The First Gubernatorial Debate

All four Gubernatorial candidates made a big impression on both the media
and the public at Thursdays debate, however, that impression was not necessarily
the best for all candidates.
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Last Thursday the first debate of the Gubernatorial race was held.
This type of atmosphere exposed the way each candidate responds
under pressure from the media as well as interact with their
competition.
There were two sets of debates held, one for the democrats and the
other for the republicans. Each candidate was given one minute to
give an opening statement, followed by the round of questioning.
The republican and democratic candidates did not interact.
After a question was asked, that candidate was allotted
minute for a response, then 30 seconds were allotted to
oposing candidate for rebuttal. Due to this type of set-up
audience and media, both, were able to witness how each of
candidates conduct themselves.

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While Norman and Bill prospered; answering questions clearly

and calmly adressing their oponent, Caskey and Murphy dwindled
in comparison to their competition.
At the conclusion of the debate it was easy to tell who the front
runners of this race are.

--The

Democrats debated first. The interaction between

candidates Liam Murphy and Reed Norman was an interesting

situation because they actually agree on a lot of the issues.
It seemed that as the debate went on they found themselves
agreeing on a lot more than they had previously thought. The
Murphy campaign has begun to adopt some of the same ideas as
the Norman campaign. Throughout the debate, Normans

frustration about this became more evident as he became for

defensive in his answers and directly calling out his oponents
short-comings.
As previously mentioned, the Murphy campaign announced for
the first time that he also would be looking into legalizing
marijuana in the state, the main issue of three that Norman has
basically been running on.
However, candidate Murphy STRAIGHT-UP screwed up by giving
his oponent a very catchy and persuasive slogon, A Vote for Reed,
Is A Vote for Weed.

-The Republicans participated in the next set of debating.

Overall, the debate between Gareth Bill and Taylor Caskey was a
lot messier than the latter.
Candidate Caskey, reading from his notes for most of the debate,
seemed to be rushing when answering questions even though he
was barely using the time alloted to him. In his rebuttals to Bill
he often missed the mark, avoiding the question or just restating
his position on the issues.
Candidate Bill thrived during his questioning and his rebuttals
were coherent and meaningful. While Bill was well prepared and
confident in his position in the campaign, Caskey failed to appear
ready, a dangerous impression to give for this young candidate.
Caskey needs to stop relying on his campaign notes and speak
from the heart if he wants to regain our STRAIGHT-UP support.

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Its my promise, thats what I know, STRAIGHT-UP.

-Alyssa Lindbloom, the STRAIGHT-UP post
Lead Correspondent on Candidate Relations