is an exceptionally nice guy, which has led to some concerns that he would let the legislature walk all over him as Governor. Yesterday, he was endearing as usual, but he threw some sharp jabs in the debate. Some were at McAuliffe, but he saved his best attacks for Moran. This probably helped to assuage concerns about Deeds' aggressiveness - he definitely looked tough enough to handle Republicans as a candidate, and as Governor.
He isn't the most polished speaker in the world, and he sometimes stumbles a bit when he gets passionate. He kept that to a minimum yesterday, but it will still be something worth watching going forward. He also uses his hands heavily when talking, something which probably comes across better in person than at the podium.
Terry McAuliffe. McAuliffe's negatives are higher than his opponents', so one of his primary goals (ha!) is to impress people who start out being lukewarm on him with his knowledge, energy and optimism. From that standpoint, he did quite well. His campaign has been singularly focused on job creation, and he was very much on message yesterday.
McAuliffe has a sense of humor, and probably landed the greatest number of jokes yesterday (Creigh Deeds landed the biggest one, when asked about gay marriage: see second clip). This serves McAuliffe well in some ways, but he's also got to counter his flamboyance and energy with a serious side. He's very knowledgeable and articulate on the issues, and oddly enough, he sometimes looks better when he's being "wonky". McAuliffe can command the spotlight easily enough; he needs to make certain he has the gravitas required of the governor as well.
Brian Moran. Moran sought to position himself as both a progressive candidate and as someone who looked gubernatorial. He did that. He was expected to come out swinging (he's been quite negative on McAuliffe in particular so far) and for the most part, he did a good job of highlighting his differences with the other two candidates without coming across as too negative.
Oddly enough, perhaps his most heated exchange, on transportation issues, was not with McAuliffe, but with Deeds.
Moran was subdued, fairly soft-spoken and even-toned, even when talking about issues on which he was clearly passionate. This was a stark contrast to Deeds and McAuliffe, both of whom get excited fairly easily about public policy.
This certainly helped Moran look gubernatorial. On the other hand, there's a fine line between "looking like a governor" and "looking stiff". Moran doesn't have any problems with looking serious, but he could stand to show more excitement and joie de vivre, especially considering that he's running as a populist. A little piss and vinegar could go a long way for him.
Marshall-Newman. All three candidates went on record as opposing the Marshall-Newman amendment, a constitutional amendment limiting marriage rights which passed with 57% of the vote in 2006.
Moran was the only one of the three, however, to go on record saying he would fight to repeal Marshall-Newman. This drew heavy praise from the primary crowd, with good reason, and should only help him win primary voters. He spoke passionately about equality as a Democratic principle, in perhaps his best moment of the debate.
It's possible that this could affect Moran adversely in a general election, however. With a Republican House of Delegates and a slim majority in the Senate, repealing the marriage amendment is unlikely, and the 2006 numbers indicate that this would be a nonissue at best in the general election, and a boon to Republicans at worst.
Hopefully this means Moran has reason to believe this won't be a major wedge issue come November, that the days of marriage equality as the boogeyman are over, even in Virginia.
Campaign donations. Both McAuliffe and Moran received heat for some of their campaign donations, a focal point of contention in the debate.
McAuliffe was questioned on the volume of out-of-state donations to his campaign - fully 80% of his whopping $4.2 million total last quarter. His response was lighthearted, if dismissive - "I have a lot of friends!"
He has raised more in Virginia - and from more small donors - than either of the other candidates did during Q1. So there's that.
Moran was criticized for accepting heavy contributions from the defense industry, with whom his brother Jim Moran (who sits on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee) is closely associated. Creigh Deeds hit him particularly hard on this.
Moran responded that he had accepted donations from within Virginia, from people working to keep Americans and American troops safe. In his defense (ha!), given that the defense industry is based in Northern Virginia - home to both Morans - it's hardly surprising or particularly controversial that defense donations would come his way.
Post-debate highlights:
Awkward Times. McAuliffe burst into the press room in typically flamboyant style after the debate, shook hands with Moran strategist Joe Trippi, and reminisced about the 1988 Gephardt campaign (on which he and Trippi both worked).
McAuliffe grinned broadly and gladhanded happily; Trippi looked rather like he'd been forced to hold a dead fish in his hands.
It's A Walk-Off! Well, almost. Moran campaign manager Andrew Roos, McAuliffe senior strategist Mo Elleithee, and Deeds communications director Peter Jackson joked that they would settle the campaign with a karaoke battle between the staffs. Jackson agreed to this compromise when it became clear that the candidates themselves would not actually have to perform.
We're not in a great position to handicap this particular race, though it is rumored that Elleithee's karaoke skills are particularly formidable. The Moran team has been in heavy training and is in mid-season form, so we expect them to come to play. Should be quite the rumble.