Politics The Burner-Reichert Debate
posted by on October 11 at 9:40 AM
Postman has a good round-up of this morning’s coverage of the one and only debate between eastside Democrat Darcy Burner and Republican Congressman Dave Reichert. I’m told we’ll have video snippets soon later today or tomorrow, so check back for that. And if, like me, you missed the event and are hoping for a full video, TVW is airing the entire debate tonight at 7 p.m.
While this was the only debate between the two candidates, there are two other joint appearances scheduled in the coming days. Details here.
Meanwhile, here’s the P-I’s take on last night’s face-off:
BELLEVUE — If the gloves were ever on, they came off Tuesday night.The nation’s angst about the war in Iraq and the latest congressional scandal was reflected in a mean-spirited and bare-knuckled debate between Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and Darcy Burner, the Democrat challenging him for the suburban 8th Congressional District seat.
In the campaign’s first and only face-off between the two, Burner immediately aimed her attack as much at President Bush and the Republican-led Congress as Reichert himself.
“Something is very, very wrong, and we have got to change course,” Burner said.
“In my experience as a businesswoman, which I was for a dozen years, you deliver results or you get fired,” said Burner, the former Microsoft Corp. manager. “If this Congress and this president worked for Microsoft, they would have been fired.”
The Meydenbauer Center auditorium was filled to capacity with hundreds of people, many vocal and sometimes combative Burner supporters.
Burner never had Reichert, the former King County sheriff, on his heels, but he did get visibly angry as she and the crowd vented their frustration about issues ranging from the Iraq war to health care.
He countered with measured responses to her campaign’s criticisms and consistently tried to redirect the debate away from the broader direction of the Bush administration and back to his own accomplishments and policy decisions.
“This is the United States of America, and at some point, Ms. Burner, you are going to have to come out from behind the bushes and recognize I am your opponent,” Reichert said.
"come out from behind the bushes"... look... Reichert made a funny. are Repubs allowed to do that?
High-fives all around in Reichert's office when a staff member came up with that one, huh?
If you cannot wait until 7pm I have posted all my notes in their raw form at my blog. Click on my name below to link there. You'll get a good sense for the diversity in the questions. Of course these are raw and sometimes I didn't make a note because frankly I was caught up in trying to also listen to the speaker. This was definitely the case on Burner's closing remarks where she reminded the audience that to change Congress we needed to do it one congressman at a time.
There is an additional debate scheduled for Oct 21st, the Newcastle Chamber of commerce Debate, unless Reichert has backed out.
Another interesting point: at one point Reichert ask for a second while he checked his notes. Burner had no notes with her that I could see, but Reichert seemed to have a binder full of notes.
Now I don't have a problem with a person consulting notes, but you would think with that advantage he would be able to provide more substantive answers, or even answer all the questions. Not having an answer to the media question, not knowing about the issue, will not have scored points with Blethen and the Seattle Times editorial board.
Perhaps the issue doesn't relate well to what Reichert knows: investigations, law inforcement, guns.
The Newcastle event isn't quite being billed as a debate, but more as a forum. However, I would think that since they will be answering question (maybe not the same ones) there will still be an opportunity for contrasting the candidates.
Apparently there will also be a KING 5 event on Friday, taped and shown over the weekend perhaps?
This is what the Seattle Times wrote:
"The candidates are expected to appear together two more times before the Nov. 7 election. They will tape a debate Friday on KING-TV, parts of which may start airing this weekend, and they also will appear at a Newcastle Chamber of Commerce candidate forum Oct. 21."
Last night's debate will be on KUOW tonite at 9.
@Daniel K: You shouldn't fault someone for consulting notes, even if they didn't find the answer. I'd rather have someone try to give an informed answer than just throw one out off the cuff. That said, I'm still voting for Burner.
Darcy and Reichert are scheduled to tape a joint appearance which should air Sunday as part of Robert Mak's Upfront. And then there's the Newscastle candidate forum which will essentially be a semi-debate. So this wasn't "the one and only debate".
You can have more fun watching the debate if you play "The Dave Reichert Drinking Game" (tm). The way you play is that every time Reichert makes a reference to having been a sheriff (or related references to his sheriffy past), the first person to yell "SHERIFF!" makes everyone else in the room take a shot. (Bring an extra couple bottles if you actually try this -- I tried to count them last night, but I lost track.)
How much did Reichert have to pay for the "bushes" joke? Or did Rove give it to him for free?
slog joke of the day goes to Greg.
Him - I said that I don't have a problem with a person consulting notes.
That said, I'm not sure if the rules of the debate allowed them.
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).