Well, the verdict is in on last night's debate, by none other than UVA Professor Larry Sabato, the debate's moderator. The decision? A draw. According to Sabato, "I didn't hear anything that would change the fundamentals of the campaign." Instead, the two candidates merely "reached their bases, mainly because that's who was watching." In other words, the Kilgore-Kaine race is the same today as it was yeterday: tied with a slight edge for Kaine in the latest internal poll.Not very exciting, but the bottom line is that - as I initially thought - neither candidate landed a knockout punch last night, both were very cautious, and as a result the debate did not change the dynamics of the race one iota. That's good news for Tim Kaine, as he's the one who's had the momentum the past few months, closing an initially large gap with Kilgore and now surging into a tie or slight lead.
On the other hand, perhaps Jerry Kilgore feels like a winner simply because he didn't completely collapse and fall flat on his face, given his god-awful performances in previous debates. Let's all not forget the first one, held in West Virginia early on a Saturday morning when nobody could see it, where Kilgore robotically (and weirdly, as many in the audience snickered uncomfortably at him) repeated his tag lines - "Always have, always will," etc. Or the last debate, where the supposedly "pro-life" candidate declared the question of outlawing abortion to be "hypothetical" (today's Washington Post called Kilgore's abortion position a "dodge" and not an "honest stance").
Finally, there was last night's UGLY debate, where Kilgore was relentlessly negative, with absolutely NO POSITIVE VISION FOR VIRGINIA. Instead, he distorted and obfuscated, even attempting to recycle an old campaign line by 1988 Vice Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen about Dan Quayle -- "You're no John F. Kennedy." Nice try, Jerry, but Tim Kaine never said he WAS a John F. Kennedy, just that he would swear on a Bible to uphold his oath of office as JFK did, not blindly follow the dictates of the Vatican (Kaine: "The Catholic Church doesn't make me cross my fingers when I take the oath of office"). What is it about the words "oath of office" and "swear on a Bible" that doesn't Jerry Kilgore understand? Also, I would add that if anyone in this race is Dan Quayle, it's Jerry Kilgore to a "t." Except Kilgore's far worse than Quayle ever was. So, perhaps Tim Kaine should have launced a zinger at Kilgore last nigh, "Jerry Kilgore, you're no Dan Quayle."
Anyway, I'd have to agree with Larry Sabato on this one, that the debate was a draw. And that's bad news for Jerry Quayle-gore, who needed a win to reverse Tim Kaine's momentum. Except lots more negativity from the Kilgore camp in the remaining 4 weeks of the campaign, and remember that Jerry wouldn't even pledge that 51% of his ads would be positive. Apparently, that much positivity is simply too much for him, and his top media advisor Scott "Smear Machine" Howell, to handle.