Posts for October 31st, 2006

Well - very interesting - all I can say is that I am glad Chris Matthews made it a better debate that the sterile debates I have seen in the past. His presence and persistence in getting answers form the candidates (Attorney General Charlie Crist and Congressman Jim Davis), handling the surprise appearance of Reform Party candidate Mark Linn, and managing the meandering of the political rhetoric was a breath of fresh air. A quick run down of some of the better reporting:

• Mark Hollis gives a terrific run-thru of the debate for the Sun-Sentinel (and thanks for the video feed!)
• Laura Fiorilli from TBO has a terrific spin on the debate - including a much meater way of looking at what was said.
• Adam Smith of the St. Pete Times also talks about the impact the debate had on Crist.

I also just went reading the blog posts suggested by Laura but was kind of underwhelmed by the commentary (except for Interstate4Jamming’s.

As I have in the past, I will give a blow by blow on each of the issues questioned by Matthews to the candidates. In truth, this is as best as I could glean from watching the debate. IMHO, I think Matthews relished clamming on the pols for their squishy answers, and in particular seemed to get Crist when he could.

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