Kellam/Drake debate: my take

Like nearly every other blogger in Hampton Roads (Eileen, Jerry & Sean from VB Dems, Jim Hoeft from Bearing Drift, hrconservative from VCA – whom I sat next to, and Insider from Hampton Roads Politics – who obvioulsy wants to remain anonymous since he didn’t introduce himself), I attended this morning’s debate between incumbent Congresswoman Thelma Drake and challenger and Virginia Beach Commissioner of the Revenue Phil Kellam. Bearing Drift will have a has podcast of the debate on his website along with interviews that he did with a number of people there. I also recorded the debate as an attempt to do a bit of podcasting. Assuming Jim posts the entire debate, don’t expect me to post mine.

The event was hosted by the Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance, an organization affliated with the National Taxpayers Union and was held at Marion Manor Retirement Center. Moderated by Joel Rubin, the event started promptly at 9 am and was, thankfully, limited to its announced 90 minutes. There was an overflow crowd, made even more so by the presence of campaign workers from both sides and the media. Strangely enough, there were no opening statements from the candidates. After a brief introduction and a statement of the rules, the questions began.

This was the first time I have seen Drake speak and while I have heard Kellam speak a couple of times, this was the first time in a debate environment. I intentionally did not make notes during the debate, as I wanted to actively listen to what was being presented by the candidates. I also wanted to observe the reactions of people to the message each candidate presented. I would guess that the crowd was about 60% pro-Drake and about 40% pro-Kellam. It seemed only a few people in the room were truly undecided. One of those people was sitting to my right (hrconservative was on my left). Cheryl, one of the few black attendees, told me before the debate that if she were in NJ, she would be voting for a Democrat – no question. But, she said, the Democrats in Virginia are not as strong as the D’s in NJ and she felt she would vote for whoever best answered a question that she had.

For me, the debate was boring. At 9:40, I started looking at my watch. Oh my! Nearly another hour! And I sensed I wasn’t the only one. While the crowd (and the candidates) remained mostly respectful at the beginning, it wasn’t too long before they started responding to answers (or non-answers) being given. Cheryl’s question – on education gaps between black and white kids – really got no answer from either candidate. She was disappointed, but applauded Drake’s knowledge that there Virginia has unspent funds from No Child Left Behind. Many of the questions sounded to me as if they had been raised purely to make one candidate look good (“What is the role of Congress in foreign affairs?”) or the other candidate look bad (“Why should you continue to draw your salary as commissioner while campaigning?”).

To break the monotony of the campaign rhetoric, each candidate had props. Kellam had a copy of Drake’s latest mailing and a copy a mailing he had sent out during his run for commissioner and passed them around for people to see how similar they were in terms of what campaign materials look like. He tried to make the point that the Drake mail was a targeted piece by asking those who did not receive the mail to raise their hands. While it confirmed for me that the mail was targeted, I’m not so sure that many people in the room understood the point. He wasn’t clear on what targeted mail is and why it is used.

For the most part, Kellam suffers from the same problem that nearly every challenger suffers when taking on an incumbent: the lack of intimate knowledge of the issues. (He did know, however, that Indonesia is not an Arab nation.) Drake may spew the party line but she sounds good when she’s doing it. When the question on global warming came up, Cheryl – the lady next to me – whispered, “Why don’t Republicans support doing something about global warming?” “Because they don’t believe it exists,” I whispered back. Cheryl was suprised at my answer. Sure enough, when Drake answered the question, she said there were theories that this really isn’t global warming we are experiencing; instead, it may be a normal climatic shift. Cheryl and I exchanged knowing glances.

While I do not agree with Drake’s positions on most things, she articulates them clearly and succiently and demonstrates a grasp of the issues that Kellam cannot yet match. Kellam has about three and a half months to convince the voters in the 2nd of two things: why Drake should be fired and why he is the person to replace her. In his closing statement, he made some headway on the second question, by referring to his accomplishments as commissioner. He has a ways to go on the first question.