Matt's Memo - Congressional Debate
WSTM TV 3 (NBC)
Matt Mulcahy
October 22nd, 2008
http://www.wstm.com/news/news_blog_post.aspx?id=211059
Just minutes before the debate was to begin, Democratic candidate Dan Maffei was encouraged to fill the time with a song. Instead he said he wanted to voice over the promotional spots running on the air. I tried to cut through the nervous tension in the room with a little humor. Republican Dale Sweetland and Green Populist candidate Howie Hawkins were also both in place. Then the floor director shouted three minutes. The final silence fell before we took to the air.
The next hour flew by as we hop scotched from one key issue to another. It was a debate held at the studios of WCNY in Liverpool which we aired on WSTM NBC 3. I moderated the event and asked several questions of my own. A panel of journalists from the Syracuse and Rochester area added their own expertise.
Before we took the air there were final questions and directions. There were questions from the candidates about the stools they were asked to sit on. Were they too short or too tall? Why wasn't there a cushion to comfort them during the hour. We had a green room drawing from a hat to determine who would talk last and who would talk first.
The economy took up the greatest share of time. The most heated back and forth came between Maffei and Sweetland on two occasions. When talking about economic development Sweetland accused Maffei of saying yes to every program and wanting to do everything for everyone. Maffei said Sweetland's only economic plan was to investigate the past to see what went wrong with the collapse of the markets.
The lightest moment came when I pointed out all three candidates lost the last race they ran. I asked them to describe the anguish of losing and what they learned from the experience that brought them back again. Dale Sweetland revealed Howie Hawkins calls them the three losers because of their past election failure. But, then Sweetland revealed how much it really hurt last year to put in a strong effort in the primary for Onondaga County executive and to come up short by 21 votes. Hawkins said he doesn't look at defeat as anguishing. He wants to win, but he also finds satisfaction in putting forth new ideas. Maffei seemed unphased by defeat and fell back on his standard stump text.
All the candidates performed well. There were no gaffes. There were moments of engagement. By evening's end they all hoped they reached a few voters. As we wrapped up I shook the hands of all three and wished them well. In less than two weeks we'll know which one is our next congressman.
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