Posts Tagged ‘Debates’
Gilmore Wants Another Televised Debate
In a move that isn’t all that surprising, but can be put into the category of very much unlikely, Gov. Jim Gilmore is asking Gov. Mark Warner to take part in another televised debate, saying that his opposition to the Wall Street bailout package and Warner’s support for it, deserve another another vetting in the public square.
There was some back and forth between the two camps regarding debates early on during the campaign season, before Warner relented and agreed to three debate opportunities, the last of which was televised statewide (and on NBC12). Gilmore attacked Warner pretty hard accusing him of dodging debates, the televised one in particular. But now that attack seems to have lost some of its luster, because Warner did agree to the debate.
I have a dispatch out to the Warner camp on their feelings about another debate and I will let you know what I hear. You can see Gilmore’s complete statement after the jump.
**UPDATE**
Here is the response from Kevin Hall, communications director for Mark Warner:
“We have participated in three debates — which is the traditional number of debates conducted in statewide election years in Virginia. We now are on the road every day, making our case directly to Virginians, asking for the privilege of representing them in the U.S. Senate.”
Debate II- Follow me on Twitter
Tonight is the second debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. We will once again be joined by student reporters from Manchester High School who will help us by liveblogging from a debate watching party hosted by both campaigns.
As always, you are welcome to join us by commenting on the liveblog. Our coverage on decisionvirginia.com will start around 8:45pm, our coverage on NBC12 begins at 9. Tom Brokaw is the moderator and the format will be a town hall style. The style allows the candidates to move around a bit as opposed to being stuck behind a podium. In the past this has caused some awkward, but memorable moments.
I also have broke down and set up a Twitter account, which I welcome you to follow me on. The unique quick updates will allow me the chance to get out rapid information as it comes in to me. For instance yesterday (which is my normal day off) I was spending the day in Northern Virginia with my wife when I received word that the Republican ticket was planning on making a swing through Virginia. I didn’t have access to my blog to get it out there, but I would’ve had access to my twitter account. So in the future, if you haven’t seen an update on here, check the twitter account, which will always have the latest information I have available to me.
I probably will also make inane comments about my favorite sports teams, the weather or my pets. Which may make you more or less interested in signing up to follow me.
Check back for updates often and don’t forget to participate in tonight’s liveblog!
Gilmore is Against the Bailout
That was the lasting impression from tonight’s third and final U.S. Senate Debate from Roanoke, which was the only debate televised live statewide and on NBC12. Former Governor Jim Gilmore found a way to work every single question in the debate back to his opposition to the plan passed today by Congress and Former Governor Mark Warner’s opposition to it.
Gilmore was clearly looking for a way to stake his claim in front of the people of Virginia, in his one and only shot to be seen across the state face to face against the man he is trailing.
Warner for his part stuck to his main talking points and attempted to avoid making too much news. He batted back Gilmore’s barbs on the bailout plan and attempted to explain his support of the plan which he called “far from perfect.” You can see how our viewers reacted on our liveblog at decisionvirginia.com
The question after all of these debates is: will it have an impact? My guess is little if any and certainly not enough to dramatically change the direction of this race that Mark Warner has dominated.
I’ve included the spin from both campaigns post-debate after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
From One Debate Right To Another
I doubt the anticipation is nearly as high, but tonight’s debate between Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore in the race for U.S. Senate promises to have even more theatrics than last night’s debate between the candidates for Vice President. Gilmore seems to have staked his entire campaign on tonight’s statewide televised debate, which you can see on NBC12 starting at 7pm.
The Gilmore camp sent out a press release teasing the debate, which said the following:
“It’s Mark Warner’s worst nightmare! No liberal media to cover up his positions or polish his gaffes. No glitzy TV spots to hide the truth of his real record. Just him, Jim Gilmore, and a statewide audience.”
and then later:
This Friday, all the money in the world won’t save Mark Warner from the truth.
(Bold emphasis added by them not me.)
The first two debates, were seen by relatively small audiences in comparison to what the potential this debate could have and the dramatically underfunded Gilmore is hoping that something major will happen to turn the tide. Tonight could be his last shot. Our coverage on TV will start at 7pm and we will open up the liveblog to your comments as well at around 6:55pm.
In Other News:
I am not suggesting that the Obama campaign is taking any cues from me, but today they announced that Joe Biden will be coming to the Richmond area on Sunday. He will appear at an event at the Tucker High School Gymnasium. This will be Biden’s first visit to the Richmond area.
On a side note, this is one of many Obama events that have been held at Public School venues across Virginia, with out as much as a peep from Republicans. Much different from the treatment given to to John McCain during his visit to Fairfax last month.
Also, see my complete, uncut interview with Sen. Joe Lieberman below. I talked to him via satellite just after last night’s VP debate. It is classic Lieberman. He did not venture away from the talking points, but he did admit that the polls were trending away from the McCain-Palin ticket.
Lieberman: “Tina Fey the Big Loser Tonight”
Thanks and my apologies to those who took part in our liveblog. As you may have seen during our 11pm broadcast, our response was so overwhelming that it was too much for the server to handle. We hope to have that rectified so things go much smoother for our next liveblog during McCain-Obama II on Tuesday night.
Almost immediately after the Palin-Biden debate I conducted a one on one interview via satellite with Sen. Joe Lieberman, a disgraced Democrat who now supports Sen. McCain. He, by no surprise was very impressed with Sarah Palin’s performance. Our conversation was mostly expected talking points, and I will post his comments in their entirety at some point tomorrow. Below though is a funny line he got in about Saturday Night Live’s Tina Fey (who has received praise for her Sarah Palin impression) being the big loser from the debate.
VP Showdown
There is no doubt that there is a lot riding on tonight’s Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. After a pretty even Presidential debate, it seems that this could be a make or break night for the McCain-Palin ticket. Palin’s sensational entrance on to the national scene has been muted after a few less than impressive interviews. If she stumbles tonight in front of what is expected to be a large television audience, the McCain camp may not be able to recover.
We will once again, give you an instant idea of how Central Virginians are reacting to the Palin-Biden tilt. We will have our student reporters from Manchester High School liveblogging from a local Biden watching party and a local Palin watching party. I will be back at the NBC12 studios moderating the conversation, which you are welcome to take part in. Our coverage will begin right before the debate starts at 8:55pm.
And once again, in the wake of another major campaign moment, the Obama-Biden team has planned yet another trip to Virginia. Barack Obama will visit Newport News on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how frequent these visits will be after the voter registration closes on October 6th. The Democrats are working hard to register new voters, because they believe the majority of new voters are their voters.
It is also worth pointing out, that since claiming the nomination, the Obama team has visited Virginia many times, but have only been to Richmond twice. One visit by the candidate himself and one by his wife, Michelle. Could that be one of the reasons that he has not made the same kind of strides in the Richmond area that he has in other parts of the state?
That being said, Senator McCain has only been to Central Virginia once and that was only for a private fundraiser.
Saturday Reading
In the wake of debate 1, we have the democratic nominees in the commonwealth, a new poll that is painting Virginia blue, and very positive reactions to our liveblog which you were able to participate in.
First looking forward, in another example of just how important the Democrats regard Virginia, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be here today. They will hold a rally in Fredericksburg the day after the first debate. You may recall that Obama made Virginia his first stop after Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race for president.
And there is no doubt the Democrats are spending more time here and it appears to be paying off. A new poll, this one out by Rasmussen, gives Barack Obama the lead in the commonwealth. They have Obama up 50%-45% and that is enough to bump him up in the RCP Average to a lead of 1.8%. Interestingly if you have paid any attention to the RCP electoral college map in the last three weeks, you probably noticed that if the map has changed it has been because the numbers in Virginia keep going back and forth.
Back to last night’s debate, the overall reaction was that there was no clear winner. Both candidates seemed to overcome some of the criticisms of their earlier debate styles. Some viewed the exchange as boring. It seems unlikely that it will provide any seismic shift in the poll numbers, which could mean the upcoming VP debate is going to be even more important.
And we were glad to provide instant, local reaction from people right here in Central Virginia in our liveblog. We had a very lively exchange and help from some terrific student reporters from Manchester High School. You can take a look back at what every one said on decisionvirginia.com.
We don’t have a 6pm newscast tonight, so I will see you later at 11pm, and I’ll update you with any new political information right here.
Debate Coverage Plans
Now that the debate is back on, so are our coverage plans. We plan to give Central Virginia voters an instant view of how local people are reacting to the event on our web site and then during our 11pm newscast. Here is a breakdown of our plans:
On the Web: Through our political web site www.decisionvirginia.com we will be running a liveblog that will be open to viewer comment during the debate. I will moderate the discussion from our NBC12 studios and we will have contributions from two sets of student reporters embedded at debate watching parties hosted by both campaigns. Our online coverage will begin at 8:55pm and you will be able to give your opinions as you watch the debate and read the reactions from supporters on both sides.
On the Air: We will have comprehensive local coverage of the debate before and after the event on NBC12. Tonight during our 5:30 newscast I will preview the debate, with insight from two heavyweights from both campaigns. We will hear from McCain’s state co-chair Jerry Kilgore and Obama’s National Communications Director Robert Gibbs. I plan to ask them both about the back and forth leading up to the debate and how it will impact tonight’s proceedings.
Then at 11 after the debate, we will look back at what viewers had to say about the debate and specifically what issues were discussed that impact voters in Virginia.
Check back often for updates.
**DEBATE BACK ON**
John McCain’s campaign just released the following lengthy statement regarding the situation in Washington. Nestled in at the very end of the statement was this line:
The McCain campaign is resuming all activities and the Senator will travel to the debate this afternoon. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners.
Now that we know the situation, I can share with your our coverage plans for tonight which we are very excited about. Check back in a few minutes for that update. You can see the entire McCain statement after the jump.
Debate on Hold?
John McCain has asked Barack Obama to join him in asking for a delay in their scheduled debate on Friday, so the two can go to Washington and work with congressional leaders to address the country’s financial crisis.
McCain has also suspended his campaign and plans to return to Washington today after speaking at Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative event in New York.
Senator Obama himself has not formally responded to McCain’s request, but a spokesman confirms that Mccain and Obama are working on a joint statement regarding the economy. He has not said if he will agree to pushing the debate back.
***Update***
ABC is reporting that the Obama camp has said the debate will go forward.
now this…
BC-APNewsAlert
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) – Barack Obama says that amid financial
crisis, it’s more important than ever to have debate.
***Update ends***
McCain is not only “suspending” his campaign, he also canceled an appearance on David Letterman’s show tonight and is pulling all of his television ads across the country.
It is a risky move by McCain and it is already creating intense debate. We will keep an eye on it and let you know if any new developments occur.
To stay up to date with the latest Decision Virginia posts and to see up to the minute updates from live events, follow Ryan Nobles on Twitter:
