I watched the Daschle v. Thune debate which will be broadcast tonight on public television at 8:00, as well as on C-Span at 10:00 Central Time. The journalists on the panel asked several very interesting questions, and once again Daschle was on his heels throughout most of the debate. One of the more interesting questions that was asked was what amendments the candidates would like to see added to the Constitution. Of course, a question like that immediately puts Daschle on the defensive. Thune immediately talked about the issues of gay marriage and flag burning, pointing out that Senator Tim Johnson supports a flag protection amendment while Daschle does not, and that Rep. Stephanie Herseth supports a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, while Daschle does not.
In one startling moment, it appeared that Daschle said gay marriage was "repulsive." I'll have to check the transcript for that, but a lot of eyebrows were raised by what it was perceived that Daschle said.
At one point, Daschle said "John and I have the same values in most respects." Thune replied that Daschle "talks about values, but doesn't vote that way."
During the same exchange, Thune pointed out that Daschle gets an "F" from the NRA. Daschle responded that he "strongly supports the Second Amendment." It really was a vignette of Daschle saying one thing while his record reflects its 180 degree opposite.
During one exchange, Daschle complained that Thune's campaign was focused on tearing him down. Thune responded that campaigns are about records and accountability for that record.
Amusingly, Daschle tried to use a sports analogy in this debate. Believe it or not, he compared himself to Michael Jordan. Daschle was trying to say that Thune was a less high profile player on the issue of country of origin labeling, while Thune was more like a player named Stacy King. In a game where Michael Jordan and Stacy King played together, and Michael Jordan scored 68 points while Stacy King scored 2 points, Daschle said Thune was like Stacy King when he said "we scored 70 points." I'm paraphrasing here, but I don't think this analogy worked. It was a bit unwieldy.
All in all, Daschle was on his heels throughout the debate. Several people I talked to thought this was the best debate Thune has had. Below are some pictures of the debate, taken from the screen showing the closed circuit broadcast of the debate:
After the debate, Thune stayed to mingle with supporters, while Daschle didn't. I think that's a telling sign of who won the debate. Below is a picture of Thune in the main hallway of the South Dakota Public Broadcasting building.
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