I was totally shocked watching the debates held in Middle Georgia last night. The two candidates I thought would be aggressive were not. David Perdue seemed almost demure. Jason Carter debated as if he had the race won with points to spare. But Michelle Nunn seemed a seasoned aggressor. And Nathan Deal just plain manhandled his opponents.
Senate Debate: Michelle Nunn proved to be the aggressor in her debate with David Perdue. Perdue became stronger during the second half of the contest, but Nunn was consistently detailed and aggressive in her answers and attacks.
And the theme of the night was “Outsourcing.” Clearly the Nunn campaign plans to use the phrase at every term to break Perdue’s natural hold on conservative independent voters.
Perdue did manage to amble back to attaching Barack Obama to Nunn, but it was too little too late.
The winner—Nunn
Governor Debate: Nathan Deal absolutely dominated his debate. Jason Carter seemed haltingly and at times painfully unable to land strong debating points against Deal. Even Libertarian Andrew Hunt seemed to have a stronger delivery than Carter.
Carter’s best line jabbed at Deal’s alleged ethical problems when he asked what it would be like to have a governor who did not face such questions. But Carter seemed lost in an educational-related debater’s abyss.
Ironically, Deal’s rhetoric came close to that of the character “Crocker Jarmon” in the iconic political movie “The Candidate” calling his opponent young and inexperienced. But unlike the bold “candidate” Robert Redford played in the movie, Carter had no come back.
The debate nearly came apart at the seams as a result of crowd noise and the inability for the moderator to hear responses or keep order.
But one thing was clear—Nathan Deal put a Zell Miller-like hurting on Carter in this debate. But it was Zell Miller on steroids!
The winner—Deal
