CONA Debate Forum

I went to the 3 hour debate for our local candidates last night. I took lots of notes and will get back about those at a later time. I would like to, however, point out that this is the second debate that has taken place during a presidential debate. This seems odd at best, and could be difficult for people to motivate themselves to go. We have DVR and recorded the presidential debate (which we stayed up until midnight watching). Apparently the Young Republicans Club showed up for the debate to support Michael Lee for State Senate (wearing shirts and stickers), so visually it looked as though there were more Lee supporters than anything else, but the round of applause that Julia Boseman elicited showed that she had many supporters of her own in the room. This final of the four debates proved to be the most lively. Many of the questions covered last night have already been covered on my blog so I will post another entry later giving updates as well as my general feeling.

This is just an explanation and summary of the night's events. The debates were televised and will be rebroadcast repeatedly on our government channel. For the Board of Education and the County Commissioner debates a panel started by asking each candidate a question for two rounds, there were then questions from the floor, and then a lightening round in which the candidates were supposed to answer with one word (yes, no, undecided or abstain). This was actually adhered to fairly well. For the State Senate and State House candidates the first two rounds were the same with the third round being that the two candidates asked each other questions. The debate rules were adhered to very well and overall the tenor was very fair. I hope that everyone looks for the rebroadcast on television and watches, especially the State Senate and County Commissioner debates.

I will be back....